Weekend of shipwreck exploration!

[kdupreez]

Yoohoo, this weekend has been long in the planning!!

We are a team of 7 Trimix technical divers exploring Barkley Sound this weekend in search of a 284ft, 3 masted steel hull ship that was lost in 1904 with all hands..

The Underwater Archeological Society of British Columbia (UASBC) will be sponsoring the expedition for the most part and 2 of the invited divers on the trip are locals! Yours truly and Laurynn (SeaInGreen) and then there's our semi-local Guy Shockey

The expedition is run by SET (Shipwreck Exploration Team) of British Columbia and will be an all Global Underwater Exlorers (GUE) diver based dive expedition..

Check out http://shipwreckexplorationteam.ca for info on SET and http://www.gue.com for info on GUE

Here is a picture and an artist's rendition of the ship we are looking for... I cant say much more about the wreck at this time. but will keep this thread updated!!

(AND If you do know more about this wreck, PLEASE dont post the information publicly here, rather PM me in person.. we'd like to keep the wreck a secret until it can be identified and claimed to prevent looting and salvaging..)

[sheahanmcculla]

[airsix]

No kidding. The latest surveillance intel indicates they are back on the grid so hopefully we'll get a detailed report soon.

[seainggreen]

We are indeed back on the grid.

Wow, what a weekend! I'm going on about 3.5 hours of sleep right now so the short version of the weekend is that while we did not find the target we were hunting, we did experience a fantastic weekend of diving. The target is located wayyyyy out and swell/weather only allowed for 1 dive/day in the early morning before the ocean got too rough for any exploration. 3 different teams on DPVs meticulously combed a good chunk of the target's likely location. I very much enjoyed the high level of professionalism, collegiality, and camaderie both topside and under the water. The teams worked well together and we got a lot of territory covered. I learned a TON about prep work on research and target determination and how a project like this comes together.

Happily, we got in stellar afternoon dives on another site up there known as the Vanlene on both afternoons. I got a ton of fun video and hope to be able to put together a quick fun film about the Vanlene in the coming weeks.

Even more happily, a good relationship has now been established between Seattle and Vancouver wreck exploration teams, so future efforts are already being planned. Since the target has but a very small handful of potential locations, we significantly reduced the list of possible areas with our work this weekend. So although no discovery this time around, we've helped focus the search for the next time!

Happy diving, I'm off to get some sleep after a VERY long yet awesome weekend.... I'll leave the long version up to Koos.
Seainggreen

[Joshua Smith]

Very cool- congrats on the dives, etc!

I'm headed up that way in a couple days, and I have one burning question: HOW WAS THE VIZ?

[kdupreez]

I took a long nap this afternoon, so I concur with the little sleep but offset with equal amounts of fun filled weekend

a longer write up will come soon but in the meantime, Josh, viz was really horribly bad at 40ft and shallower, it was crap at 40-80ft and was good 80-120ft and below 120ft its was actually pretty awesome.. at 140ft+ it was about the best.

[CaptnJack]

Sounds like you had a fun weekend but really needed a magnetometer. They can be rented/leased, alternatively try Airsix or Nwbrewer for info on DIY versions