Eastern Search & Survey

CBS ran a segment on our Stellwagen Seafloor Mapping Initiative. We have found 10 shipwrecks / potential cultural sites so far in the first two seasons of operation. For more, see https://stellwagen.noaa.gov/maritime/mapping.html

To get involved, email [email protected] with the subject "Stellwagen Mapping Initiative" or "SMI".

FYI: we are looking for sponsors to keep the program going!

With Marine Imaging Technologies, Calvin Mires and NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

Where you can search for whales and sunken ships off the Massachusetts coast Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is a protected marine ecosystem known for its rich biodiversity, world-class whale watching, and historic shipwrecks.

Honored to be included in recent coverage of new discoveries in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. By hiring fishermen to run surveys and search for cultural heritage sites (shipwrecks), the Stellwagen Mapping Initiative is creating a groundbreaking collaborative partnership between the Massachusetts commercial fishing community and NOAA.

Special thanks to John Fish, Capt. Marc Gustafson, Capt. Chris Townsend, Capt. Tom Hill, Capt. Phil Lynch, Dr. Calvin Mires, and the teams at NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine Imaging Technologies.

Four New Shipwrecks Discovered on Stellwagen Bank - The Provincetown Independent PROVINCETOWN — At first, the three men on the 40-foot F/V Heidi Lyn didn’t see any signs of debris on their consoles. Since being launched at MacMillan Pier, sonar scanners […]

Added eight unidentified wrecks in NY/NJ offshore waters to the free Google Maps page:

"BROADCAST" (90'): wreckage of a wooden-hulled vessel that spans approximately 100' in length, including an engine and prop shaft.

"ENGINE WRECK" (63'): possible turbine; two wheels connected to a shaft and a large engine.

"HAPPY DAYS" (110'): wooden-hulled vessel measuring approximately 250' long.

"MEDKIN" (165'): possibly the remnants of an old fishing vessel.

"RED'S WRECK" (30'): low-laying debris, possibly remnants of a barge that sank nearby in 1967.

"SCHOONER 18" (115'): little remains above the sand of this wooden-hulled sailing vessel beyond the windlass, a pile of anchor chain and a sole timber.

"STEEL WRECK" (75'): ~210'-long wreck found by NOAA during a multibeam survey in 2015.

"SW STRONUS" (140'): this is one of the more bizarre-looking ones we've encountered: is it the wreck of a wooden-hulled boat, or the bones of a sandworm?

These sites were imaged in July and August, 2021 as part of our 2021 Offshore Wrecks Survey project, in which 191 sites were investigated and 166 wrecks were confirmed & imaged. The project was funded by donations from generous community sponsors (https://gofund.me/0441600f).

Happy Father’s Day! What better way to celebrate than with a tale of heroism that ends with a productive fishing spot?

The crew of Eastern Transportation Company’s tug MONTROSE left Norfolk, Virginia on December 1, 1927 with two coal-laden barges in tow: the JOHN H. WINSTEAD and the MILLVILLE. Their destination was Boston, but they found themselves caught in a fierce nor’easter and heavy seas off New Jersey. The MILLVILLE began to sink, so the tug ordered the barges to anchor as she swung around to retrieve the crews. MONTROSE’s crew succeeded in rescuing all ten men from both barges. JOHN H. WINSTEAD sank at anchor the following morning.

Today, her hull lies at a depth of 75’ about three miles off Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. She is also known as CADET, CRAMER’s and VALPARAISO. Another wreck site – that of the BRUNETTE, a small iron-hulled freighter – lies about 200’ to the north. One of our attached images shows the distance and bearing between the sites; adventurous divers could make the swim between the two (note: the compass bearing shown is in true degrees, which will need to be adjusted for local magnetic variation to produce a compass heading in magnetic degrees). Some of our images also show a substantial portion of the WINSTEAD’s hull about 200’ west of the wreck.

According to the US Merchant Vessel List, JOHN H. WINSTEAD measured 215’ long with a 36’ breadth and displaced 1,160 gross tons. She was built in 1922 in Baltimore.

JOHN H. WINSTEAD was imaged on August 2, 2021 as part of our 2021 Offshore Wrecks Survey project, in which 191 sites were investigated and 166 wrecks were confirmed & imaged. The project was funded by donations from generous community sponsors (https://gofund.me/0441600f).

