Diving into the mysteries of the deep

Some people like to read mysteries.

Ross Richardson likes to dive for them.

He traces his interest in shipwrecks back to a contest in first grade when he wrote about a wreck. That fascination quickly developed into a passion.

“I love solving mysteries,” says Richardson, who is from Lake Ann, Michigan, which is about 15 miles west of Traverse City. He has focused his interest on the Great Lakes, mainly on nearby Lake Michigan, and to a lesser extent on lakes Huron and Superior.

While serving on the sheriff’s public safety dive team of Michigan’s Benzie County, Richardson, 44, was doing ice-diving training on Higgins Lake in central Michigan with a woman whose father had disappeared there years before. Her story of her dad’s disappearance intrigued Richardson. So did the demise of up to 50 aircraft and countless ships in Lake Michigan.

He not only started diving for wrecks of ships and planes but established a website on the subject http://www.michiganmysteries.com/ and is writing a book. It is called “The Search for the Westmoreland, the legend, the history and the discovery of Lake Michigan's Treasure Ship.” He hopes to have the book published by this summer.

The Westmoreland sank during a severe snowstorm on December 7, 1854, off Lake Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Point, “probably the most notable landmark in the Lower Peninsula,” says Richardson. One of the early propeller-driven ships, the Westmoreland had lost its engine power during the storm. “They tried to get the sails up but one was imbedded in ice and the other was ripped apart (by the gale).” Hopes of bringing the ship to the safety of South Manitou Island’s harbour were dashed. Half of the 34 occupants of the ship died, while the others made it ashore in a lifeboat.

The ship had been the subject of many searches in the ensuing 150-plus years until Richardson located it on July 7, 2010, using Side Scan Sonar. Three days later he dove to the site and confirmed the finding. He found it was well preserved, a fact he attributes to its resting place in an uncharted hole near Sleeping Bear Dune that sheltered it from currents. It was sitting upright and was nearly intact.

Richardson’s sources in researching vanished ships and aircraft include old newspapers. Using Google news archives, digitalized newspapers can be searched using key words. “I get an amazing amount of information there. Half my information is from there,” he says. “The other half is from local historical societies and micro-film in libraries.”

Typically, for a ship missing for so long, the Westmoreland’s legend has grown to include unconfirmed stories that gold and 280 barrels of whiskey were among the cargo being transported. One story maintains that the lumberjacks on board, thinking they were going to die, started drinking the whiskey and belatedly tried to launch the last lifeboat. It was the largest lifeboat, but it was tipped over when the ship’s crane caught it on its side, dooming the lumberjacks. It is known, at least with more certainty, that the cargo included oats, flour, grass seed and beef quarters. Most of it was from Chicago but some came from Milwaukee.

Richardson has also located three uncharted wreck sites at Sleeping Bear Point near a 450-foot sand dune. He says there are big parts of a ship, an old schooner and the remains of an old sailing vessel with tons of artefacts around it. During an October gale in 2010 a large section of a shipwreck washed ashore, so he looked a couple of miles offshore and found the wreck sites.
“I think they have been there since the late 1800s,” Richardson says, adding that they are in the heart of the Manitou passage, which was “almost the highway of its day.” Sleeping Bear Point jutted out into this passage and became a hazard during storms.

One of the missing aircraft that intrigues him is a Northwest Airlines DC-4 that crashed into Lake Michigan on June 23, 1950 during a storm. All 55 passengers and the three crew members died but the aircraft has never been found. At that time, it was the largest death toll in an aircraft crash.

The National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) team of novelist and marine archaeologist Clive Cussler has come for the last eight or nine years to search for the plane but has yet to locate it, says Richardson. “These guys are the best.”

His website also chronicles missing persons in the area of his research and bodies that have not been found.

A technical diver qualified to go to depths well beyond the range of recreational divers, Richardson’s major focus is on shipwrecks.

While he doesn’t have a problem with a museum or historical society having a relic from a shipwreck to display, he isn’t interested in it for himself: “I believe in conserving wrecks. I haven’t taken anything off a wreck.”

