Why dive wrecks like Andrea Doria

[Diver0001]

why do it?

Because

It's

There.

//

To me it's about the story. I dive wrecks on a regular basis and I'm not the kind who just goes rummaging around looking for trinkets. Well... actually I do but I use them to fill in my story of the wreck and just give the stuff I find away to people who like collecting it. To me the story is far more interesting and finding something on a wreck that says something about a passenger or crew-member, or about what the ship was doing, or how she got there (in cases where we don't know much about it) is absolutely fascinating to me.

You'd have to stick me with a cattle prod to motivate me to go dive around in a cave because a cave is just a big empty dead space full of nothing but wrecks are like moments of human history frozen in time.

I get the same feeling around old castles. They're just big piles of rocks to most people, but I can walk around in ruins all day long building up a mental picture of what it must have been like to live there. I could also dig around for hours and days looking for anything used by the people who lived there because it's a direct line to the past and it has meaning to me. I once nearly piled an old Roman catapult stone that I found into the back of the car on vacation in Italy. If it weren't for the fact that it was too big to handle and the objections of my wife who even after I told her what it was said, "uuuh... so what?", then it would be on display in my living room right now. I mean, to this day I just can't understand how someone could NOT want a Roman catapult stone in their living room!

I really should have become an archaeologist but pragmatism and time have conspired to drive me into a less interesting, albeit better paying, career. Probably if you don't have a passion for rediscovering the past then wrecks will just be junk to you.

R..

 

[manni-yunk]

I prefer to dive wrecks over anything else. Sure - I dive reefs on vacation, but thats more so that I can dive with my wife (she still wont dive the deep, cold dark local water that I love). I love the history of the wrecks - I love reading about what happened to the wreck on the way out. I keep my boat loaded with shipwreck books and we all read through them on our way there. Also - yo unever know what you are going to find, from ceramic floor tile, to portholes, to watches, helm, etc. Lobster and fish everywhere - and every trip back is a little different as the wreck changes.
If not for wreck diving, I would probably not be as into diving. And - Im a guy that was (is) a DIE-HARD offshore fishing guy that has now converted that offshore boat into more of a dive boat.

That being said - I dont think I have the desire to dive the Doria. Im not ruling it out - but its out of the range that I think I will get trained to in this sport. I know a lot of people that have dived it. In fact -recently I have been diving with a guy who ( Im pretty sure about this - but not 100% sure about this next stat) is up there with the list of guys that have the most dives on the Doria. He has China out the WAZOO and tons of other cool artifacts as well as stories. Some of the Doria dives are more of a 3-4 day adventure with friends. Endless planning, commeraderie, execution of that plan - then a recap of years of training coming through in one dive. His house is LITERALLY a dive wreck museum!

Some of you guys like reefs - OK. Some of you guys like Caves - OK. Up here - I strongly prefer WRECKS.

And - I have a full awareness of that any wreck is to be taken seriously - BUT- any time we dive a wreck where another divers has lost their life - I seem to take extra caution (if thats possible).

 

[FiddlerOnTheRoof]

I like the silverware personally! Any plates I ever found were broken...

 

[bakodiver391]

Grandfather to grandson; "If everyone liked the same things they'd all want Grandma".

 

[oldschoolto]

Hmmm Brass. As a recovering Brassoholic, I am surprised that nobody mentioned the irresistible magnetic attraction to shiny metal???? Maybe it’s a guy thing.

OH.... That first Stainless steel prop shaft and brass fittings.... I was 14 and diving in 80' of cold dark water.... Solo.... It took a good ten dives to get it.. Twin 72's with a double hose and a 30 pony.... I can relive that adventure from 40 yrs ago.... Remember every breath....

Jim....

 

[EricM.]

I think the main motivation for me getting certified was so that I could wreck dive. I am taking specialty courses, and hanging out where the old timers talk about technique, and tell their sea stories. I am looking forward to making a few of my own when the time comes.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Because of the historical-archaeological interest & importance:

Today is the 71st Annivesary of US Navy's Operation Hailstone in WWII.

From last year:
USNS Soderman conducts port visit to Chuuk, FSM

As for the Andrea Doria itself, and other than the "China Fever" & infamous Diving History on her, it was one of the first major commercial ship collision disasters in the modern technological age with the use (or misuse of in this instance) of Radar.

 

[RJP]

Having considered this question for many years, try this cut an paste:

"Why do adventurers climb great mountains or diveto dangerousdepths? The various answers seem toinevitably evolve into platitudes,even the most famous and thoughtprovoking response of “Becauseit’s there.” Everest climber GeorgeMallory’s elegantly simple acceptanceof the inexplicable nature of the answeris not satisfying, nor do I expectthat it was meant to be."

Interesting piece of trivia: Mallory never actually said "Because it's there" which was a line written by a New York Times reporter, after having interviewed Sir George, as a way of paraphrasing his climbing ethos. The reporter was essentially taking a dig at Mallory, pointing out that he really DIDN'T HAVE a very good reason to climb Everest. However, as the sentiment is largely consistent with Mallory's mindset... he's been given credit for the line itself.

More trivia: It's always interesting to me when people cite Mallory's supposed "Because it's There" mantra as good advice to follow. It may interest those folks to know that Mallory failed to summit in each of his first three Everest expeditions. On his fourth expedition he and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, were last seen alive just before an avalanche took them off the mountain. They were 300yds short of the summit at the time.

Mallory's mummified remains were found in 1999. According to the guy who found them...

"The pose in which Mallory had come to rest said a lot about his final moments. His head was uphill, and his arms were in a grasping-type position, probably trying to arrest a descent that was out of control. Then there was the snapped rope around his waist and the broken leg. It seemed that he had died struggling."​

And what of Andrew Irvine? Well, the last guy to literally follow the "Because it's there" guy was no doubt tied to the other end of the snapped rope around Mallory's waist. Irvine's remains were never found.

 

[Kevrumbo]

. . .Ultimately, each person who ventures out must make his or her own decisions about how far to go and what point to turn back. There's an old saying among prospectors who comb the hills for gold here in the American West: "Gold is where you find it". You can say the same about adventure ["Adventure is where you find it"]. For that matter, you can say it about risk, about death, and about being acutely alive. . .


--from Introduction, Last Breath: Cautionary Tales From The Limits of Human Endurance by Peter Stark.

 

[oldschoolto]

There is something about a wreck that draws me to them... They lay on the bottom in the dark cold waters.. Calling me in ... To touch her and explore the dark rooms and halls of her bowels... To be at one with her... Knowing that I have the skill and knowledge to be there.. The rush of finding that piece of treasure... To live my life as I see fit... And knowing she can take my life if I screw up.. The love wrecks is not for the weak of mind... I'm a solo wreck diver and 40 years later .. Remember my first time like it was 10 minutes ago...

If they don't call you.. Don't go..

Jim...