new shipwreck found off San Destin area

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mike_s

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From Destin Log X MARKED THE SPOT: Hidden shipwreck found off Sandestin (PHOTOS) | spot, hidden, marked - News - TheDestinLog.com




X MARKED THE SPOT: Hidden shipwreck found off Sandestin (PHOTOS)
August 15, 2010 6:11 PM
Chick Huettel

Last spring I wrote about a map that once showed the location of a large under-water wreck.

Later, another chart showed a boiler where the wreck had been once detailed.

The “X” map mystery lay off Four Mile Point.

Four Mile Point is on the northern tip of the Sandestin area.

To read the original column about the boiler and see the map, click here.

The under-water wreck is part of the unknown factor that makes local historians scratch their heads. Most believe it comes from some 1800s steamboat wreck, others say it was abandoned there at one time.

The hunt to see if it was a “ship sinking” has been going on for more than 20 years. My brother and I tried finding the site on two expeditions with no luck.

Last week I received a call from Dick Hoey, a long-time visitor to our area. He packed his maps, put his wife, Cheryl, and son Alex in their boat, “Ship-a-Hoey,” and motored over from Destin to take up the search.

They found it.

Unlike those of us who grope around diving in a general area, Dick used a bit of science for plotting the approximate location once designated on the old map. The big part was luck, which he related later.

What happened next was the coincidence of a first-time wreck hunter.

“We arrived at the location about noon," he said. "My son and I had a diving grid plan and were preparing our diving gear when my wife looked over the side and saw something dark in the water. We rigged up and I jumped in the water with snorkel and mask, and there was a large reddish and brown elongated mass. It was about 8-feet down and half buried.”

“We left the wreck site to go back and hopefully get pictures, but the weather turned foul and it wasn’t until a few days later that we could again cruise back. The visual water quality was poor and we could only observe maybe 4 or 5 feet. We dropped the anchor and followed the line down and found the boiler about 10 feet away. We measured the mass, and found it to be 9-feet long and 5-feet wide,” he said.

Dick sent me a small piece of the old boiler, which was later found to be cast iron. The next question was: were there any other traces of the wreck? But as they encountered murky water, maybe more information will be forthcoming later.

Dick shared the coordinates of N3025.407, W8619.344.

A boiler of that size meant there had to be some serious accompanying machinery. So, where was the rest of the apparatus? Was it salvaged? Is it deep in the sand?

We have some records of steamboats at the Coastal Heritage display at the Coastal Library located off U.S. Highway 331S, and an old map showing some wreck locations. But alas nothing pops up about this mysterious site.

Bay and shallow draft sailing schooners were going down to Davy Jones' locker in the 1800s all the time, but steamboat disasters were often recorded in some way.

However, some packets did not haul passengers but just freight, resin, and lumber, so they were often not worth recording when they caught fire and burned. Maybe that’s what we have at Four Mile Point.

So the find has been discovered and other dives may uncover more information.

The photos he sent were interesting, as fish now use it for a reef.

Next time, more things to find in our bay, so, fair winds to ye, matey.

Chick Huettel is a longtime Walton County resident, writer and artist. He is a member of a number of local organizations including the Emerald Coast Archeological Society.
 
Nice, I'll have to see where it pulls up on Google Earth and where the nearest public access is...
 
In the bay eh? that'll be easy to hit with any small watercraft...
 
In the bay eh? that'll be easy to hit with any small watercraft...

Yeah... That' what first made me go check to see where it was. Because they didn't say it was in the bay but the article said: "Four Mile Point is on the northern tip of the Sandestin area."

When it said "northern tip", I was like huh? It can't be in the ocean and went and plugged the coordinates into Google Maps.


I'm figuring that it ran aground at night or in a storm when visibility was low, or it intentionally grounded itself when taking on water to keep it from sinking in the middle of the bay. Another possible scenario might be that it broke free from it's mooring during a storm/hurricane and that's where it landed and perhaps broke apart.
 
I have a pontoon boat that will get us there with no problem. Let's go check it out sometime. We can hit the bay cones on the way back.

In the bay eh? that'll be easy to hit with any small watercraft...
 
Sounds good, I have a few other numbers out there too I think.

Pensacola Bay has lots of historical wrecks within its bay, probably more to look at than a single boiler too :D Not to say that I don't want to visit this boiler site.
 
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