Best ship wreck, real not artificial.

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ben_wilson3301

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
201
Reaction score
18
Location
Silvis, IL, USA
# of dives
200 - 499
I was looking around and wondered what is the best ship wreck you can dive. Im talking within 100' or so. Something like a pirate ship, Spanish galleon... Where is it, what is it called and why. Just your own opinions, obviously to each his own.
 
I doubt if you'll be able to dive what you're looking for...Known wrecks of that kind/era are usually under lease/permit and well guarded......Their archaeological/monetary value makes them too valuable a commodity for casual 'rec' diving.....And at best the only thing remaining from wrecks of that era may be a few [very few] remnants of old timber....Salt, coral, worms etc. does a pretty good job of destroying them......
 
Ontario, Canada has awesome shipwrecks, very well preserved due to the cold fresh water. One of my favourites is the Wexford (70 feet) in Lake Huron. It is steel, fully intact and about 250 feet long by 40 feet wide and three decks high. It is an absolute playground outside and inside with more than you can see in one or two dives.

The Niagara II (100'), Forest City (150") and Arabia (105") in Tobermory, Ontario are amazing too, and the best in the area.

Lake Ontario in Kingston has beautiful shipwrecks like the Sheboygan, Katie Eccles, Marsh, Comet, and tonnes more (most around 100").

The St. Lawrence river out of Brockville, Ontario has great shipwrecks and warmer water (up to 75F in the summer with no thermocline). The Kinghorn (75") is probably the nicest on the Canadian side and the Keystorm (120") and Vickery (130") are really nice on the U.S. side.

All of the above were natural shipwrecks, some with many lives lost, some with none. All are very well preserved since they are not in salt water and deep enough to not be as affected by surface conditions.

The Spiegel Grove (120 or so) and Duane (120 or so) off Key Largo, Florida are amazing, and of course are in much warmer water.

Those are my favourites so far. Hope you get to do them sometime... :)
 
Pirate ships and Spanish galleons were made primarily of wood, and there is generally just about nothing left of that today. When you dive wrecks that old, you see pretty much nothing but cannons and anchors.

The best real wrecks that I have dived are in Chuuk--formerly known as Truk Lagoon. These are Japanese ship sunk there during WWII. You can swim through torpedo holes, etc. Most are at the depth you are looking for.
 
Chuuk Lagoon

--that's why I've been going back there every year since 2007. The wrecks are nearly 70 years old though and are now starting a final cycle of instability & eventual total collapse. . .
 
That is a really, REALLY hard question. Within the constraints of the orriginal post, I would have to say my personal favorite is the Stolt Dalgi (Scuba Diving - New Jersey & Long Island New York - dive Wreck Valley - Dive Sites - Stolt Dagali Shipwreck). I know its not as cool as a pirate ship but where I dive there are precious few of those (none). Pretty much anything wooden is pretty broken down. This is a REAL shipwreck though. The stolt starts at about 55' and goes all the way down to 130'. It was and oil tanker that collided with a cruise ship and was effectively cut in two pieces. The part on the ocean bottom is the heavier end containing the kicten, crews quarters, engine room, etc. I say this is my favorite wreck because it has a lot of different things to do. The "recreational" diver has an opertunity to do a nice long dive with minor penetration at the top while tech divers can explore all that way into the engine room. It sits on the bottom at about a 45 degree list but is still fairly easy to navigate. It also has abundant sea life if watching or hunting is your thing. Not to mention the fact that this wreck is huge, you could spend many dives here and still not see the whole thing.

PS- I also enjoyed diving the Speigel Grove (Key Large, FL) but this is an "artificial reef". Very, very cool though!!!
 
The U.S.S. San Diego is an incredible dive, as is the U.S.S. Wilkes-Barre.


[video=youtube_share;Grk-8-4VDS4]http://youtu.be/Grk-8-4VDS4[/video]

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I'm not a wreck diver but the Rhone in the BVI's is a good one. It's been down since 1867 and is a very large wreck. It's broken in two pieces and done as two dives. Both are at about 70'. The front half has an open swimthrough and includes the hatch where Jacqueline Bisset was filmed in the movie The Deep. It's open to the sides so doesn't require any wreck diving certification. The back has a lot of interesting artifacts - an original porthole, a silver spoon welded to the deck, a small section of marble floor, a massive driveshaft leading to a massive propeller - about 15' tall that you can swim under and around. We also saw at least one cannon. It's the signature BVI wreck -RMS Rhone | Dive BVI
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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