Diving a virgin

dive2dive2000 · 29th June 2007, 02:01

On Saturday I had an extremely rare opportunity to dive a very old ship wreck in local NY waters. It was an amazing experience to swim something for the first time and share in the findings of a first time expedition. Here is a dive report that was written by Capt. John Gorman
(Aka *Jackass*) of the LOCKNESS Dive Boat http://www.locknessdiveboat.net

One of the best things about owning a dive boat and being a diver is the ever present search for a new wreck, something no one has ever dove, or even knows about. It's the stuff we dream of. This Sat. our dreams came true, after years of begging, pleading, and buying countless beers. One of the local fisherman gave me a set of #s for a wreck he used to Cod fish on. Within a week we set up a trip to dive the virgin wreck and we had the who's who of the dive world on the boat ( I don't mean me!). We had the crew Pat Rooney, Jeff ( I hate everybody ) Pagano, Kevin Dorman, Gus Bricker ( AKA Russ Ricker), and we would have had John Bricker but he came down with a case of New wreck ass so we sent him home. The other legends besides myself were Richie Kohler, Frank Pellegrino, Evan Kovics, Martin Schutzbank (aka M3), a Mike Schwaner (aka M4), and there was also Jeff (I broke the window ) Gershen. Now the bad news is the wreck is 60 miles away, in 200 feet of water, the #s he gave me are Loran #s which can be a little difficult. The wreck is low lying which makes it harder to find. Oh did I mention the 30 knot winds??!! The wind dropped to 15+ so we left at 3 AM for the 6 hr. cruise, going slow to conserve fuel. We got there around 9 AM and the waves are huge. I don't see anything on the ocean floor, my heart rate is increasing with every minute, I don't see anything. So now I'm saying to myself, we just went 60 miles for nothing, what a loser you are. You knew you should have waited for a better day! Now I can feel the sweat coming down my forehead and the voices in my head is calling me names like Jackass, Asshole, Loser and a few more I would rather not mention!! After more then a hour I keep seeing this little raise in the Ocean floor that comes up around 4 to 5 Ft. It was hard to tell because the waves were a lot bigger then that. Finally we drop the line on some little speck in the middle of the Ocean, the voices are saying you just wasted a lot of time and money Jackass! Jeff and Pat jump in to tie into probably a old refrigerator or shopping cart ( the voices again ). When the bottle came up I can't believe we are on something. The voices are now saying, you the man, words like great, legend, and I think I was taller at that moment. As it turns out we discovered a very large sailing vessel that has never been touched since the early 1800's. Pretty cool! We think it was a four masted ship over 300 feet long. A Little while later a lift bag comes up with 2 portholes very old and very cool. Evan said they were just sitting in debri, loose, just waiting for a diver to come by. We were tied into the anchor wench on the bow. On the stern is a bronze helm station, a fare amount of coal too. Also there were 2 anchors on the bow. The vis was 30+ There were lots of lobsters and even some Cod fish which you don't see many of anymore. The temp. was around 48. We will be going back there soon to see if we can find out more about her on a lot calmer day. Being the first person to touch the wreck you are allowed to name it. First it was Jackass then PJ Jackass, then FW (Filthy w h o r e ) so that's it we...found the Filthy w h o r e . So next time your with a filthy w h o r e just remember she wasn't until we found her!!!
The Legend??

PS... I spoke to the fisherman today that found that wreck years ago. They named it "Hard A" because it was hard to find and they only used loran A which was very difficult to work with.

Just to add a little more info the wreck was about 40'-70' in width and around 300' -400' in length The seas were kicking that day so we all did one and run. Hopefully we will return for further exploration.

"Diving The Lockness is so easy even a Caveman can do it!!"
LOCKNESS DIVE BOAT

29th June 2007, 02:01	#1 (permalink)
dive2dive2000 PRISM DIVER & LUVIN IT! Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 795	Diving a virgin On Saturday I had an extremely rare opportunity to dive a very old ship wreck in local NY waters. It was an amazing experience to swim something for the first time and share in the findings of a first time expedition. Here is a dive report that was written by Capt. John Gorman (Aka Jackass) of the LOCKNESS Dive Boat http://www.locknessdiveboat.net One of the best things about owning a dive boat and being a diver is the ever present search for a new wreck, something no one has ever dove, or even knows about. It's the stuff we dream of. This Sat. our dreams came true, after years of begging, pleading, and buying countless beers. One of the local fisherman gave me a set of #s for a wreck he used to Cod fish on. Within a week we set up a trip to dive the virgin wreck and we had the who's who of the dive world on the boat ( I don't mean me!). We had the crew Pat Rooney, Jeff ( I hate everybody ) Pagano, Kevin Dorman, Gus Bricker ( AKA Russ Ricker), and we would have had John Bricker but he came down with a case of New wreck ass so we sent him home. The other legends besides myself were Richie Kohler, Frank Pellegrino, Evan Kovics, Martin Schutzbank (aka M3), a Mike Schwaner (aka M4), and there was also Jeff (I broke the window ) Gershen. Now the bad news is the wreck is 60 miles away, in 200 feet of water, the #s he gave me are Loran #s which can be a little difficult. The wreck is low lying which makes it harder to find. Oh did I mention the 30 knot winds??!! The wind dropped to 15+ so we left at 3 AM for the 6 hr. cruise, going slow to conserve fuel. We got there around 9 AM and the waves are huge. I don't see anything on the ocean floor, my heart rate is increasing with every minute, I don't see anything. So now I'm saying to myself, we just went 60 miles for nothing, what a loser you are. You knew you should have waited for a better day! Now I can feel the sweat coming down my forehead and the voices in my head is calling me names like Jackass, Asshole, Loser and a few more I would rather not mention!! After more then a hour I keep seeing this little raise in the Ocean floor that comes up around 4 to 5 Ft. It was hard to tell because the waves were a lot bigger then that. Finally we drop the line on some little speck in the middle of the Ocean, the voices are saying you just wasted a lot of time and money Jackass! Jeff and Pat jump in to tie into probably a old refrigerator or shopping cart ( the voices again ). When the bottle came up I can't believe we are on something. The voices are now saying, you the man, words like great, legend, and I think I was taller at that moment. As it turns out we discovered a very large sailing vessel that has never been touched since the early 1800's. Pretty cool! We think it was a four masted ship over 300 feet long. A Little while later a lift bag comes up with 2 portholes very old and very cool. Evan said they were just sitting in debri, loose, just waiting for a diver to come by. We were tied into the anchor wench on the bow. On the stern is a bronze helm station, a fare amount of coal too. Also there were 2 anchors on the bow. The vis was 30+ There were lots of lobsters and even some Cod fish which you don't see many of anymore. The temp. was around 48. We will be going back there soon to see if we can find out more about her on a lot calmer day. Being the first person to touch the wreck you are allowed to name it. First it was Jackass then PJ Jackass, then FW (Filthy w h o r e ) so that's it we...found the Filthy w h o r e . So next time your with a filthy w h o r e just remember she wasn't until we found her!!! The Legend?? PS... I spoke to the fisherman today that found that wreck years ago. They named it "Hard A" because it was hard to find and they only used loran A which was very difficult to work with. Just to add a little more info the wreck was about 40'-70' in width and around 300' -400' in length The seas were kicking that day so we all did one and run. Hopefully we will return for further exploration. "Diving The Lockness is so easy even a Caveman can do it!!" LOCKNESS DIVE BOAT __________________ Safe Diving, Martin
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