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December 21, 2006
German WWII Sub Continues to Spread Fear
By DOUG MELLGREN
the Associated Press
OSLO, Norway -- More than 60 years after being torpedoed by the British navy, a Nazi submarine built to threaten Allied ships continues to spread fear off the coast of Norway.
The rusting wreckage of the U-864, sunk while on a desperate mission to supply Japan with advanced weapons technology, poses a major environmental threat because of its poisonous cargo: 70 tons of mercury.
Residents on the tiny island of Fedje in the North Sea want the sub removed. But authorities fear that a salvage operation could result in a catastrophic spill, and they suggest entombing the wreck in the seabed with rocks, cement and sand.
The U-864 tried to skirt Allied navy patrols on a last-ditch secret mission code-named "Caesar" to bring jet-engine parts, missile-guidance systems and mercury for weapons production to Germany's ally, Japan. British experts discovered the mission by breaking a German code.
In a rare underwater duel, the British submarine HMS Venturer stalked the U-864 for three hours before sinking it Feb. 9, 1945, off Fedje.
The German submarine was only 14 months old when it went down with a crew of 73 in 500 feet of water.
The wreck lay undisturbed for almost 60 years until Norway's Royal Navy discovered it in March 2003. The mercury containers are rusting, and some are leaking. Studies showed elevated mercury levels in the silt around the wreck, but so far only fish that live inside have been contaminated, according the Norwegian Food Protection Authority. Fishing is not allowed in the area.
After spending three years and about $6.5 million researching the problem, the Norwegian Coastal Administration recommended encasing the submarine with sand to prevent the spread of mercury. The method, it said in a report released Tuesday, has worked 30 times worldwide and is said to be less risky than attempting to lift the 2,400-ton sub.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs said it will review the report before making a final decision.
For the people of Fedje, near Bergen, Norway's second-largest city, leaving the wreck where it lies means the sub's toxic cargo will continue to threaten their port -- possibly for generations.
Adolf Hitler sent the U-864 to Japan with then-revolutionary jet-engine technology. By strengthening the Japanese, the Germans hoped to divert Allied troops and materiel away from Europe.
The U-864, under Capt. Ralf-Reimar Wolfram, had stopped in Bergen in Nazi-occupied Norway on its way from Kiel, Germany, to Japan. A short time later, the crew of the Venturer, under Capt. James Launders, detected the sound of the U-boat's engines.
After hours of playing cat and mouse, the Venturer fired four torpedoes in a span of 17 seconds. Three missed. The fourth broke the U-864 in half.
The Venturer was given to Norway after the war and renamed KNM Utstein.
NORWEGIAN COASTAL ADMINISTRATION/SCANPIX NORWAY VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The German U-864 was sunk Feb. 9, 1945, by a British submarine off the coast of the island of Fedje. The Royal Norwgian Navy found it in March 2003. It is believed to have 70 tons of mercury on board.
Posted by victoria at 03:46 PM
December 18, 2006
Shipwreck From 1849 Found in Lake Ontario
Associated Press
ROCHESTER — A 19th-century commercial sailing ship, its twin masts still intact, sits upright in deep, frigid waters off the southern shore of Lake Ontario.
Shipwreck explorers Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville said they located the schooner Milan in summer 2005 about five miles off Point Breeze, 30 miles west of Rochester. They videotaped the 93-foot-long, square-stern vessel this year using an unmanned submersible built with the help of college students.
“It’s not unheard of to have well-preserved ships, but this one is in so good a shape,” Scoville said Monday. “It almost looks like it could be floated” to the surface.
The Milan was hauling 1,000 barrels of salt when it sprung a leak and sank in October 1849. Its crew of nine clambered aboard a yawl and was rescued by a passing ship along with a Newfoundland dog. The animal was carried down with the sinking ship but then popped to the surface and swam to the yawl.
The ship sits evenly on the lake bed, its masts extending 70 feet upward in a dark, almost oxygen-free setting. And while its rigging and sails have long since disintegrated, much else appears largely undamaged.
Both anchors are firmly in place near the bow. The bowsprit — a large, tapered spar extending forward from the bow — is intact, as is the tiller, a large handle for turning the rudder.
“If a ship goes down in a big storm, it usually gets broken up,” Scoville said. “If it goes down on a nice day, it usually breaks when it hits the bottom. This one looks like it just drifted down and set upon the bottom nice and easy.
“At those depths, and the water being so cold, there’s not a lot of oxygen” or light, he added. “It basically helps preserve the wood. If a shipwreck is in shallow, fresh water, the ice will get it or storms will beat it up.”
Built in 1845, the Milan ferried corn, flour, wheat, salt and lumber to ports on lakes Ontario and Erie. It was sailing to Cleveland from Oswego, a port 80 miles east of Rochester, when crew members said they were awakened in the forecastle by splashing water, historical records show.
The inflow was already 18 inches deep when they started pumping out. They removed salt bags from the forward hold and steered south in an effort to get to shore. But the ship ran into southerly winds, made little headway and was abandoned soon before it went under.
While hundreds of ships have been wrecked in Lake Ontario’s harbors and along its shores, fewer than 200 have been lost in the lake, which is 800 foot deep in places, Scoville estimated. About 100 of those wrecks have already been found, many in or near the St. Lawrence Seaway, he said.