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Added JOHN H. WINSTEAD to our free Google Maps chart:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dMRBuqZSxv1ULdiPi76ZQCiHB0OkW7NV

Special thanks to NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary team and Dr. Calvin Mires for the opportunity to demo our side-scan sonar system last Tuesday aboard their research vessel, R/V AUK! Together, we imaged the wreck sites of two 100+ year old schooners within the Sanctuary. It was a beautiful day to be offshore, the team did a great job, and new friendships were formed.

The first site imaged was the wreck of the PAUL PALMER, which sank after catching fire during the afternoon of June 15, 1913 while traveling in ballast (empty) to Newport News, Virginia. She had departed from Rockland, Maine two days prior: on Friday the 13th. It was a clear day and coastal observers at Provincetown, Massachusetts watched events unfold through “powerful marine glasses” from a distance of 10 miles. The captain, crew and two female passengers were rescued by the fishing schooner ROSE DOROTHEA after bravely battling the blaze for three hours. Built in 1902 in Waldoboro, Maine, PAUL PALMER was one of the largest coasting schooners in the area, measuring 276’ long and sporting five masts. She now lies in 80’ of water approximately 7 miles north of Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The second site we imaged is thought to be the KING PHILIP, a 211’-long four-masted schooner that foundered in a severe storm on November 26, 1898. The 36-hour gale sank at least 150 ships – including the Sanctuary’s most famous wreck, the Steamship PORTLAND – with an estimated 450 lives lost. Although the site is badly deteriorated, damaged and buried, by measuring the distance from one of the hull sides to the keelson we are able to estimate the vessel’s beam (width) as being 40’ +/- 10%, which is consistent with the KING PHILIP (registered beam of 42.5’).

KING PHILIP departed from Baltimore, Maryland on November 17 with a cargo of 1,787 tons of coal bound for Portland, Maine. She was last seen off Chatham, Massachusetts on November 25 and is believed to have sunk near Highland Light (Provincetown). On December 1, a quarterboard bearing the ship’s name washed up at Peaked Hill Station (Provincetown), and three large masts were spotted adrift offshore. She was built in Camden, Maine, in 1886 by H. M. Bean, and is notable for being one of the first vessels chartered by the US Government to transport coal from Baltimore to the warships at Key West in support of the Spanish-American war effort. Her captain and crew of 12 were lost in the sinking.

Both PAUL PALMER and KING PHILIP have been added to our free Google Maps wreck chart. Note, error has been added to their coordinates to protect their true locations:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dMRBuqZSxv1ULdiPi76ZQCiHB0OkW7NV

For more information, see NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary website:
https://stellwagen.noaa.gov/

And their page on the PAUL PALMER:
https://stellwagen.noaa.gov/maritime/paul-palmer.html

With Marine Imaging Technologies

Starting a new search for fallen war heroes in the Pacific 🇺🇸

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Independence Day! We haven't posted much lately (busy), BUT we have a bunch of new wreck site images and other exciting developments to share over the coming months 😎 🇺🇸

Getting started on a new project with Marine Imaging Technologies. Should be interesting!

in 1888 the 254’-long iron-hulled freighter IBERIA collided with the Cunard passenger liner UMBRIA in the approaches to New York Harbor. Her sinking caused no loss of life.

IBERIA was inbound to New York from Basra, Iraq, carrying a cargo of wool, coffee, hides and dates. She was French-owned, with Captain Sagois in command. UMBRIA was outbound, on her way to Liverpool, England with over seven hundred passengers aboard, Captain McMickan in command.

At approximately 1pm, both vessels were navigating in thick fog, making slight adjustments to their course and speed based on where the other vessel’s steam whistles were heard (or thought to be heard). UMBRIA was traveling at full speed (approximately 16 knots) when she struck IBERIA’s port quarter, shearing off IBERIA’s fantail (extreme stern).

Initially, it was thought that IBERIA’s watertight compartments would save her, but the next day she slowly slipped beneath the waves. Sunk in the relatively accessible depth of 60’, salvage work commenced within two days and focused initially on the sunken freighter’s cargo. Her hull was later abandoned.