For Ross Richardson, the thrill is in the search: “It’s amazing how many missing things there are that are solvable mysteries.”

Read Michigan Mysteries by Ross Richardson

Kathy Dowsett

www.kirkscubagear.com

March 2012::Update::Ross is humbled to announce that he has signed a publishing deal with Arbutus Press for his upcoming book “The Search for the Westmoreland", Lake Michigan’s Treasure Shipwreck”, due to be out this summer.

SS Andrea Doria

"SOS DE ICEH SOS HERE AT 0320 GMT LAT. 40.30 N 69.53 WE NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE"

SS Andrea Doria[p] was an ocean liner for the Italian Line (Società di navigazione Italia) home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for its sinking in 1956, when 46 people died. Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and 500 crew. For a country attempting to rebuild its economy and reputation after World War II, Andrea Doria was an icon of Italian national pride. Of all Italy's ships at the time, Andrea Doria was the largest, fastest and supposedly safest. Launched on 16 June 1951, the ship undertook its maiden voyage on 14 January 1953.

During the ship's maiden voyage, it encountered heavy storms on the final approach to New York, listing a full twenty-eight degrees. Nevertheless, Andrea Doria completed its maiden voyage on 23 January only a few minutes behind schedule, and received a welcoming delegation which included New York Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri. Afterwards, Andrea Doria became one of Italy's most popular and successful ocean liners as it was always filled to capacity. By mid-1956, it was making its 100th crossing of the Atlantic.

A collision course

On the evening of Wednesday, 25 July 1956, Andrea Doria, commanded by Captain Piero Calamai, carrying 1,134 passengers and 572 crew, was heading west towards New York. It was the last night of a transatlantic crossing from Genoa that began on 17 July: the ship was expected to dock in New York the next morning.

At the same time, MS Stockholm, a smaller passenger liner of the Swedish American Line, had departed New York about midday, heading east across the North Atlantic Ocean toward Gothenburg, Sweden. Stockholm was commanded by Captain Harry Gunnar Nordenson, though Third Officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen was on duty on the bridge at the time. Stockholm was following its usual course east to Nantucket Lightship, making about 18 knots (33 km/h) with clear skies. Carstens estimated visibility at 6 nautical miles (11 km).

As Stockholm and Andrea Doria were approaching each other head-on, in the heavily used shipping corridor, the westbound Andrea Doria had been traveling in heavy fog for hours. The captain had reduced speed slightly from 23.0 to 21.8 knots (42.6 to 40.4 km/h), activated the ship's fog-warning whistle, and had closed the watertight doors, all customary precautions while sailing in such conditions. However, the eastbound Stockholm had yet to enter what was apparently the edge of a fog bank and was seemingly unaware of it and the movement of the other ship hidden in it. (The waters of the North Atlantic south of Nantucket Island are frequently the site of intermittent fog as the cold Labrador Current encounters the Gulf Stream.)

As the two ships approached each other, at a combined speed of 40 knots (74 km/h), each was aware of the presence of another ship but was guided only by radar; they apparently misinterpreted each other's course. There was no radio communication between the two ships, at first.

The original inquiry established that in the critical minutes before the collision, Andrea Doria gradually steered to port, attempting a starboard-to-starboard passing, while Stockholm turned about 20 degrees to its starboard, an action intended to widen the passing distance of a port-to-port passing. In fact, they were actually steering towards each other — narrowing, rather than widening, the passing distance. Compounded by the extremely thick fog that enveloped the Doria as the ships approached each other, the ships were quite close by the time visual contact had been established. By then, the crews realized that they were on a collision course, but despite last-minute maneuvers, they could not avoid the collision.

In the last moments before impact, Stockholm turned hard to starboard and was in the process of reversing its propellers, attempting to stop. The Doria, remaining at its cruising speed of almost 22 knots (41 km/h) engaged in a hard turn to port, its captain hoping to outrun the collision. At approximately 11:10 PM the two ships collided, the Stockholm striking the side of the Andrea Doria.

