Tag: shipwrecks

The barge has been raised and towed to dry dock for repairs Salvage Team members recently fought with high current Mississippi River conditions to refloat a sunken coal barge near Lake Providence, LA. The barge was fully loaded and headed south when it went down in March of this year.Having been on the river bottom this long, the barge was partially buried in river sediment. The salvage crew began the task of digging the wreck clear. Methods involving clam buckets proved unsuccessful as the river current would cause the equipment to become fouled and uncontrollable. An 80 ft. compressed air-lift suction system was quickly assembled and proved to be capable of moving the mud, sand, and remaining cargo in the high current.Once the barge was exposed, the dive team began to survey the condition of the barge. Divers were challenged by the river conditions, but, without incident, they were able to empty the mud filled tanks and rig the wreck to the Inland Salvage heavy lift barges Big Al and Large Marge.The wreck was raised and, while still held in the cranes, moved toward the bank and into shallow water. Hull surveys found limited damage and the Salvage Master determined ...

NOAA Sanctuary Researchers assist in salvage operation On Oct. 26, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries assisted the State of North Carolina with the recovery of a large cannon from the Queen Anne's Revenge, the sunken flagship of the notorious pirate captain Blackbeard. The Queen Anne's Revenge sank off the coast of North Carolina in 1718 when Blackbeard ran it aground while entering an inlet. The cannon had rested on the ocean floor for nearly 300 years.The RV-8501, an 85-foot NOAA research vessel, served as a staging platform for divers during the recovery mission. The vessel was also used to transport the iconic relic. The eight-foot-long canon was taken to a conservation lab at East Carolina University to begin the restoration process before it ultimately goes on display at the North Carolina Maritime Museum located in Beaufort, N.C.The Queen Anne's Revenge Project is a coordinated undertaking involving individuals, organizations, and institutions under the overall management of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Partners in the project include East Carolina University, N.C. Marine Fisheries, Town of Beaufort, and Friends of the Queen Anne's Revenge, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, and the National Marine Sanctuary ...

Divers from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea find wreckage from World War II Flash back to 1944: It's a misty Hawaiian morning and a military vessel carries a nervous crew and deadly cargo from Pearl Harbor into the Pacific. The crew's instructions are clear: Travel eight kilometers out to sea and dump tons of unused chemical weapons that are piled on deck. As the ship reaches the open ocean, the captain slows the vessel and sailors start pushing their lethal freight into the water. During the next half-hour, several thousand chemical bombs go overboard and into the abyss.Divers from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea find wreckage from World War II, like this Japanese fighter plane, sunk off Palau, Micronesia. In some locations, such as off the coast of Hawaii, divers may also encounter chemical weapons.Today, such a scenario seems unimaginable. But between the early 20th century and the mid-1970s, many nations used the deep ocean floor as a dumping ground for leftover bombs filled with chemicals such as chemical mustard, lewisite, sarin and tabun. Times - and mind-sets - were different then. The seafloor was considered an inaccessible place that no one would ever lay eyes on. And countries around ...

Assessment operations have been completed The on-scene assessment operations of the sunken World War II tanker S.S. Montebello are nearly complete off the coast of Cambria, Calif., and the unified command has determined that there is no substantial oil threat from the Montebello to California waters and shorelines. The only operation that remains is the collection of hull samples to help determine corrosion status.Over the past 11 days, a unified command led by the Coast Guard and California Department of Fish and Game's Office of Spill Prevention and Response assessed cargo and fuel tanks, as well as collected ocean floor sediment samples, using an underwater remotely operated vehicle. The sediment and tank samples that were collected are being sent for further analysis."Our number one objective for this mission was to determine what threat, if any, the Montebello poses to the waters and shorelines of California," said Coast Guard Capt. Roger Laferriere. "After careful evaluation of the data, we have concluded with a high level of confidence that there is no oil threat from the S.S. Montebello.""This is a new era of prevention," said DFG OSPR Capt. Chris Graff. "This has been a cooperative partnership using cutting-edge technology and surgical precision. ...

12-meter section of the keel and rows of planks The wreck of a ship believed to have been part of the ill-fated attempts by Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of China in the 13th century, to invade Japan has been found lying relatively intact under the seabed off Nagasaki Prefecture, a team of Japanese researchers said Monday.It is the first wreck linked to the invasion attempts to have been discovered in Japan with much of the hull still intact, including a 12-meter section of the keel and rows of planks 10 cm thick and 15 to 25 cm wide attached to the keel, according to University of the Ryukyus professor Yoshifumi Ikeda and his team.Discovered about 1 meter under the seabed in waters 20 to 25 meters deep off Takashima Island in Matsuura, Nagasaki, the wreck of the vessel, believed to have been over 20 meters long, is expected to provide archeologists with crucial information on the Mongol attacks in 1274 and 1281, which until now have been known mostly from documents and drawings."I believe we will be able to understand more about shipbuilding skills at the time as well as the actual situation of exchanges in East Asia," Ikeda ...