The Milan is “the oldest and the prettiest” of at least five wrecks that Scoville and Kennard, both electrical engineers and deep-water divers, have discovered since teaming up five years ago. They undertook months of historical research before announcing their find this month.
“From the Niagara River up to the St. Lawrence, there’s about a dozen that haven’t been found that we think we are capable of finding,” Scoville said.
An obscure newspaper reference to the sinking got the pair started on the Milan’s trail three years ago, and they used sonar equipment to finally locate it.
Because many Ontario shipwrecks lie in water too deep to dive safely, they enlisted a team of seniors at Rochester Institute of Technology last fall to help them build a remote-operated vehicle equipped with cameras to explore the Milan.
Most wrecks and their contents found on the American side of the lake belong to New York.
Posted by victoria at 10:26 AM
December 08, 2006
Get Ready to Upload Your Video
Hello All,
Starting next week we will be set up for you to upload your Shipwreck and dive video to a special SWC player.
With our new Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) services SWC will be able to accept consumer-submitted video that we will review and publish.
Family friendly content only.
Keep and eye out next week for the launch and get your video ready.
FAQ
What file formats can be uploaded?
• .3GP
• .AVI
• .DV
• h.264
• .MPEG2
• .MPEG4
• .MOV
• .WMV
What is the maximum file size or video length that can be uploaded?
The maximum file size that can be uploaded is 100 MB, which for most formats above is 2-3 minutes in length. We recommend that you limit the length of any submission to 2 minutes.
Posted by victoria at 09:52 AM
December 07, 2006
Pearl Harbor Remembered
At 6:00 a.m. on December 7th six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive-bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters on Pearl Harbour. Caught off guard by the subsequent waves of attack within the first 10 minutes the USS Arizona had been hit twice. The devastating explosion that resulted ripped through the forward part of the ship igniting brutal fires that burned for two days; debris showered down on Ford Island and the surrounding area. The Arizona had been struck down taking with her 1103 lives, over half the casualties of that infamous day.
The Japanese attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. Overall, twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged, aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, American dead numbered 2,403. That figure included 68 civilians, and there were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.
Battleship Row
USS Arizona Memorial
For more information find the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma on the map.
Posted by victoria at 03:15 AM
December 06, 2006
Halifax Explosion
On December 6, 1917, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the largest man-made explosion until the first atomic bomb occurred.
At 8:45 in the morning a French ammunition ship, the Mont Blanc and the Norwegian cargo ship Imo collided in the narrows of Halifax harbour. Vapors from vats of benzol, which were wrongly stored on the deck of the Mont Blanc, were set afire by sparks from the collision. The Mont Blanc was shipping large quantities of munitions to Europe as part of the war effort. She was carrying over 2700 tons of explosives, such as TNT, guncotton, and picric acid. The fire engulfed the Mont Blanc and the crew quickly abandoned ship upon the Captain's orders. They rowed to safety in two rowboats and reached safety on the Dartmouth shore as the burning ship continued to drift toward the busy port of Halifax.
At 9:04:35, with firefighters on the scene and school children gathering to watch, a massive explosion ensued. More than 2.5 km2 of Halifax was leveled and windows were shattered as far as Truro, Nova Scotia, 100 kilometres away. An anchor from the Mont Blanc was found five kilometres from the harbour. The disaster resulted in approximately 1635 deaths (approx. 1000 died instantaneously from the blast), nine thousand injured and approximately 30 million dollars in damage. 325 acres of city was destroyed. 1500 people became homeless as a result of the devastation. The following day a blizzard hit the city, crippling recovery efforts.
If not for the efforts of neighboring Provinces, the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee the devastation would have escalated further. Each year, Nova Scotia donates a giant evergreen to the people of Boston as a thank you for their assistance following the Halifax Explosion.
Click Here To view rare film footage shot in the aftermath of the 1917 Halifax Explosion. Six minutes of black-and-white moving images, attributed to professional cameraman W.G. MacLaughlan, document in eerie silence and jerky movements the waste and devastation of a city destroyed, and the efforts that went into rebuilding it.
For more information on the Halifax Explosion find the Mont Blanc on the map.
Every Christmas since 1917, Nova Scotia has donated a large Christmas tree to the City of Boston in thanks and remembrance for the help the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee provided in the time of major need. The tree is Boston's premier Christmas tree and is lit in the Boston Common throughout the holiday season.
Posted by victoria at 10:01 AM
December 02, 2006
DOXA CONTEST
THIS JUST IN.....
We have a DOXA Ball Cap give away starting December 11 on the open section of the site. All Members are also eligible to enter to win the world’s first orange face dive watch a DOXA SUB750T, just like the Sea Hunters wear.
Key Features
* water-resistant to 750 m / 2460 ft
* satin brushed solid steel (316L) case
* 100% replica of the original 1960s watch
* 44.70mm diameter, 13.50mm height
* anti-reflective coated, scratch-resistant 3mm sapphire crystal
* secure screw-in case back
* solid stainless steel unidirectional bezel with US Navy no-decomcression limits
* high grade Swiss made automatic (self winding) movement with hacking seconds
* incabloc shock protection
* 2 years limited warranty
p.s. Member also double their chances of also winning the cap!
Stay tuned.
Posted by victoria at 10:13 AM
