Lugares de interés (POIs) del Mapa
1: San Pedro
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The Spanish noa, San Pedro sailing from Cartagena, Colombia on to Havana, Cuba en route to Cadiz, Spain, wrecked on the reefs off Bermuda in November, 1595 in approximately twenty-five feet of water. In 1955, Teddy Tucker discovered in a sand hole artefacts, including a spectacular emerald and gold cross. The 22 karat gold cross weighed four ounces and four of the seven emeralds were of good quality. At that time, the cross was considered the most valuable artefact ever found in the Western Hemisphere and in 1963 the entire collection was sold to the Bermuda Government. The collection was sold at a reasonable price, as Teddy desired that the collection remain complete and in Bermuda.Like a Chinese puzzle, it opened in four parts and is thought to have once held a religious relic, which had disintegrated. From small rings on the arms of the cross, hung tiny gold spikes, representing the nails on the cross, and at the foot was the ring for the third, which was missing.
The cross is believed to have been the property of a church dignitary, such as a Bishop. The cross originally on display at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo was transferred to the Bermuda Maritime Museum in Dockyard in 1975. Teddy was asked to show the cross to Queen Elizabeth II and just before she arrived, Teddy discovered that the cross had been replaced with a plastic replica! Scotland Yard and Interpol were alerted. To date the cross has not been recovered. The original cross was 3 5/8 inches long.
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2: Hunters Galley
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Colonial sloop Jan 11 1752Más sobre Hunters Galley
3: North Carolina
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English iron bargueJan 1 1880
The North Carolina
Bermuda's Three Masted Square Rigged Wreck
by Walt Stearns, Sep. 1997
In 1880, the North Carolina, an English built, iron hulled barque (three masted square rigger), was three years old. Approximately 205 feet long including her bowsprit,she displaced 533 tons. Her registry was in Liverpool, England, and her papers of ownership showed she belonged to H. Barber.
Sunk January 1, 1880, a large part of the North Carolina's history and the circumstances surrounding her demise are pretty sketchy. It is known that she was enroute from Bermuda to Liverpool loaded with general cargo, including several bails of cotton and bark. She struck a reef near the outside edge of Bermuda's southwest corner and sank 8.5 miles west, 0.5 miles south of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, while under the command of Captain Alexander Buchan.
An attempt to re-float the vessel was made January 27, 1880. However, the effort met with failure. While her salvors were attempting to pump the water out of her, her massive anchor broke free, punching a sizable hole through her hull and sending her back to the bottom.
When underwater visibility is good, the wreck of the North Carolina can be stunning. Although silty conditions often make it tough to photograph, its orientation, sitting upright on a shallow grade next to a reef, makes it impressive.
Rising from a depth of 45 feet, the bow's 27 foot profile, with its 16 foot iron bowsprit now heavily overgrown with coral, looks like a ghostly apparition emerging from a fog.
Today, more than 50 percent of the North Carolina's midsection has collapsed. In addition to her bowsprit, however, her fantail stern is also very much intact, resting 14 feet below the surface. Along her length, divers can swim through several areas containing large iron ribs. Even on a not so good day, the North Carolina's series of deadeyes, which span most of her length, still make great subject matter for photographs.
On a good day, underwater clarity will range from 35 to 55 feet; seldom does it get any better. Although the wreck is still a good distance from shore, its final resting place is well inside the main body of Bermuda's comprehensive barrier reef. One of the location's attractions is its proximity to several other historic wrecks. Keep in mind that the silt on the wreck site is easily stirred up by surge or choppy seas. Thus, the North Carolina should be dived only when the seas are calm.
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4: Caesar
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English brigantineMay 18 1818
English brigantine built 1814, sank 1818; carrying grindstones, masonic flasks, medicinal phials and glass bottles from Newcastle to Baltimore; 12m deep; west of Airplane; salvaged by Teddy Tucker but grindstones and bottles still there.
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5: Blanche King
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Four masted american schoonerMay 1920
The Blanche King was the classic American schooner, a design in wide use at the turn of the century. She was constructed in Maine and launched in 1887. This great sailing ship was a four-masted, two-deck vessel measuring 192 feet. Her most unusual feature was a retractable centerboard that allowed her to navigate shallow waters. She was coming to Bermuda from Virginia with a load of coal, when she crashed into the reefs and sank in 1920. Today, she lies in 35 feet of water near the North Carolina. The wreckage is marked by rigging, deck machinery and the box that housed the retractable centerboard.
http://www.skin-diver.com/bermuda01/wrecks.html
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6: San Antonio
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Spannish Galleon Sept 12 1621Más sobre San Antonio
8: Darlington
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English steamerfeb 21 1886
The Darlington was a sturdy iron hulled steamer built in 1881, at the beginning of the age of steam driven ships. She was constructed at the Swan & Hunter Shipyard in Newcastle, England. She measured 285 feet long, with a 36 foot beam and a hull displacement of 1,990 tons. The wrecking of this proud vessel was caused by negligence and inexperience. She was en route from New Orleans to Bremen, Germany, carrying a cargo of cotton and grain. Her captain failed to assign a lookout while navigating in unfamiliar waters. On February 22, 1886, she crashed into Bermuda's western reefs and could not be refloated. The wreck lies in 30 feet of water, with her steam boilers, propeller shaft and deck winches still visible.