Impact and penetration

When Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided at almost a 90-degree angle, Stockholm's sharply raked ice breaking prow pierced Andrea Doria's starboard side approximately midway of its length. It penetrated three passenger cabins, numbers 52, 54 and 56, to a depth of nearly 40 feet (12 m), and the keel. The collision smashed many occupied passenger cabins and, at the lower levels, ripped open several of Andrea Doria's watertight compartments. The gash pierced five fuel tanks on Andrea Doria's starboard side and filled them with 500 tons of seawater. Meanwhile, air was trapped in the empty tanks on the port side, contributing to a severe, uncorrectable list. The ship's large fuel tanks were mostly empty at the time of the collision, since the ship was nearing the end of its voyage, but all the empty fuel tanks did was help the list increase.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of Stockholm, immediately after the impact, engines were placed at ALL STOP, and all watertight doors were closed. The ships were intertwined for about 30 seconds. As they separated, the smashed bow of the stationary Stockholm was dragged aft along the starboard side of the Doria, which was still moving forward, adding more gashes along the side. The two ships then separated, and the Doria moved away into the heavy fog. Initial radio distress calls were sent out by each ship, and in that manner, they learned each others' identities.

In the last moments before impact, Stockholm turned hard to starboard and was in the process of reversing its propellers, attempting to stop. The Doria, remaining at its cruising speed of almost 22 knots (41 km/h) engaged in a hard turn to port, its captain hoping to outrun the collision. At approximately 11:10 PM the two ships collided, the Stockholm striking the side of the Andrea Doria. The world soon became aware that two large ocean liners had collided.

Andrea Doria capsizes and sinks

Once the evacuation was complete, the captain of Andrea Doria shifted his attention to the possibility of towing the ship to shallow water. However, it was clear to those watching helplessly at the scene that the stricken ocean liner was continuing to roll on its side.
After all the survivors had been transplanted onto various rescue ships bound for New York, Andrea Doria's remaining crew began to disembark—forced to abandon the ship. By 9:00 AM. even Captain Calamai was in a rescue boat. The sinking began at 9:45 a.m. and by 10:00 that morning Andrea Doria was on her side at a right angle to the sea. The ship fully disappeared into the Atlantic at 10:09—almost exactly eleven hours after the collision with Stockholm took place.

22-year-old Evelyn Bartram Dudas was the first woman to successfully dive onto the Andrea Doria. Dudas reached the wreck in June, 1967; her future husband, John Dudas, retrieved the ship's compass.

As of 2010, years of ocean submersion have taken their toll. The wreck has aged and deteriorated extensively, with the hull now fractured and collapsed. The upper decks have slowly slid off the wreck to the seabed below. As a result of this transformation, a large debris field flows out from the hull of the liner. Once-popular access points frequented by divers, such as Gimbel's Hole, no longer exist. Divers call Andrea Doria a "noisy" wreck, as it emits various noises due to continual deterioration and the currents' moving broken metal around inside the hull.

However, due to this decay new access areas are constantly opening up for future divers on the ever-changing wreck. The ship lies on her side at a depth of about 250 feet in an area where the underwater weather can change suddenly from clear and calm to a ripping current filled with sediment. But the reward for those who venture this deep is to briefly rediscover a ship still recognizably the luxury liner that gaily cruised the southern Atlantic route in the 1950s. Most of the deck hardware and all three swimming pools are clearly visible. Lifeboat davits still jut from the boat deck and great cranes dominate the bow. The ship's name can still be made out on both the bow and stern.

After 20 minutes exploring the wreck, the diver must spend another 90 decompressing before returning to the surface. But he brings back with him unforgettable images of ruined luxe and of the end of a magnified era in ocean travel.

thanks to Wikipedia

Kathy Dowsett

www.kirkscubagear.com

SS Oregon British passenger liner

The Oregon was a record breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1884. She was sold to the Cunard Line after a few voyages and continued to improve her passage times for her new owner. In 1885, Oregon was chartered to the Royal Navy as an auxiliary cruiser, and her success in this role resulted in the Admiralty subsidizing suitable ships for quick conversion in the event of a crisis. She returned to Cunard service in November 1885 and four months later collided with a schooner while approaching New York. All persons on board were rescued before Oregon sank. Her wreck, 18 miles east of Long Island, remains a popular diving site.

