What is your favourite wreck....

bgpartri

I have a bunch. My favorites are the Saratoga and the San Francisco Maru. I really liked the Kamloops and hope I get to explore it a little more.

But no one else has mentioned the Bianca C. I really enjoyed that wreck and spent a whole week doing two dives a day on it. Here are some shots from the machine shop just off the engine room.

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jont

Good call dude, I'll second that, but there is some cool stuff by the 1000 islands too, after reading the posts it all sounds good, now I need to retire and travel

MHD

2nd vote for ST Paul of Brisbane, Australia

1 -St Paul
2 - Off Cape moreton, near smiths rock
3- 42 m
4 - Over the last couple of years I have seen this wreck from it worst (diver unconscious, spat DSV at 40m on a inspo) to near it best (on several occasions)

http://www.diveoz.com.au/discussion_...TOPIC_ID=10214

(or the fact tha 2 weeks later we had a mol mol on the wreck.

Like Bear it really does drag me back (going tomorrow I hope)

And followed by the yongala, fish life is amazing

Matt

abowie

Like many of you, I have a number of favourites.

I love the Coolidge; especially last time when Harry and I were pretty much given free reign to go where we wanted and do what we felt like. We were also lucky enough to be taken on a bit of a ramble with by Kevin Green who knows the wreck so well. http://www.users.on.net/~abowie/VW20...dgeRJDH11.html

My recent trip to Bikini let me dive the Saratoga, Arkansas and Nagato but my favourite dive was DD367 USS Lamson. A destroyer only a little over 100m in length she sits proud and beautifully intact on her keel in 50m of warm clear water. She is still armed to the teeth and woe betide anyone who messes with her. http://www.users.on.net/~abowie/Biki.../Lamson21.html

Back in Vanuatu there's a Tasman flying boat scuttled in 40m of murk in the corner of the harbour. I well remember the lesson in narcosis I learned the first itme I dived this one. I swam up the fuselage from the tail to the cockpit, initially following another diver (who had the only torch). The combination of silt out, cabling and general lack of light made me realise suddenly that I was on my own and not really sure of the way out. I remember thinking that I should be really frightened, but was just narced enough to numbly swim ahead and find my way out by pure luck.
http://www.users.on.net/~abowie/flyingboat.htm

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mattmexico

Yo there

Steel

USS Atlanta
Solomon Island
425 feet

Wood

Walter Mathau
Lake Superior
around 180

Matt

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Peter Piemonte

I would have to pick two. The EMPRESS OF IRELAND located in the St. Lawrence Seaway. Max depth here is 140fsw. The other would probably be the ST. AUGUSTINE in more temperate water (still pretty cold though!) of the coast of Maryland in about 250fsw.
The EMPRESS for it's incredible history and wonderful difficulty and complexity. The St. Augustine for the wonderful visibility and pristine nature of the wreck. I look forward to getting back to both. Peter

Helium_diver

Peter ,
Dove the St Augustine about a month and a half ago . cold ,dark 30 ft of vis, but she is a magnificent wreck

Helium_diver

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Ron Mahoney

For me it is the history of the wreck and the life of the ship first, last and always; whether it's in 10m or 100m. For that reason I'd have to put the SS LEOPOLDVILLE at the top of my list. Lying just off the North coast of France outside the port of Cherbourg she was lost on Christmas Eve 1944.

She had left Southampton carrying over 2000 American troops from the 66th Infantry Division, known as the "Black Panthers", to support the fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. Just 5 miles from safety she was struck by a torpedo fired from U-486 commanded by Oberleutnant Gerhard Meyer. Due to a combination of delays, errors and mishaps over 800 men (and some estimates put it at over 900) lost their lives on that cold December evening.

One of the most poignant sights are the rows and rows of what look like flower pots lying along the wrecks companionways. It is only when you get close to them that you realise that these are actually G.I's helmets ditched in a frantic fight for survival.

The wreck now lies in 57m but as she lies on her starboard side you start to pick up the hull at about 33m and is a perfect multi level dive. She is a large wreck to explore; okay you can scooter her from bow to stern in one dive but you will only be scratching the surface of what is down there. The only problem is the slack window is pretty short - about 40min on neaps and once the tide starts to run - it runs! The dive operators who have permits to dive the wreck tend to insist on all divers coming back up the shotline as they don't want you drifting into the path of one of the numerous 15,000 ton ferrys operating out of Cherbourg.

If you ever get the opportunity to dive her then grasp it with both hands, you wont regret it. Geoff Keep who helped me organise the trip has uploaded a flash animation on his site:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/newfrontie...opoldville.htm

I put it together to give talks about the story in schools - I hope you enjoy it.

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Rickoz

1 - What is your Favourite Wreck

2 - Where is it

3 - What depth in meters of salt water

4 - What is on it / why is it your favourite....

HOME .......... AWAY........ OS
1 - St Paul.... SSYongala.. Coolidge

2 - Brisbane... Townsville.. Vanuatu

3 - 40ish msw. 30ish msw. 60ish msw

4 - not much.. everthing.. lots

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Andy T

1. Yongala
2. Townsville Qld
3. 30m
4. Partly the tragic history. But mostly because of the marine life - the number and size of the fish is simply beyond belief, everything on this wreck seems to be on steriods!