http://www.skin-diver.com/bermuda01/wrecks.html
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9: Mussel
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Bermudas fishing ketch Feb 7 1926Más sobre Mussel
10: Lord Amherst
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English armed transport Feb 16 1778 Feb 1778, the "Lord Amherst", Capt Hartwell, carrying invalid soldiers, wrecked off Bermuda and were rescued by Bermudians for a price. (Bermuda and the American Revolution; Kerr, W; pg 72).Más sobre Lord Amherst
11: L'Herminie
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60 guns french frigateDec 3 1838
L'Herminie
Bermuda's French Warship
by Walt Stearns, Nov. 1997
Of the comprehensive collection of marine vessels that met their fates on Bermuda's treacherous reef system, very few were warships. This may be because most warship skippers are a highly skilled and cautious lot. But, when a warship comes to a disastrous end and it's not the result of a sea battle, one must ask, what went wrong? For the French frigate, L'Herminie, it could just have been a case of bad Karma. Launched in 1824, L'Herminie was not completed until some four years later. For a naval warship of her day, she was a monster, measuring a whopping 300 feet long and carrying 60 cannons. She didn't see active duty, however, until 1837 when she was ordered to Mexican waters to enforce France's claims during the revolution. But, upon arrival in Havana, Cuba, August 3, 1837, 133 members of her crew came down with yellow fever.
Figuring L'Herminie's crew would be useless in battle, France's high command decided it would be best to recall her to Brest, France. Under the command of Commodore Bazoche, L'Herminie left Havana for home on December 3, 1837. During her Atlantic crossing she encountered increasingly heavy seas. Commodore Bazoche decided to take shelter in Bermuda. By the time land was visible, however, the big ship had inadvertently wandered well inside a treacherous stretch of the Bermuda's northwestern facing barrier reef. Shortly after, L'Herminie was hard aground on the reef.
Before the ship started to break up, a flotilla of local boats from Ely's Harbour came to her assistance. Given the sea conditions, it is amazing that all 495 members of L'Herminie's crew were safely evacuated from the doomed ship. The following day, several of the ship's stores were successfully salvaged. The crew returned home at the end of the month aboard the Hercules, Jean and Osage.
Today L'Herminie rests in 35 feet of water four miles west of Ireland Island. Since her wooden hull has been down for 160 years, little remains of her other than 58 of her original 60 cannons. (Two were salvaged by famed Bermuda treasure hunter Teddy Tucker, the model for Peter Benchley's Romar Trease character in the novel The Deep.) The wreckage is scattered across two large tracts of white sand in the middle of the reef. Two cannons lay atop one another forming a cross. Surrounding the wreckage are the very coral heads that ripped the hull to pieces.
Along with the cannons, divers can also see one of L'Herminie's two massive anchors propped up against a large coral head, as well as several of her square shaped, iron holding tanks, now half eaten by the sea. They once held the ship's supply of drinking water. Buried in the sand are some of the ship's timbers and cannon balls, as well as a collection of small artifacts such as broken glass, bottles and pottery. Although most of what was deemed valuable was supposedly salvaged, it has been said that divers can find the odd coin or ship's utensil buried in the sand.
Some of the coral heads surrounding the wreckage are 30 feet tall. Visibility at this site is often good to excellent, sometimes reaching nearly 100 feet. The norm is between 50 to 70 feet. The prime season for diving L'Herminie is from early May through October.
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12: Santa Ana
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Spanish Noa Oct 1605Más sobre Santa Ana
13: Constellation / Montana / unknwon
Constellation, american four master, juil. 31 1943
The Constellation was a four-masted, wooden hulled schooner originally built in 1918 and measuring 192 feet in length. During World War ll, she was pressed into service and used as a cargo vessel. In July 1943, she was bound for Venezuela, carrying a general cargo of building materials, medicinal drugs and 700 cases of Scotch whiskey. Today, her hull lies broken apart on a coral and sand bottom in 30 feet of water, exposing sacks of petrified cement, cups, nail polish bottles and a vast assortment of small items. The Constellation was one of the key shipwrecks in Peter Benchley's book, THE DEEP and later, the movie of the same name.
Montana, English paddle wheel steamer,
Dec 30 1863
The Montana
Bermuda's Confederate Blockade Runner by Walt Stearns, Aug. 1997
Several ships from the American Civil War found the reefs surrounding the tiny island outpost of Bermuda as much a thorn in the side of the Confederacy as the Union Blockade; they were wrecked here. Their numbers include the Montana, a 236 foot long, 25 foot beam tramp steamer with a displacement of 750 tons, less cargo. Tramp steamer was a common nickname given vessels of her class owing to the large amount of coal ash that would collect on the sails whenever the furnace was active. The Montana's furnace powered a 260 hp, twin oscillating cylinder steam engine. During her short career as a Confederate blockade runner, the ship's two captains tried to elude Union spies by piloting her under the aliases of Nola, Gloria and Paramount.
