2008 Dry Tortugas Technical Expedition (Deep Wrecks)

barney

you definitely shot some great stuff - looking forward to seeing a compilation of it all! happy editing!

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Michael C. Barnette
ASSOCIATION OF UNDERWATER EXPLORERS

vidodivr

I agree, Just like the government, everything is backwards and it's too big to fix and it really could go either way.

As I have noted, you have done more than most, thank you.

I am still pretty young and finally becoming financially stable enough to go out on such trips. It's a simple matter of my time is just arriving.
How would diving on a wreck today or 5 years from now tell me what it looked like in 2004?
The only way to know that is through documentation from previous folks, if it's stripped clean and not documented only those people know and it's lost history.

I'm too level headed to piss off, and I hope everyone else is as well.

Oh, I have the goal of diving every wreck on this planet, I will appreciate what it is at the time with the info provided to me by the others that have explored before me, gather my own and hopefully provide some input.
My point is just to outreach to wreck divers that are blessed to go to these wrecks where most archeologists can only dream of going and think a little more like an archaeologist instead of the artifact hungry wreck divers. If it's artifacts are gone, so is the historical data. Just document it, then take it, it's your right, finders keepers. (unless protected by law)
Where that documentation goes....I know someone with file cabinets and hard drives!!

Mike, we all had to start somewhere and I'm ramping up now.

The Great Lakes are my main interest, which is another ball game altogether, but a wreck is a wreck regardless.

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Have a good one,
Rob LaLonde
Rec and Tek Media, Inc.
Full Service Film and Video Production


CK #087, Narked@90 stand, URM

Joe

FWIW we did that with the Queen of Nassau in the Keys. We got invited to participate with the government funded research team on the initial dives. We assisted in documenting the wreck, recovering artifacts, towed the cameramen with rigged harnesses using our scooters to make a photomosaic.

Mike's input basically made the authorities aware that the wreck previously thought to be a junk pile of a freighter with a cargo of motorcycles was actually an historically significant wreck. (Also got to dive with a great bunch of guys, some of whom I am still friendly with and have a great admiration for.)

This all came about courtesy of Mikes instincts, research and willingness to communicate and share information with the government archaeologists.

AUE reaped some significant rewards for this.

Like being falsely accused of taking artifacts from the wreck that were still on it. (Thats right, someone couldn't find an artifact so ASSumed we took it even though it was there and they apparently just didn't see it.)

Or like when the time came to make the documentary film, AUE was excluded.

Mike was the catsalyst that made this all happen and he got no recognition for it. To his credit, the Archaeologist in charge, Tane Casserly, did acknowledge Mikes contributions to the project but it fell on deaf ears, undoubtedly due to politics.

When we did our first trips to the Rhine, Araby etc. etc. Billy Deans and a few others were the only ones who dived them and their locations were closely guarded secrets. Our first trips were on fishing boats with no amenities. Captains fished while we were in the water.

In Canaveral and off SC, because there was no other ride to certain offshore wrecks, we have done trips off Sportfisherman where the only way back in the boat was through a tuna door. Ever try getting in a boat wearing 104's in pitching seas, no ladder, only a tuna door and have a big assed shark trying to get a taste as you leave the water? Typically these are the type of trips that are the predecessors to the MV Spree type trips.

The artifacts in those pictures were the result of tireless digging in sand and muck. They were things that *no one* would ever see if these guys didn't find them. Does anyone really think some government funded, taxpayer dollar wasting beaureaucrat archaeologist is going to roll around in zero viz at 220' for 30 or 40 minutes to recover a chamber pot? Never happen, even if it had George Washingtons turd in it. And if it did happen, it would be locked away in a warehouse for future preservation and no one would ever see it again until it wound up as part of a lot on US Gov't Liquidators.

If you could magically take the Rhine from drydock in perfect condition and sink it in its present location you'd be arrested for polluting the seas. But because it is there by the misfortune of war it is called Cultural Heritage. Same ship is both treasure and trash.

I'm a diver, not an archaeologist or a politician. To be honest, if I found Noahs Ark tomorrow I would not share it. No one but my small inner circle of friends would *ever* hear about it because I would not want to deal with all of the crap that is dished out by people who have *NO* clue about the ground work it takes to figure out which are the worthwhile, diveable wrecks that result in enabling someone to put together recreational expeditions of this type. Do you think the Spree or the Ultimate Getaway acually went out and did these dives on their nickel to learn about them? Obviously not. They read about our and other peoples advenures and saw a business opportunity, which is fine because that is how we can share what we do with others.

Rob, this is not intended as a personal attack. I respect your right to your opinion and agree with you when the wrecks are in a Great Lakes type situation where time will not ravage them. In the ocean these wrecks will be a pile of rubble in short time. When the Rhine collapses to the sand how many trips do you think there will be to it once they figure out that the dive is picking through a trash pile at 250?

Not many I'm sure.

Joe Citelli

breals

Too bad about the Wilkes Barre having bad vis, it's an awesome wreck. My buddies and I used to do a 3 day trip out there every year to dive that boat. We loved it and always had amazing 100 foot vis. Next time we go out, I'm taking my rebreather, as filling doubles and deco bottles every dive got old real quick.

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- Bill
Personal Website: www.reals.net
Scuba Blog: www.divedown.com

matthewbooth

Here are my 2 cents for this trip. I agree with Richard and Mike that it was an excellent trip all around.

I want to thank Mike and Richie for the great dive briefings that they gave us before we dove on each wreck. The briefings included the history of the wrecks and things that we would see on the dive. (For more information about the wrecks, you can read Mike's book) And, they also gave us a special presentation about their expedition to the Britannic (which can be seen on the History Channel).

I also want to thank Frank and Melanie Wasson (the owners of the MV Spree) for putting on a fabulous trip. I'm looking forward to more tech diving from the Spree.

In addition, I also want to give special thanks to the crew of the Spree: John Camp, Chris Parsons, Patti Davis-Landry, and Kelly Rockwood for taking care of us and feeding us for the week. Kudos also for Eric Keibler, the Dive Safety Officer, for the thankless job of trying to keep track of us diving. And, my special thanks to the two hardest working guys on the trip, Dave Snyder and Kenny Cruse, the gas blenders who made sure that we had the gas to do the dives.

And yes, Richard had some awesome video of the diving.

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matthew

PacketSniffer

Here is a sampling of video created by Chris Parsons (Spree Divemaster) taken from three HD cams. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

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Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.