Alaska's Oldest US Shipwreck

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covediver

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I just don't log dives
adn.com | Alaskana : Divers locate Alaska's oldest U.S. shipwreck

Link has longer story with images.

Divers chart oldest American shipwreck ever found in Alaska


By JEANNETTE J. LEE, Associated Press Writer

(Published: October 8, 2007)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A private dive team exploring the waters of south-central Alaska has discovered the oldest American shipwreck ever found in the state, officials said Monday.

The Torrent sank 139 years ago in Cook Inlet after tidal currents, among the world's most powerful, rammed it into a reef south of the Kenai Peninsula. Documents from the period show that all 155 people on board survived.

The U.S. had purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867, less than a year earlier, and about 130 Army soldiers had come north on the Torrent to build the first U.S. military fort in south-central Alaska, now the state's most populous region.

"It's a very significant find because it's right after the purchase, during the transition from Russian to American authority," said Judy Bittner, a state historic preservation officer. "It's the very beginning of federal presence in Alaska and the establishment of order."

About 20 sailors and 15 of the soldiers wives and children were also on board.

A four-man dive team led by Steve Lloyd, owner of Anchorage's largest independent book store, found remnants of the wreckage in July. Until last week, they kept the discovery secret at the request of state officials, who wanted more time to document the site before any looters arrive.

"The actual depth of wreck site is still classified by state authorities," Lloyd said. "We have by no means found everything."

An array of objects, from guns, cannons, shoes and plates, are hidden beneath the broad leaves of giant kelp beds or concealed in caverns and crevices among massive boulders, Lloyd said.

"It's like walking through a field of tall grass and undergrowth looking for a baseball that you've lost," Lloyd said.

Big finds include the two anchors, sections of hull and heavy bronze rudder hinges weighing about 100 lbs. The objects lie scattered across an area nearly 300 yards from the main wreck site. The team managed to map a section measuring 200 by 150 feet.

The search cost about $2,000, Lloyd said.

About 2,500 ships have wrecked off the Alaska coast since Russian explorers first arrived in 1741, according to Mike Burwell, a cultural anthropologist for the federal Minerals Management Service. A partial database on the service's Web site lists Japanese submarines and fishing trawlers, Liberian freighters and New England whaling ships, among others.

The oldest known American shipwreck in Alaska is the Eclipse, a Yankee fur trading vessel. It sank in the Shumagin Islands on August 11, 1807, south of the Alaska Peninsula, and has never been found, Burwell said.

The Torrent is now being considered for listing in the National Registry of Historic Places. Bittner said state or federal archaeologists may study the wreck if they can secure enough funding.
 
Anyone want to try and find it? Im guessing it's pretty shallow and not too far from the beach. There was a map showing it's location but it's not real exact. Ive got the boat to get there.
 
Anyone want to try and find it? Im guessing it's pretty shallow and not too far from the beach. There was a map showing it's location but it's not real exact. Ive got the boat to get there.


Good luck. Something that has stayed hidden for some many years isn't going to be a walk in the park to find. Also, wooden ships near beaches don't tend to last because waves and tidal action are always going to take a wooden ship and bust it up. Marine organisms eat wood pretty fast.

We have a few wooden wrecks here in the NE somewhat near shore. A lot of the iron remains, zero wood unless there was copper, or some other marine toxin in there. If we're lucky, a good storm will uncover the larger parts. Half the time everything remains under sand, or even worse - mud. I'm going to visit a favorite wreck hopefully this weekend and look for china. If I get lucky this ship (under 100') will look like somewhat like it did the last time. I doubt it though.


X
 
Just the metal parts remain as is clearly shown in the pics. Hidden only because few dive here but I don't know why. It's better the el carib, mexico or hawaii
 
A few items have been recovered from the site of the Torrent, thus breathing new life into this thread

Homer, Alaska - News - Shipwreck items recovered 07/16/08

"You are helping write history today," shipwreck historian and dive team leader Steve Lloyd of Anchorage told a gathering of more than 130 people aboard the USCGC Hickory Monday afternoon.

Aboard the USCGC Hickory Monday, John Goodman of Anchorage (left) and diver Steve Lloyd of Anchorage (right) examine items from the Torrent, a ship that struck Bird Reef and sunk July 15, 1868. Documents Goodman found while researching his great-grandfather helped Lloyd find the site of the shipwreck.
The significance of the moment was not lost on representatives from the Pratt Museum, archaeologists, historians, researchers, teachers, writers, Coast Guardsmen and others surrounding a collection of items spread across the Hickory's deck. Before them were pieces from the Torrent, a privately owned 141-foot, 641-ton ship, that sank after its oak hull crashed against the jagged rocks of Bird Reef the morning of July 15, 1868. Just off Dangerous Cape, Bird Reef is in southern Cook Inlet, near Port Graham.

Being used as a military transport, the Torrent, with Capt. Richard Carlton as master, was carrying Battery F, Second United States Artillery, from Washington State to the newly purchased territory of Alaska. Under the command of 1st Lt. John McGilvray, their mission was to establish a military presence at "Fort Kenay." Aboard were five officers, 120 enlisted men, four laundresses, two servants and 11 children, as well as the Torrent's crew.