Following her departure from the British Isles in December 1863 with a cargo of munitions and medical supplies for the Confederacy in Wilmington, North Carolina, the Montana faced a series of circumstances that eventually brought about her demise.
During the first leg of her mission, under the command of Captains Pittman and Rollins, the Montana (known at the time as the Nola) was hampered by the North Atlantic's brutal winter storms. Arriving off Bermuda's east side under still threatening skies, the captains decided that finding an entrance somewhere on the western side would be their best bet. But, even after circumnavigating most of the island's dangerous north facing reef system, the Montana wrecked near the mouth of Western Blue Cut. Shortly after her grounding on December 30, a steamboat from St. George's was able to go to her assistance, rescuing not only her crew but most of her cargo. Nothing could be done for the Montana, she had a 10 foot long hole in her hull below the waterline.
Today the Montana's scattered remains lie in 30 feet of water in the middle of a large sand valley surrounded by high coral heads, eight miles northwest of the Hamliton dockyard. Her bow is still relatively intact and heavily encrusted with coral. The greatest concentration of wreckage; and the most attractive for photography; lies around her midship region. Here, the Montana's coal burning engine furnace can still be seen standing upright about seven feet below the surface. Behind it are the ship's two large iron paddlewheel frames, which look like small Ferris wheels. Both structures and the bow are heavily overgrown with corals.
Slightly separated from the rest of the wreckage, her stern, also heavily overgrown with coral, still features the elliptical framework of the fantail. The Montana sits near the wreck of the Constellation, which hit the same section of reef in 1942, approximately 79 years after the Montana.
The prime season for diving both wrecks is August through October, when visibility is usually at its best and the water is still in the 78 to 82°F range.
Early 19th cent. wreck
Más sobre Constellation / Montana / unknwon
14: Circa
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Unknown spannish wreck Approx. 1700Más sobre Circa
15: Mark Antonio
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Spanish tartar Juil 18 1777Más sobre Mark Antonio
16: Caraquet
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English passenger steamerJune 25 1923
The Caraquet was a combination British mail packet and passenger steamer of 200 feet. She cruised the Atlantic at the turn of the century. Originally built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, she was launched in 1894. Her most often traveled route was Nova Scotia to Bermuda to the West Indies and onto South America. In the summer of 1923, the steamer was coming into Bermuda from St. John, Nova Scotia when she crashed into a reef. Rough seas, strong currents and poor visibility had pushed her off course and made it difficult to obtain land sightings. Her wreckage lies in 40 feet, of water marked by enormous steam boilers, a large anchor, winches and deck machinery.
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17: Madiana
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English passenger steamerFeb 14 1903
The Madiana was built in 1877 and was a new breed of iron hulled trans-atlantic passenger/light cargo ship, measuring 344.8 feet in length. On the night of February 10, 1903, the Madiana was en route from New York to the West Indies with passengers and general cargo. According to reports from passengers, the ship was threading her way through a narrow channel leading to Bermuda's Hamilton Harbour when she struck a reef northeast of North Rock. Near Bermuda's uppermost reef system, the bottom of the ship's hull and keel sit 25 feet below the surface. Atop this collection of hull plates and bulkheads, are her two 15-foot diameter boilers and her massive 18 inch diameter propeller shaft.
http://www.skin-diver.com/bermuda01/wrecks.html
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18: Cristobal Colon
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Spanish passenger steamer Oct 1936 The Cristobal Colon is Bermuda's largest shipwreck, measuring 499 feet in length and three decks high. This Spanish trans-Atlantic luxury liner was completed in 1923 and operated between New York and Central America. She was wrecked on October 25, 1936, when she crashed into a coral reef at a speed of 15 knots. Today she lies in 55 feet of water and has become a haven for large groupers and a variety of reef fish. The Cristobal Colon is one of the few wrecks that has rectangular portholes. Her wreckage is scattered across 100,000 square feet of sea floor, offering endless hours of fascinating exploration.Más sobre Cristobal Colon
19: Alert
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Bermuda fishing sloop March 1877Más sobre Alert
20: Elda
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American yacht June 20 1956Más sobre Elda
21: Eagle
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English ship Jan 12 1658Más sobre Eagle
22: Aristo
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Norwegian steamerMarch 16 1937
The Iristo
The Iristo was a most unlucky ship, wrecked because of another shipwreck. Unfamiliar with Bermuda reefs, her captain was surprised by the sight of the wreck of the Cristobal Colon and ordered his ship turned away. The course change caused the Iristo to crash into a submerged reef and subsequently sink in 1937. The Iristo, a 250 foot Norwegian freighter, was carrying a cargo of gasoline drums, a fire engine and steamroller. The wreck lies in 50 feet of water, with the bow coming within 18 feet of the surface. Points of interest include the engine, boilers, propeller shaft, propeller and the fire engine.