The triple expansion reciprocating steam engine built for Oregon had a 70-inch-diameter (1,800 mm) high-pressure cylinder flanked by two 104-inch-diameter (2,600 mm) low-pressure cylinders. The engine generated 12,500 indicated horsepower as compared to 8,300 for Alaska. Steam was generated from nine Fox patent double-ended boilers, each 163⁄4 feet long and 161⁄2 feet in diameter. Daily coal consumption was 300 tons, an increase of 50 tons compared to Alaska and 165 tons over Arizona. The screw propeller was twenty-four feet in diameter with a shaft that consisted of fifteen separate parts made of crucible steel.

Oregon was fitted for 340 saloon, 92 second-class, and 1,000 steerage passengers. Passengers traveling saloon or cabin were equivalent to first class today. On Oregon, stearage had been upgraded to third class and given assigned berths in small rooms rather than dormatories.[3]
The main public room, the grand saloon was in the forepart of the ship and described at the time as "capable of dining the whole of the 340 cabin passengers." "The ceiling decorations were almost exclusively confined to white and gold. The panels were of polished satinwood, the pilasters of walnut, with gilt capitals. The saloon measured 65 by 54 feet, and was 9 feet high in the lowest part. A central cupola of handsome design, 25 feet long and 15 feet wide, rose to a height of 20 feet, and gave abundant light and ventilation." "The staterooms are large and well lighted and ventilated. Every facility for comfort is provided in the cabin. The ladies' drawing room is furnished in a costly manner, and is on the promenade deck. The latter extends nearly the entire length of the vessel. The wood work of the ladies' drawing room, the Captain's cabin, and the principal entrance to the saloons came from the State of Oregon. On the upper deck near the entrance of the grand saloon is the smoking room, which is paneled in Spanish mahogany and has a mosaic floor. Incandescent electric lamps, supplied by the Edison Company, are used in lighting the vessel."

Disaster

On what was supposed to be one of her last runs to New York, Oregon sailed from Liverpool on March 6, 1886 with 186 saloon, 66 second class and 395 steerage passengers. At 4:30 AM, just 15 miles from New York, she collided with a schooner, most likely the Charles H. Morse, which disappeared in those waters about the same time. The schooner sank almost immediately with all hands.

The hole in Oregon's side was described as big enough for a horse and carriage. An unsuccessful attempt was made to plug the hole with canvas. Two hours after the collision, the captain ordered Oregon to be abandoned, but the lifeboats and rafts only had room for half of the 852 people on board. Finally, at 8:30 AM, the schooner Fannie A. Gorham and the pilot boat Phantom responded to Oregon's emergency flares and boarded all passengers and crew. At 10:30 AM, Fulda of Norddeutscher Lloyd also arrived, and the passengers and crew were transferred again. Eight hours after the collision, Oregon sank bow first in 125 feet of water. Her mast tops remained above water for several tides.

Cunard sent divers to the wreck to determine if Oregon could be salvaged. However, the hull broke open when the ship hit the bottom. The loss amounted to $3,166,000 including $1.25 million for the ship, $700,000 for her cargo, $216,000 in passenger baggage, and $1 million for currency and other valuables carried in the mails. Oregon's purser managed to save a large shipment of diamonds in the ship's safe.

Over the years, the ship's hull and iron decks have collapsed. However, the engine still stands 40 feet above the ocean floor near the ship's nine boilers.

Her wreck, 18 miles east of Long Island, remains a popular diving site.

Thanks to Wikipedia

Kathy Dowsett

www.kirkscubagear.com

Watch Peter Bucknell's video on diving the Oregon