900 feet below the ocean surface approximately 6.5 miles off California The Coast Guard and state of California are finalizing the planning phase of an operation to determine if oil is present aboard the sunken ship S.S. Montebello, which sits 900 feet below the ocean surface approximately 6.5 miles off the coast of Cambria, Calif.Operating under a Unified Command, the Coast Guard and California Department of Fish and Game's Office of Spill Prevention and Response will manage and oversee the operations, which are schedule to begin around Oct. 10, 2011."Protecting the invaluable resources of California is highest priority for DFG," said Capt. Chris Graff from California Department of Fish and Game's Office of Spill Prevention and Response, the State On-Scene Coordinator. "We appreciate the Coast Guard and our civilian partners efforts in this crucial inspection of the Montebello.""We are going to deal with this threat before it deals with us. We are employing some of the most sophisticated oil spill assessment equipment in the world. The information we get from this operation will help us develop the best practical plan for defending the coast of California," said Coast Guard Capt. Roger Laferriere, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator.In late September, the Coast ...

S.S. Montebello sank after a Japanese submarine torpedoed the large oil tanker on 1941 The Coast Guard awarded a contract to Global Diving and Salvage Inc. to determine if oil is present aboard the sunken ship S.S. Montebello, which sits 900 feet below the ocean surface approximately 6.5 miles off the coast of Cambria, Calif.The S.S. Montebello sank after a Japanese submarine torpedoed the large oil tanker on December 23, 1941. The Montebello broke apart and sank landing upright with her bow broken off and landing apart from the majority of the wreckage.Multiple dive operations have been conducted between 1996 and 2010 to survey the site and determine the hull's integrity. To date, no signs of leakage have been detected, and from previous scans, the hull appears to be intact."The California coast is a vital national resource that we must protect," said Coast Guard Capt. Roger Laferriere, who is acting as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator. "Working in concert with our state and local partners, it is our duty to ensure we gain good information about the Montebello so we can do our best to protect the marine environment.""This sampling and observation operation will provide the answers needed to truly assess ...

The tugboat sank in 1963 but concern grew after an oil sheen was discovered above the wreck site Environmental officials feared the worst: Was a long-sunken tugboat a looming environmental disaster?For the past week, commercial divers braved the dark, cold depths of Lake Champlain to try to find out just what the tugboat wreck held. Was it the 14,000 gallons of diesel fuel that represented the worst-case scenario?The answers were revealed Tuesday: The tug's tanks contained no diesel fuel at all, though a small amount of lubricating oil was found trapped within the wreck's high spots.Buckley McAllister, vice president of the company that paid for much of the effort, seemed chagrined."In the process of this project, I estimate that we burned tens of thousands of gallons of fuel. ... There were no reported injuries. We are relieved that the project was completed safely," he said.The tugboat, the William H. McAllister, sank in 1963 and represents the last significant commercial shipwreck on the 120-mile lake between Vermont and upstate New York. It sat on the bottom unmolested for decades, but concern grew after an oil sheen was discovered above the wreck site in 1997.Working tugs used about 800 gallons of fuel ...

Containing silver worth 155 million The wreck of a British cargo ship containing silver worth 155 million, sunk by a German U-boat during the Second World War, has been discovered on the Atlantic sea bed.Expert underwater archaeologists will attempt to salvage the treasure, handing 20 per cent of its value to the British Government.The SS Gairsoppa set sail from India in December 1940 carrying a consignment of 240 tonnes of silver, iron and tea.It was headed for Liverpool but was forced to break away from its military convoy off the coast of Ireland as weather conditions deteriorated and it began to run out of fuel.As the merchant steamship tried to make it to Galway it was attacked by the German submarine U101, 300 miles southwest of the Irish harbour.On February 17, 1941, a single torpedo sank the ill-fated vessel, killing all 85 crewmen except one.Of 32 survivors who managed to clamber onto lifeboats, Second Officer Richard Ayres was the only one who, 13 days later, made it to the Cornish coast alive. He was awarded an MBE for his attempts to rescue his fellow sailors and lived until 1992.The wreck of the 412ft-long Gairsoppa, owned by the British Indian Steam ...

While returning from the D-Day landings Divers have discovered the "missing" wreck of a British ship which sank with all its crew in the Solent while returning from the D-Day landings.Landing craft LCT 427 was returning to Portsmouth in the early hours of 7 June 1944 having successfully delivered her cargo of tanks to Sword beach.Just four miles from shore it collided with battleship HMS Rodney and was sliced in half. All 12 crew were lost.Divers from Southsea Sub-Aqua Club have now located the two wreck pieces.Alison Mayor, project leader, said: "It is such a tragic and sad story."The crew had made the crossing to France, survived the engagement with the enemy and successfully delivered the cargo of tanks - only to be lost in the dead of night, four miles from home and in collision with one of your own ships."Busy shipping channelMs Mayor said that due to the scale and magnitude of the Normandy invasion the incident went unreported for two months and during this time the landing craft was reported as "missing".The wreck was discovered at a depth of 30m (100ft) during Southsea Sub-Aqua Club's recent diving survey and historical research in the Solent area.The two pieces ...