http://www.skin-diver.com/bermuda01/wrecks.html
Más sobre Aristo
23: Collector
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American schooner May 26 1823Más sobre Collector
24: Ramona
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Canadian barquentine Dec 2 1967Más sobre Ramona
25: Avenger
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English brigantine feb 1894Más sobre Avenger
26: Col. William Ball
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American motor yacht June 1943 US motor yacht built 1929, sank 1943; taken over by US Navy and used as harbour boat; 5-8m deep; lies next to Beaumaris Castle and Avenger on Mill's Breakers.Más sobre Col. William Ball
27: Sea venture
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English shipJuly 28 1609
One of the best-known shipwrecks in literature is that of the merchantman Sea Venture (sometimes called Sea Adventure, Seaventure, or Seaventer), whose loss on a Bermudan reef in 1609 became the subject of William Shakespeare's Tempest. Her early history is not known with certainty, but it is believed that she is the same Sea Venture owned by members of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, for whom she traded between London, the Elbe River port of Stade, and the Dutch market at Middleburg, carrying mostly wool and cloth. In 1609 she was purchased by or chartered to the Virginia Company to sail as flagship of the second supply mission sent out to the fledgling Jamestown colony since its establishment in 1607.
The ship sailed from Plymouth on June 2 as flagship of the "Third Supply" (as it was known), which comprised six full-rigged ships and two pinnaces. On July 23, they were caught in a hurricane and Sea Venture became separated from the rest of the ships. After four days in midocean, when the ship "was growne five feet suddenly deepe with water above her ballast," Admiral of the flotilla Sir George Somers saw land. Soon thereafter, the ship lodged fast between two reefs about three-quarters of a mile from land, and the entire company of 150 rowed ashore on Bermuda, a place dreaded by mariners who knew it as "the Island of Devils." The ship remained afloat long enough for the crew to salvage most of her equipment and stores.
They also built the pinnaces Deliverance and Patience in which all but two of the company continued their passage to Jamestown, arriving on May 10, 1610. The two men who remained at Bermuda were the first permanent settlers in what officially became an English settlement in 1612.
In 1610, William Strachey published an eyewitness account entitled "A True Repertory of the Wreck and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight," and Silvester Jourdain published Discovery of the Bermudas otherwise Called the "Isle of Devils." It is believed that Shakespeare read both of these accounts in the course of writing his celebrated romantic drama The Tempest (1611), the last of his complete plays.
The wreck remained undisturbed until 1959 when American diver and amateur historian Edmund Dowling found it at a depth of 9.1 meters. The artifacts he retrieved suggested that the wreck was that of Sea Venture, until experts at the Tower of London misidentified one of the ship's guns as a saker dating from the eighteenth century, rather than a minion from the early seventeenth. Work on the site ceased and was not resumed until 1978, when divers working under the auspices of the Bermuda Maritime Museum Association resumed operations. The site yielded relatively few artifacts: some cannon shot and smaller weapons, fragments of ceramic plates and vessels of English, Rhenish, Spanish, and Chinese origin, and pewter spoons. Little of the hull remains apart from a 15-meter section of keel (which originally may have been as long as 25 meters), a few ceilings and outer planks, and some floors.
Peterson, "Sea Venture." Winwood, "Sea Venture."
Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia
Más sobre Sea venture
28: Wychwood
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| Ten sharks waited for nine Coast Guardsmen, ordered to jump into the churning sea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ABANDON SHIP All Rights Reserved © June 2001 by CCCNews Net | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IN A BLUE WORLD of sea and sky the British freighter Wychwood churned a wake down the middle of the Atlantic, 13 miles west of the island of Bermuda. Table-smooth water curled white as her bow sliced southward, circling to avoid Hurricane Connie. On a settee in the Officers Mess the Chief Steward waited to serve afternoon tea. Droning engines encouraged him to doze until the settee shook and he bounced around like a doll in a box. With her engines racing full ahead, the freighter ground to a halt. "The Wychwood stranded on a coral reef at 3:17 p.m. on Thursday 11 August 1955," reported The Royal Gazette in Hamilton, Bermuda. "After sliding onto the ledge," it quoted the Chief Steward, "our ship swung around on it. Captain Thomas called all hands to emergency stations, and ordered the engines 'full astern.' Our propellers spun but the ship would not budge." From an antenna high on her mast a message went out. Wychwood requested a tug to pull her from the reef and a pilot to guide her into St. George's harbor for repairs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Cutter Rockaway on standby in St. George's harbor, Bermuda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The horn of the Rockaway shattered the peace of the village and Coast Guardsmen came running through the dark streets. Called back to work after less than four hours of rest, they rushed to their duty stations, still in street clothes. Not one complaint was heard. When someone is in trouble at sea, they remembered their unofficial slogan: "you have to go out; you don't have to come back." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Giant diesel engines roared to life and the Rockaway cast off its mooring lines to exit the harbor through the narrow channel—so narrow a captain once remarked that it "was almost like threading a needle." The first light of dawn dimmed the stars, as the Rockaway slowed its engines and crept to the stern of the Wychwood. The arm of a boatswain's | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rockaway readies to get underway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Gulping this breakfast. they kept hauling until a 3-inch-thick towing line arrived at the end of the messenger line. It was rapidly secured and her captain radioed that she was ready to be towed from the reef. The Rockaway's engines groaned | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rushing to the rescue | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| as the towline rose, dripping, from the watery gap between the ships and stretched as tight as a guitar. All hands were ordered to clear the decks. The Wychwood also groaned and barely moved. The towline exploded in the middle, whipped back and spanked the ocean on the opposite side of both ships with a force that could cut a man in half. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rockaway edges to stranded freighter Wychwood | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| They tried again. They lost | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preparing to tow from coral reef | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It was strong enough, however, to tow. As pumps on the Wychwood sucked water from the holds and shot it out both sides, the Rockaway steamed back to keep the Wychwood straight as the little tug towed them both. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| At such slow speed, they soon concluded, they would not reach port until tomorrow afternoon. To keep the Wychwood afloat until then, the captains agreed, she'd need a crew that was not walking around in its sleep, more pumps, and a lot of prayers that Hurricane Diane—heading directly for Bermuda—would not arrive before then. A salvage crew arrived when a motor launch from the Rockaway plowed alongside the sinking freighter and 12 Coast Guardsmen climbed a Jacob's Ladder to the well deck of the Wychwood. Their young eyes popped at seeing so much water swirling in the cargo hold. Swiftly they hoisted portable pumps aboard and listened intently to briefings from the English crew. Gasoline pumps sputtered to life and more streams of water shot from the hold back out to the sea. As one Coast Guard officer supervised and the other conferred with the captain, two enlisted men followed an escort to the Wireless Room. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Wychwood's Communication Officer briefed Marc Tomasi, an Electronic Technician, and Chuck Harris, a former Navy man during the Korean War, before he trudged below for badly needed sleep. Turning up the speakers the two checked out the Handie Talkie. Tuned to a frequency of 2670, it was the lifeline between the Coast Guardsmen and their cutter. The log they kept tells the story. At 2020 hours Captain Thomas on the Wychwood informed Captain Smenton on the Rockaway that "if the wind picks up, we won't be able to batten down the hatches, due to pumping operations. We are rigging both lifeboats for readiness." "If the winds get too bad," Rockaway replied, realizing the first signs of Hurricane Diane were arriving, "we'll cast off the hawsers on our end and pick up the men on your ship." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Swirling Water Turned Red | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Though no one heard explosive snaps, at four minutes to midnight the Rockaway radioed that both towing hausers had parted ... "one tore through the chock and the bulkhead ... Papago is coming around to pass messengers to hook up a tow again ... ask the captain if he can prepare an anchor chain for towing." Five minutes after midnight Harris relayed the message, "It'll be an hour before the anchor chain will be ready." He then noted in the log that "Wychwood is dead in the water and rocking like crazy." At 0134 hours the Rockaway relayed another worry: "Hurricane Diane reported at 26.5 north and 60.5 west, moving our way with winds up to 100 knots." An hour later towing lines were in place again and the Wychwood was moving once more. At dawn, however, the swirling water in the hold turned red. Thousands of bags of Barite (a powdery compound used for drilling oil wells), were soaking open, turning the water to mud. Soon it could clog the pumps. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxi Blown into the Sea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By noon, 45-mile-an-hour winds forced Bermuda's Kindley Air Force Base to close its runways to all traffic, except Hurricane Hunters. "Windows of nearly every store throughout Bermuda," The Royal Gazette reported, "were covered and shuttered, expecting the worst." "Do you men want relief?" the Rockaway radioed after a night of work. "Negative," Harris relayed, "We'll stay with the ship. We'll walk off or swim off." Saturday evening The Royal Gazette reported "waves were thundering upon the rocks and beaches, whipping the sea into a white lather. A taxi," it added, "suddenly disappeared over an embankment leading to the sea, lifted by a sudden gust of wind." Knowing the Rockaway would be pulled onto the reefs flanking the narrow channel, its captain radioed for the tug Bermudian—shallow enough to float over the reefs—to come out and take over the guiding position on the stern of the Wychwood. As the Bermudian came out, however, the heavy seas crashed over her bow and put her lower deck awash. She radioed that the seas were too rough for her small size and returned to port. In sight of success, but unable to enter the harbor, the two ships were advised that Hurricane Diane was "likely to strike within two hours." The captain of the Wychwood dropped both anchors and ordered his crew into the lifeboats. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As 28 crewmen of the Wychwood rowed to the Rockaway and the first boat passed her bow, the sea chose that moment to toss it upward into the cutter's starboard anchor. Exploding into splinters, jagged boards and screaming men flew out into the sea. Quickly the Rockaway's deck force unfurled a cargo net and the Englishmen scrambled up. Miraculously, no life was lost, but the money and the papers of the Wychwood were. On the Wychwood 17 men remained—the captain, the chief officer, the chief steward and 14 Coast Guardsmen— without a lifeboat. "Rockaway," Harris called into the Handie Talkie, "This is Driftwood. What do you want us to do?" |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coast Guardsmen line the rail to abandon ship as sharks wait below | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To avoid splintering more lifeboats, the men on the Wychwood heard, half of the enlisted men were to abandon ship immediately and swim away from the ship. Nine men—Chores, Tomasi, Hudson, Pond, Hoops, Reitnauer, Nausley, Stetzel and Harris—climbed onto the bulwark and prepared to jump. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| "Be careful," a voice from the radio added, "three sharks are following the boat coming to get you." [Seaman Bill Madigan later reported this number was low. From high above on the flying bridge he had counted ten.] But Harris had already passed the Handie Talkie to someone else. As the senior man in the group, Harris watched the ocean swell up to touch their bare feet, then fall away into a chasm 2-stories deep. "Wait for my signal," he yelled to the others. On the cutter their buddies also waited, with their hearts in their throats, painfully watching shipmates preparing to jump into shark infested water. "Now," Harris shouted, as the swell rose to meet them, "go, go, go." His voice turned into bubbles as he plunged into the sea. "Grab a hand," he shouted when his head popped up into air. The nine men formed a floating ring, so not to drift apart and never be found. But the swells rose faster than lifejackets could lift them. They needed their hands to constantly swim upward. The circle broke. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shark caught by the Rockaway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I'm bleeding," teenager Walter Nausley called out. Knowing blood attracts sharks and snaps them into a feeding frenzy, Harris shouted back, "You're first into the boat." As that boat from their cutter plowed at them, from a rubber raft alongside, 19-year-old Frank Lauri dipped his arm into the sea and grabbed the first of his shipmates. A soaking man rose from the water and rolled into the raft. One by one the soggy men were pulled onto the raft and climbed into the boat till only two were left. As they passed upwind of Harris, Lauri grabbed his lifejacket and pulled. The wind, however, blew the boat and raft over Harris. As tall as Lincoln and John Wayne at six foot four, Harris had bent like a horseshoe. His bare feet touched the boat from the under side of the raft. He desperately kicked to swim backwards. As the soggy lifejacket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sharks follow boat to rescue 9 Coast Guardsmen bobbing in 20-foot swells | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On board the Rockaway, when all nine were safe, everyone shook their heads in disbelief: the men were there, barefoot and bleeding ... the sharks were there ... what kept them from attacking? ... constant kicking? ... throbbing engines? ... ships as big as killer whales? All anyone knew for sure was that it tortured their captain. He wanted no more of his men in the water. The boat was ordered hoisted and cradled. "Eight of us are still over here," said a voice on the Handie Talkie. "It's getting dark fast. How do we get off?" The Master, his Chief Officer and the Chief Steward climbed up to the stern to escape the well deck, now constantly awash. The Coast Guardsmen—Officers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Pulled from circling sharks, nine return | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Holmes and Statlander, Chief Wingard, Radarman Frank Carlsson and Nelson, a Navy man from the Papago—joined them near the small dinghy, the only boat left. Too small to hold them all, the captain wanted to use it to ferry 2 or 3 at a time to a bigger boat, if one ever came. Block pulleys creaked as they lowered the dinghy from its cradle with Frank Carlsson inside. Halfway down, a wave spanked the dinghy and the bowline looped upward and fouled in the block. Hopelessly jammed, the dinghy could not be raised or lowered further. It had been their last hope. The Wychwood now had no boats or rafts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uncommon Courage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Furrows in the face of Captain Smenton disappeared when Kindley Air Force Base radioed an answer to his request. Its heavy-weather, high-speed, high-powered crash boat, designed for rescuing flyers from crash scenes at sea, was on the way. As it split waves and sprayed a huge white "V" racing to the Wychwood, the waiting Coast Guardsmen tied knots at intervals in a towing line. Dangling the line from the overhang of the stern, they hoped to climb down or swing to the deck of the crash boat. Unable to swing far enough Nelson forgot about sharks, dropped and swam to the crash boat where he was fished out. Officers Holmes and Stadtlander went next, followed by Chief Wingard, who almost walked on water. Carlsson, the last Coast Guardsman off, however, saw the Captain of the Wychwood take a pill he suspected may be for a heart condition. When he relayed his concern to the skipper of the crash boat, the Air Force Sergeant decided not to risk a heart attack. He would take his boat to the captain. Using all the speed and power at his fingertips, he stabbed the bow of his crash boat under the overhang of the rising stern of the Wychwood. His bullhorn told the Englishmen to jump directly down to his bow. The Chief Officer and the Chief Steward jumped, injuring a toe and an ankle. But Captain Thomas had not jumped. Everyone held his breath. The sergeant had been uncommonly lucky to stick his boat in the mouth of the monster and get away with it. To do it twice would defy all odds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hurricane Diane threatens as British freighter Wychwood sinks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| minutes," The Royal Gazette reported, "her bow buoyant with trapped air, she remained above the waves. There seemed to be a slight explosion as the air burst the forward hatch, and then the bow sank." Hearing the news after waking from his first sleep in 54 hours, Captain Aaron Thomas told The Royal Gazette, "The American boys and the ship's crew did all in their power to save the ship. I have nothing but praise for their efforts." To this very day, travelers sailing into St. George's harbor wonder why a cross in the water does not bob up and down like the buoy nearby. They do not know the men that know the answer ... that it's more than a symbol of uncommon courage ... that it marks a watery grave ... that the cross itself is the top of the mast of the Wychwood. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Epilogue | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| When Frank Carlsson returned to the Rockaway on Monday, he told his shipmates that the Commanding Officer of the base had reprimanded the skipper of the crash boat for scratching its brand new paint. Outraged, the Coast Guardsmen rushed to rescue the sergeant. He rates a medal not a reprimand, they said. Their captain agreed and carried their protest to the CO of the base. In a meeting behind closed doors the sergeant became a hero. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In that harbor at the far end of Bermuda, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Rockaway gleamed white in the tropical sun. Water sprayed in her showers as young men washed away the sweat of the workday and prepared to go ashore. Before they left, however, the speakers blared. Liberty was restricted to the town of St. George, the Officer of the Deck announced, the rest of the island was off limits. The Navy tugboat Papago, he explained, was racing to an emergency. If more help was needed, the cutter's horn would blast and all hands were to return on the double. As the sun neared the horizon the Papago arrived with Pilot Walter H. Darrell. It found the Wychwood sitting solidly on the underwater reef with water seeping into her after holds. Hours later, the Wychwood still sat on the reef and the captain concluded, if she wasn't freed soon, she would never make harbor. |
| Pagago tows as Wychwood pumps and Rockaway guides to correct for jammed rudder |
| The stern of the Wychwood rose and opened a gap again. The engine of the crash boat roared. The bow stabbed in. "Jump," they yelled, "Jump, Captain, jump." The stern of the Wychwood descended to close the jaw. The crash boat jerked full astern. In the tradition of the sea, the last to leave a sinking ship, the captain had finally jumped. As the crash boat escaped and turned for shore, the crew on the Rockaway burst into applause. Mother Nature, however, had the last word and it was most ironic. As the Rockaway headed for open seas to ride out the storm, Hurricane Diane turned away from Bermuda, passing 300 miles to the south. Spared by the storm, the Wychwood was still afloat at 9 o'clock Sunday morning. Shortly after eleven, however, her stern slowly settled and disappeared into the sea. "For several |
mate swung wide and a messenger line flew through the air, uncoiling till it landed
on the stern of the wounded ship. Her crew—exhausted from a night without
sleep or food—hauled on the line until a duffel bag reached their hands. Thumbs
of the Englishmen jabbed high into the air to thank the American seamen for what
they first needed most: sandwiches and hot coffee.
on the stern of the wounded ship. Her crew—exhausted from a night without
sleep or food—hauled on the line until a duffel bag reached their hands. Thumbs
of the Englishmen jabbed high into the air to thank the American seamen for what
they first needed most: sandwiches and hot coffee.
another towline, and they tried yet again. At 11:17 a.m. on Friday, The
Royal Gazette reported, the Wychwood was pulled free and water
rushed into her after holds. Quickly the Rockaway steamed past to take
a towing position in front.
As she towed, however, the Wychwood did not follow directly
behind; she swerved far to the left, pulling the Rockaway off course. The
grounding had jammed her rudder hard to port and nothing they did
could free it.
The tug Papago attached a line to the stern of the Wychwood and
steered in the opposite direction to hold the Wychwood straight.
Wychwood veered to the left a bit more slowly, but soon pulled the
Rockaway off course again. Smaller than both ships, the tug was not
heavy enough to correct the Wychwood.
Royal Gazette reported, the Wychwood was pulled free and water
rushed into her after holds. Quickly the Rockaway steamed past to take
a towing position in front.
As she towed, however, the Wychwood did not follow directly
behind; she swerved far to the left, pulling the Rockaway off course. The
grounding had jammed her rudder hard to port and nothing they did
could free it.
The tug Papago attached a line to the stern of the Wychwood and
steered in the opposite direction to hold the Wychwood straight.
Wychwood veered to the left a bit more slowly, but soon pulled the
Rockaway off course again. Smaller than both ships, the tug was not
heavy enough to correct the Wychwood.
pulled from Lauri's grip, he grabbed a slippery arm. When it too slipped beneath the water, he squeezed the hand and
pulled, but lifting too-many water-soaked men had drained away all his strength.
From under water Lauri's face looked wavy, and the fear on that face told Harris it was over. He wanted to swim
beneath the raft and boat, avoiding the slicing propeller, to come out the other side. But he could not yell through water to
tell Lauri to let go. And then he knew how he was going to die.
In extreme desperation men have been known to lift cars off victims, though they could never do it before or ever
again. That's how Lauri had to explain whatever came over him so completely that he cannot remember what he did. Nor
could Harris. He only remembers that as his face rubbed under the floor of the raft he suddenly flew out of the water, over
the raft and nearly hit his head on the upper side of the boat.
pulled, but lifting too-many water-soaked men had drained away all his strength.
From under water Lauri's face looked wavy, and the fear on that face told Harris it was over. He wanted to swim
beneath the raft and boat, avoiding the slicing propeller, to come out the other side. But he could not yell through water to
tell Lauri to let go. And then he knew how he was going to die.
In extreme desperation men have been known to lift cars off victims, though they could never do it before or ever
again. That's how Lauri had to explain whatever came over him so completely that he cannot remember what he did. Nor
could Harris. He only remembers that as his face rubbed under the floor of the raft he suddenly flew out of the water, over
the raft and nearly hit his head on the upper side of the boat.
