Have you ever "found" a wreck

[Sabanist]

I'm way interested in shipwrecks and the possibility of discovering something new but I don't know jack about how it's done. I'm a hobby type diver with only a handful.

anyone ever found a wreck

 

[Dr Wu]

Yep. But the "wreck" is almost nearly nothing more than a pile of stones.

Stones are cool but require a bit of looking around to find something more.

Take your time and see what is under there. It does take time..

 

[Sabanist]

Yep. But the "wreck" is almost nearly nothing more than a pile of stones.

Stones are cool but require a bit of looking around to find something more.

Take your time and see what is under there. It does take time..

When you found it were you shore diving, boat? The only dives ive been on are the ones the dive operators take you to. The kind that have been dove 1000 times. Common sense tells me that i probably wont find anything there, but i dont really know. Were you looking for the wreck or just stumbled on it?

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

When you found it were you shore diving, boat? The only dives ive been on are the ones the dive operators take you to. The kind that have been dove 1000 times. Common sense tells me that i probably wont find anything there, but i dont really know. Were you looking for the wreck or just stumbled on it?

Finding shipwrecks usually starts with the research, if you find a wreck by chance then you are a very lucky dude. Here in Nova Scotia we have several ship wreck lists to go to on line, this is a good starting point. Once you have selected a wreck of interest then start going through the archives (there are a lot on line now) and look in the newspapers for the area that it was known to have go down in. Then you can start spending your money going to the area and diving. If it is a newer wreck you can ask some of the local fishers in the area if they know of the wreck or any others.
Using something like side-scan can help depending on the bottom profile but these things are pricey. Boat towed metal detectors and Mags can also find wrecks, again pricey and will have you diving many, many non-wreck hits.
My advise after doing as much research as possible, get in the water and start looking.
We do most of our diving from inflatables, they are cheap to operate and easy to transport and can get you to places that no captain would ever take a fiberglass or wooden boat.
There is no way around it, if you want to find wrecks it will cost you $$$, how much you want to spend is up to you.

We are on the hunt this weekend for a couple of wrecks as well as other things. Weather permitting we will do well. I will post a report when we return and let you know how we did.

ZDD

 

[j2s]

If you ever find a wreck of any value keep it to yourself...The legal hassles; state, national and international can go on for years...Ask anyone who is involved in salvage/wreck hunting....The greed factor kicks in...Look into what Mel Fisher went thru after he found the Atocha.....You find something, keep it quiet.....

 

[iamsharky]

I found a wreck in a local river and have not went back to investigate it. It was like a regular family swimming pool size of balast rock and that was all that was left. I have often wondered if anything could be under those rocks...........

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Well, we couldn't get to the wrecks we were going to look for because of high winds. We did however dive another spot and located a wooden wreck, most likely 18 century ketch or schooner but we will have to do more investigation before we know what we have here. We also found an onion bottle and pieces to 3 more. But like most wrecks they are in remote areas and difficult spots to dive.
I said earlier that if you find a wreck by chance then you are a lucky dude, I guess we are lucky dudes.

ZDD

 

[Dewit2it]

I have relocated the Success and the D.A. Van Valkenburg in Door County, WI. The Van Valkenburg by diving and wondering about the things I found, and the Success by aerial photography on an internet map site.


The one would make a great demotivational poster.

The Success
If you succeed at failure, you make a really nice divesite!

 

[Dr Wu]

When you found it were you shore diving, boat? The only dives ive been on are the ones the dive operators take you to. The kind that have been dove 1000 times. Common sense tells me that i probably wont find anything there, but i dont really know. Were you looking for the wreck or just stumbled on it?

The dives to new potential wreck sites were via boat.

Essentially what you need is an entire boat of people willing to risk their first dive of the day on what could end up being anything from a Russian submarine (unlikely) to a pile of rocks (much more likely).

The group decides on what set of numbers feel promising for this dive while also assuring there is a good back up site nearby.

Most of these dives end up a disappointment but once in a while you hit a real shipwreck.

 

[HowardE]

I'm way interested in shipwrecks and the possibility of discovering something new but I don't know jack about how it's done. I'm a hobby type diver with only a handful.

anyone ever found a wreck

Finding shipwrecks is my job. I've found a few wrecks.

If you ever find a wreck of any value keep it to yourself...The legal hassles; state, national and international can go on for years...Ask anyone who is involved in salvage/wreck hunting....The greed factor kicks in...Look into what Mel Fisher went thru after he found the Atocha.....You find something, keep it quiet.....

Poor Mel Fisher. He went through the trouble of legal salvage, and his company is worth millions now. If you don't
conduct a legal operation, how can you ever sell the artifacts of value? Artifacts are only worth what people buy them for. You can have a million dollar emerald cross, and no way to turn that into cash without provenance... Then it's worthless unless you count the sentimental value?

I found a wreck in a local river and have not went back to investigate it. It was like a regular family swimming pool size of balast rock and that was all that was left. I have often wondered if anything could be under those rocks...........

Generally, under the rocks (ballast) is where all of the good stuff is.