|
SHIPWRECK IDENTIFICATION
By Capt. Dan Berg
 Identifying an unknown shipwreck is no easy task and there are no
easy to follow rules. The most positive identification is only made
through the retrieval of artifacts from the wreck, but even this
seemingly foolproof method can deceive the most learned researcher.
I'll describe some past experiences. All of these wrecks are off the
south shore of Long Island, N.Y.
Photo: Capt. Steve Bielenda with Windlass cover from the Kenosha
While researching information for a previous book, WRECK VALLEY, I
tried to find information on a local lobster wreck called the
Fire Island Lightship. I found two reference books that listed
her sinking due to a collision, but after diving the wreck, I knew
something was wrong, and I could not simply duplicate an error in my
book. Since diving the site, I knew that this low lying wood wreck
could not possibly be a steel hulled light ship but was a
unidentified wreck named, possibly by fishermen, for her location
near the old lightship station. I researched and found that although
the lightship had been in a collision, she had never sunk. A few
years later, we dove her again and a friend, Mark Weiss, brought up
a bronze windlass cover. On it was the name "Madagascar." We
all assumed that the identification process was over. We were wrong
because I could find no records of a ship called Madagascar
sinking in our area. After a few weeks and after calling in a few
favors from a friend at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., I
found out that the Madagascar had changed names, and the
wreck we knew as the Fire Island Lightship was really a
freight steamer named
Kenosha.
On another wreck which had long been known as the Good Gun Boat,
a diver, Billy de Marigny, found a brass bell which bore the name "Tarantula"
on it. When I went to research this wreck, I knew her name and
approximate age, and I also knew she was armored. I conveniently
found a Tarantula built for Vanderbilt which had been
converted during World War I to a gun boat in the Canadian Navy. I
then came across and purchased a beautiful topside photograph, wrote
an article about the wreck and was about to deliver the text to the
printer when luckily I decided to check just a little deeper. In no
time at all, I found that the Tarantula I was researching had
never sunk; she was still in dry dock in Canada. The wreck turned
out to be another vessel named Tarantula also built for
Vanderbilt and converted during the war by the U.S. Navy into the
USS Tarantula. It definitely doesn't pay to take any short cuts
or to make any assumptions.
On one more site, the
G&D
wreck, I was led astray once again. By checking shipping records and
a location given by newspaper articles, I was told by a respected
researcher that this was almost certainly the wreck of the
Durley Chine. Two years later, diver, Rick Jaszyn, found and
recovered the bell of the Durley Chine on another wreck miles
away.
When trying to identify a wreck, first try to gather as much
information as possible from local divers or historians. Diving the
site and recovering artifacts can be very helpful especially if the
object retrieved, like a bell or windlass cover, has the ship's name
on it. Otherwise, objects found could be related to a ship's cargo
or the age of the vessel, but it is difficult to establish this. I
recommend diving as often as possible. Finding the first clue may
take years, but once found, it's an invitation to open a time
capsule which could have otherwise perished.
|
The Shipwreck Diving E-Book
Instant Downloadable E-Book
Shipwreck Diving,
by Capt. Dan Berg is a complete how to book about the sport of
wreck diving. This book is packed with information and heavily
illustrated with over 80 sensational color photographs. |
|
 |
|