Today, IBERIA’s hull is broken-down, likely demolished by explosives due to the hazard she posed to shipping traffic. Several key features easily discernable in these sonar images include her 25’-high compound steam engine, twin boilers, prop shaft, four-bladed propeller and the tip of her bow. The wreck lies in 60’ of water.

In 2011, Bill Bleyer reported in Newsday that Captain Dan Berg and the crew of his dive boat, WRECK VALLEY, had found what they believed to be the freighter’s missing fantail. While yet to be positively identified, circumstantial evidence including artifacts retrieved from the wreckage strongly suggest that it is part of the IBERIA. It lies approximately 5 miles south of the rest of the hull, which is explained by the fantail sinking shortly after the collision, while the rest of the hull drifted for several hours before eventually settling.

The primary wreck site was imaged on July 31, 2021 as part of our 2021 Offshore Wrecks Survey project, in which 191 sites were investigated and 166 wrecks were confirmed & imaged. The project was funded by donations from generous community sponsors (https://gofund.me/0441600f).

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Added IBERIA to our free Google Maps chart:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dMRBuqZSxv1ULdiPi76ZQCiHB0OkW7NV

in 1918 the 128’-long patrol yacht USS TARANTULA (SP-124) sank after colliding with the Dutch passenger ship SS FRISIA of the Royal Holland Lloyd Line approximately 15 miles off Fire Island, NY.

At the time of her demise, TARANTULA was on loan to the Navy for the duration of WWI from owner William Kissam Vanderbilt, the grandson of financier Cornelius Vanderbilt. When built in 1912 by George Lawly & Sons, the luxurious vessel was the most mechanically and electrically advanced for her time. Mr. Vanderbilt took no convincing to do his part against the German enemy when he turned over his vessel for the war effort. It was understood, however, that the vessel would be returned to him when her service was no longer needed.

The Navy converted TARANTULA to a patrol vessel by adding two 6-pound anti-aircraft guns, two 30-caliber machine guns, and a Naval reserve crew of 2 dozen men. She was designated SP-124 – short for Section Patrol. It turned out that Mr. Vanderbilt would command the newly commissioned gunboat from April -December 17, 1917. TARANTULA was then turned over to her new Commanding Officer, Chief Boatswain Mate L.A. Jeffrey, Jr. He served in this capacity until October 14, 1918 when the vessel was turned over to Ensign Edward Parsons Corning.

Her end came two weeks later on a foggy night. Due to the restricted visibility her engines were running at half speed and three lookouts scanned the dark. Around 8:45pm a steamer’s signal was heard, TARANTULA answered with her signal, and her course was altered to NNW. A sharp lookout was kept and she proceeded for the next 25 minutes headed toward New York harbor until a ship’s masthead was spotted off the port beam. Ensign Corning ordered full steam astern. It was too late, as is often the case in such circumstances. The FRISIA hit TARANTULA’s port side, piercing the hull forward of the bridgewing and abreast of the pilot house. Thankfully the steamer had been creeping along slowly at a mere 1.5 knots on her way from New York to Halifax.

The steamer sustained merely a scratch to her paint and her passengers were none-the-wiser. But TARANTULA was mortally wounded, sustaining a sizeable gash in her hull that extended below the waterline. All crew from the TARANTULA were saved by lifeboat and taken on board the FRISIA until they were transferred to the MONTGOMERY, a US destroyer that returned the men to New York.

While Mr. Vanderbilt did not receive his vessel back, he was given the appraised value of $75,000.

Today, 100+ years on the bottom have taken their toll on the once-luxurious vessel. Relatively little remains above the sand, aside from propulsion machinery near the middle of the wreck, and low-laying timbers. But, that does not prevent her from holding fish, as well as the attention of the occasional visiting diver. Her bow faces southwest and the depth is 115’.

The site was imaged on July 31, 2021 as part of our 2021 Offshore Wrecks Survey project, in which 191 sites were investigated and 166 wrecks were confirmed & imaged. The project was funded by donations from generous community sponsors (https://gofund.me/0441600f).

Special thanks to Elizabeth Roberts for preparing this summary.

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Added TARANTULA (SP-124) to our free Google Maps chart:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dMRBuqZSxv1ULdiPi76ZQCiHB0OkW7NV