"These were the first military troops sent (to Alaska) to establish a fort in Kenai," Dave McMahan, state archaeologist and deputy state preservation officer, said of the Torrent's historical role in the newly purchased territory of Alaska.

Lifted from the ship's watery grave by Lloyd and his team Ursa Lively, Ken Koga-Moriuchi, Andrey Nikolaev and Nick Teasdale and onto the Hickory's deck with the help of the ship's crane were a 220-pound mountain howitzer cannon and cannon balls; portholes, some with the glass still in place; a toilet; copper spikes and other pieces associated with the Torrent.

Among those present on the Hickory was John Goodman of Anchorage. In 1980, while researching the military records of his great-grandfather, Capt. Charles H. Peirce, Goodman stumbled across McGilvray's account of the Torrent's sinking. Three years ago, when Goodman happened to read about Lloyd's interest in shipwrecks, he decided to share the document with Lloyd.

From the report, it appeared McGilvray mistook the Spit for Fort Kenay. Determining it was not the best place to develop a post, and hearing that Graham Harbor (Port Graham) or English Bay (Nanwalek) were more favorable, McGilvray directed the Torrent to explore those areas. The ship left the Spit the morning of July 12, 1868, arriving at the entrance of Graham Harbor three days later. At 7:20 a.m. July 15, the Torrent struck Bird Reef.

"Ten minutes after the vessel struck, the mates reported six feet of water in the hold, and at 8:20 a.m., same day, when the last person was removed from the wreck, all the decks were under water, except the starboard side of the forward deck as far aft as the forerigging," McGilvray wrote in his report, adding that the "drunkenness of her master" was to blame for the Torrent's sinking.

Through an amazing display of speed and organization, no lives were lost.

In the days that followed, survivors worked to retrieve items from the ship as it continued to be battered on the reef. Natives living in the area traveled by bidarka to inform military personnel in Kodiak of the situation. On Aug. 1, 1868, the USS Fideliter, which had been in Cook Inlet, carried the last of the survivors, including McGilvray, off the beach.

Based on his work with other shipwrecks, Lloyd recognized the value of the information shared with him by Goodman. First, from the report's description, the wreckage would be within a reachable depth. As far as Lloyd knew, no other efforts had been made to explore the site. In addition, McGilvray's account provided enough detail to help Lloyd pinpoint the location.

"He talked about the course the ship was on when it sank, what happened after it sank, how deep the water was, how far from shore, how far they had to row to get to the beach, other details about the actual wreck itself, as well as the Torrent's mission," Lloyd said. "With all that information, I had enough to know it could be a viable search."

From past experience diving in Cook Inlet, Lloyd was uncertain the inlet's conditions would be in his favor. When diving on the USS Farallon about 60 miles from Homer (Lloyd wrote about it in "Farallon Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore"),he encountered visibility that extended little more than two feet. However, a flight over Bird Reef in 2006 indicated the visibility was better than Lloyd had expected.

Later that year, Lloyd and his dive team began their underwater search for the Torrent.

"We picked what we thought was a likely spot and I took the first dive to do a visual search of the bottom," Lloyd said. "On my first dive I found a big copper spike."

By the end of the 2006 diving season, "we knew we were close," Lloyd said.

Diving continued the following year. With the help of a marine magnetometer, Lloyd and his team found the Torrent's anchors and rudder, which marked the ship's bow and stern. They then concentrated their search between those two points.

During the project, Lloyd worked with the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology and with McMahan. Because items onboard belonged to the military, the federal government also was involved.

"We knew there would be a huge historical and public outreach for the Torrent's story and we needed help funding what we felt would be the best way to tell the story a documentary film," Lloyd said. That help came in the form of a $10,000 grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum.

Through McMahan, Lt. Commander Greg Tlapa and the USCGC Hickory were enlisted to help transport recovered items from the site to Homer.

Tuesday, the Pratt Museum unveiled pieces that had not seen the light of day for exactly 140 years. The items now will be taken to Anchorage for conservation, a process that takes approximately a year, according to McMahan.

"The repository of record is the Alaska State Museum," McMahan said of an agreement that has been reached between the state and federal government. "And hopefully (the items) will return to the Pratt."

Lloyd closed his comments at the Pratt by saying the recovered items were "tangible reminders of the dangers" Alaska mariners face.

Accompanying Goodman on the Hickory and at the Pratt were his daughter, Kim Evans, and grandsons Connor Young, 11, and Brett Evans, 5. Seeing the objects recovered from the Torrent, Goodman was aware of that page of Alaska's past and the importance of the report from his great-grandfather's military file.

"I want my grandsons to carry on this history," he said, wrapping his arms around his family.

The documentary of the Torrent will premiere at the Alaska Historical Society's annual conference in Anchorage in October.

For more information on Lloyd, visit the Web at www.lostshipwrecks.com. Video of Lloyd's first Torrent dives can be seen on You Tube.
 
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