F/V's Ocean, Mist, Gale and Wave
We found the first of these four similar vessels in mid-July of 2005, and dove it for the first
time on July 31. It appeared very large on the depth finder, with a
profile of approximately 50 ft., leading us to believe it was possibly a
small wreck or other obstruction with some large dragger nets suspended
above. However, when we
finally hooked it and went down to investigate, we found a large ship in
a similar position to the wreck we called the Eagle Boat, with the stern buried solidly in the
mud, and the bow pointed upwards at perhaps a 30 - 40 degree angle.
The engine room area emerges from the mud at 250 FSW, and the tip of the bow
is right at 200 FSW. This was obviously a scuttled
ship, stripped and empty with holes blown in the sides near the waterline
to facilitate sinking.
The ship has a steel hull,
wooden deck, and what appears to be a single long deckhouse along the center
of the wreck. The remains of a wheelhouse appears as a second deck
above the forward section of the deckhouse. A "greenhouse" style ventilation roof for the engine
room is the first identifiable feature that emerges from the mud.
Going forward, the deckhouse begins with immediate access to the engine
room, housing a single steam engine surrounded by a catwalk similar to the
one found in the Pug wreck. The boiler is immediately forward of the
engine and appears to pass through a bulkhead in the ship. Entering the engine room actually takes you below the mud, and
there seems to be plenty of open space.
a view into the engine room -
photo by Joe Augusto
Lifeboat davits are intact on both sides of the deckhouse. Portholes have been removed for the most part, and those that remain have
what appear to be steel frames. All hatches are open and allow easy
access to most or all of the ship. Immediately forward of the deckhouse
is a single large winch with dual drums, and there are two open cargo hatches
between the winch and bow. Near the bow, two "snorkel" hatches give access below
- a raised area in the deck provides a platform at the tip of the bow. Since
most of the interesting features of the wreck are near the mud, this is a
very deep dive. Monofilament covers the wreck and requires constant
vigilance. A single large dragger net is draped over the deck
immediately forward of the winch, but otherwise the wreck is net free.
Paul's
grapple firmly in place on the wreck
Searching for the identity of this wreck has taken us
in some curious directions. I originally thought it might be the Van, a cargo
ship known to have been scuttled in the immediate area, but we always had
some suspicion that it was labeled incorrectly. The Van had some
unique features that were not evident on this wreck. In the summer of
2009, we finally found what was obviously the Van about 3 miles from the
location of this wreck. Then Jeff Goudreau noted that the wreck
everyone thought to be the Eagle Boat was in fact more similar to the now
"ex-Van" than pictures of an Eagle Boat, and subsequent dives proved him to
be right. We now had two very similar ships sunk in similar positions
relatively close to each other and began again to search for the identity of
this wreck. We noted that four similarly sized fishing vessels had
been sunk in this area of the dumping grounds, and when Heather Knowles sent
along a photo of one - the Ocean, shown below - we knew that's what we had
found.
We now believe based on general locations compared to
those in the AWOIS database that the original wreck found in 2005 is the
Gale. The former "Eagle Boat" is likely to be the Mist, and a wreck
Jeff found in the summer of 2010 and explored in August is almost certainly
the Ocean. The Wave is still missing.
.
 
A winch mounted on the bow of the Ocean is shown on the left
At right is the fore mast of the Ocean which is still standing up to 10
ft. or so, the only one still in place of the 3 ships found
An anemone graces a lone porthole that is still in place on the Ocean
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