Más sobre Wychwood
29: Rita Zoretta
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Italian Steamer Feb 11 1924Más sobre Rita Zoretta
30: Pelinaion
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Greek steamerjan. 16 1940
The Pelinaion was a large cargo steamer, 385 feet long with a 50 foot beam and a displacement of 4,291 tons. She was built at Port Glasgow, in 1907, but her ownership changed numerous times before she was purchased by a Greek shipping company and given her present name in 1939. The Pelinaion was heading from West Africa to Baltimore with a cargo of iron ore when she struck the reef off St. David's Head on January 16, 1940. The wreck lies one mile offshore in depths ranging from 20 to 70 feet. She is an awesome sight because of her large size and massive parts. Most noticeable are the ship's giant steam boilers, huge triple expansion engine standing upright and a spare propeller strapped to her deck.
http://www.skin-diver.com/bermuda01/wrecks.html
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31: Catharine
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English brigantine April 4 1763Más sobre Catharine
32: HMS Cerberus
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32 guns English frigate feb. 21 1783 HMS Cerberus, a British frigate sunk during the siege of Newport during the American Revolution. The ship was located during the 1970s by URI oceanographers who surveyed Narragansett Bay See also WAYNE WALKER HMS Cerberus and The Royal Naval DockyardMás sobre HMS Cerberus
33: Kate
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English steamer Dec. 1 1878 A 200-foot English steamer that sits in 45 feet of water, with her boilers, engine, propeller shaft and deck winches still visible. Snorkelers can also find her propeller sitting alone on top of the reef in 20 feet of water.Más sobre Kate
34: Appola
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American Schooner feb 1890Más sobre Appola
35: Pollockshields
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English SteamerSept. 13 1915
Built in 1890 in Hamburg, Germany, the Pollockshields was a 323 foot cargo steamer. With the approach of the first World War, near the end of 1904, she was refitted into a German naval supply ship for operations in the North Atlantic. Ten years later and known at that time as the Graecia, she was captured by the H.M.S. Argonaut. After the capture, the British Government named her The Pollockshields. Travelling from Cardiff, Wales for an undisclosed port of rendezvous, the steamer ran into a "white squall" on September 2, 1915. Five days later the ship struck the near shore reef off Elbow Beach. Among her collection of flattened deck and hull plates strewn across the bottom on both sides of a shallow break in the reef, in depths between 15 to 30 feet, are two substantial boilers and an enormous space propeller, as well as her immense triple expansion engine.
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36: Minnie Breslauer
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English SteamerJan 1 1873
The Minnie Breslauer Bermudas Unluckiest Ship by Geri Murphy
The Minnie Breslauer was one of those unlucky ships that give insurance underwriters gray hair. She sank on her maiden voyage, on New Years Day! Constructed of the finest materials available, this 300 foot long English steamer was built and launched toward the end of 1872.
Bound for New York she departed Portugal with an assorted cargo of cork, lead ingots, dried fruit and wine. The captain and his crew of 24 were in good spirits on this transatlantic voyage.
Intending to use Bermuda as a landmark, the captain edged his new ship close to the islands South Shore. He did not have the appropriate navigation chart and was unfamiliar with the waters. Cruising at full speed, the ill-fated ship rammed into a submerged reef one mile offshore, causing the bow section of the hull to collapse. Not realizing the extent of the damage, the captain desperately tried to back his ship off the reef;which immediately caused it to begin sinking. It was New Years Day, January 1, 1873.
Today, the giant shipwreck is off Bermudas South Shore, not far from the Southampton Princess Hotel beach. She lies on her starboard side on a coral slope, with her crumpled bow at 40 feet and her stern against the flat sand bottom at 70 feet. More than 224 years of saltwater submersion have caused this steel hulled freighter to become heavily overgrown with dome corals, seawhips and sponges.
A huge steam boiler sits amidships, providing an excellent point of reference while exploring this wreck. Much of the ship is a jumble of steel beams, deck plates, bulkheads and deck machinery;yet the ships basic structure is still recognizable. Forward of the boiler is a pile of lead ingots pinned under the steel plates.
The most interesting portion of this wreck is the stern, where you can penetrate the interior and shoot photographs among the steel beams. The ships giant four bladed propeller is intact and partially buried in the sand. The great rudder is also there. Perhaps the most interesting artifact is the ships steering quadrant;an odd shaped metal device that allowed the ships rudder to be moved by a steering lever.
Underwater visibility in this area ranges from good to excellent. The day we dived the Minnie Breslauer the visibility was at least 100 feet. This wreck site is popular because of its proximity to three Bermuda dive operators and because visitors receive a Bermuda Shipwreck Certificate upon completing this dive.
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37: Marie Celeste
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Confederate paddle steamerSept. 26 1864
One of Bermuda's most historic shipwrecks is the Mary Celestia - a side paddlewheel steamer chartered by the Confederacy during America's Civil War. She was utilized as a blockade runner, smuggling much needed guns, ammunition, supplies and food to the troops in the South. The sleek, 225 foot ship sank in 1864, after hitting a reef close to the south shore of Bermuda. The wreck lies in 55 feet of water, with one of her paddlewheel frames standing upright like a miniature ferris wheel. The other paddlewheel lies flat on the sand, along with other interesting artifacts such as the boilers, anchor and part of the bow.
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38: Virginia Merchant
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English Ship March 26 1661Más sobre Virginia Merchant