great fine
Found ship anchor
- Thread starter riverdiver
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jetfixer
Contributor
Wow! It really cleaned up nicely. Do you sell them or donate them?
Excellent find. Bravo! Is your team looking for other iron objects in the area? Perhaps there even another anchor down there? If the whole thing went down who knows what you could find. Take a magnetometer to get some good "hits".
X
X
OP
riverdiver
Contributor
We brought up 7 ship anchors and one capstan this Summer, and at this time I know of 8 more in the river.
Ed
Ed
Terrific. Any historical significance to these wrecks? The reason I ask is because (and here's the caveat) getting archeologists involved will ensure some type of studied approach, preservation of materials for the public and what not. Hopefully a fair amount of credit to you and your team, a dedicated television show???
The negatives of this will be tons of red tape and headaches, local and fed. bickering. You name it. I'm sure you know all about this. On another note....find any steering components - gudgeons, pintles, steering quadrants etc?
X
OP
riverdiver
Contributor
No these anchors are not on any wrecks, they are just laying on the bottom,some may have no chain others may have 500 feet. The St. Clair River moves at 8 knts in some places and faster with a North wind. The old story is true, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, that being a anchor chain.
Ed
Ed
That's absolutely untrue. I found one once, but was running low on air and on bottom time, and had to leave it, in hopes that I would be able to locate it again on a return trip to raise it. I tied a yellow ribbon around it to aid in it's relocation, however was not fortunate enough to ever see it again. As you can see, the conditions don't make it any easier for us, wrestling with difficult vis and water temps that can dip into the low 70's. This picture was taken on our most recent expedition, which again turned up nothing. We think it is in the area about 100 feet to the right of this diver.
Riverdiver, hey...great find. But isn't the river a bit polluted? Safe to dive with just a wetsuit?
Scubakevdm....I have no words. But this summer I took a group diving and passed by a 30' wreck...one diver asked later...."what wreck?"
Rod
Scubakevdm....I have no words. But this summer I took a group diving and passed by a 30' wreck...one diver asked later...."what wreck?"
Rod
Where is the tongue in cheek smiley when you need it (twice)?
Holy Mole!!! 8 knots is more than flagpole time underwater!!! Please keep us informed on your discoveries. They're very, very cool. There's nothing like coming across a large anchor underwater, or for that matter significant artifacts. I'm sure diving at the slack gives you only a small window, and the pics. that you posted look like supremely low viz. diving! Kudos to your team for recovering and sharing the story.
Mr. X
p.s. as I think about it - throwing an anchor was "probably" a last ditch effort by the captain to stabilize the boat in some bad conditions. If they were unsuccessful, they probably grounded somewhere down river? Are the chains in a pile, or stretched? Not knowing the area, I bet there are more goodies for you to find. Like personal belongings??? Gotta say, I like the detective work involved with wrecks...having discovered one. Wish I could talk more about it, but I'd reveal my secret identity.
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