The Dredge Trip - June 5, 2007
If I had a nickel for every non-diving acquaintance who has asked if I have ever found gold or sunken treasure when diving shipwrecks, I could claim with a straight face that diving has made me rich.  Unlike most dives that have little to do with recovery of wet artifacts, the dredge dive would be different.  The goal today was to locate, excavate, and recover some of the china that went down with the ship. The John Jack made the short trip to this unidentified in-shore wreck with a 400 gal/minute water dredge as well as five divers, four crew, and high hopes. Ric Reichenbacher had the unenviable job of locating the cargo hold within the widely scattered debris field, but he pulled it off.  After tying in to the wreck, the 4 inch hose and stainless steel dredge went down followed by the divers (diggers) who worked in two-man teams.

During the 3rd shift the dredge exposed the corner of .  .  . something.  This “something” had lapped corners, like a cheap crate might, and the joined pieces had a wood grain. Questions about the “cratiness” of the crate arose when some divers reported hearing a metallic sound when the crowbar was used for gentle persuasion.  Perhaps it was a door or a door frame.  One thing was certain: raising this object would take more work than we had time. We had no idea how large it was or how deep we would have to dig to free it – if it could be freed.  So we packed up our toys and went home.  One of my favorite expressions (I have many) is, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”  After all was said and done, we had a good time doing something new.  In truth, everyone knew before we started that finding anything beyond a dislodged tile or discarded bottle was a long shot, but – what the hell. As the bumper sticker says, “A bad day on the ocean is better than a good day at work.”  Even though we went home empty handed, this was a good day – good enough, in fact, to do it again, knowing that the ocean only gives up its treasures grudgingly.

Doc Tom