Trip Report 7-9-06
The day was not starting off well. My usual slip at Sportsmen dock was occupied, so I had to dock over on the side next to another neighboring marina. That was Standard Operating Procedure for Sportsmen, no biggie. Unfortunately, this put me along side a Drunk's boat. His preferred method of docking was to back in at high speed and stop when he crashes into the dock, and step off the boat with a Heineken in his hand. While my boat was safe on the other side of the dock, he came over to yell at & abuse us with his mouth and stereo. Belligerent neighbors aside, I had a group, primarily from Mass. Heading for the Spike Fish. A US. Submarine sunk in 270 FT. of water about 60 Miles from Montauk. Not Much was known about this sub. Supposedly it has only been dove once, by a handful of divers from the famed ( infamous) Atlantic wreck divers on AIR.. We would be the second group to dive the wreck. So needless to say, the excitement was palpable.

My crew for this trip was Capt Chad Smith, still filling in for Tex, Jeff Schwartz, Tim Barrows, Rick Reickenbacker, and Roger Heins. The boat was loaded with enough helium to supply the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. We set sail around 12 PM. Capt Chad took the first watch guiding us out of the harbor. It was a calm and foggy night, as we sailed past Montauk light. It was a relatively short run to the wreck site. The Loran numbers were "dead balls on" We spent some time using the boat's sonar to probe the wreck. It was partially buried in the bottom. It had some netting on it. It came up over 20 Ft. off the bottom in some places. The dead flat seas made it easy to sonar the wreck. There was also no current, perfect conditions.

After 20 Min of looking at her from the surface, it was time to dive. We used the old shot line method to tie in. We put Jeff, and Tim in the water first. They were to send up a lift bag when we were tied in. Everyone on board was waiting trying to mentally will a bag to break the surface. After 20 Min. with no bag, We knew none was coming . We circled around the ball for over an hour, waiting for the divers to surface. When they finally did, pressed them for details. The water was calm with no current all the way to the bottom, but the vis was less than 5 Ft. They swam around for awhile, but could not find the wreck. They would have had to swim into it to find it in those conditions.

We brain stormed for a bit. We knew how the wreck laid from our sonar recon. I put all the points up on the plotter. We then dragged the line behind the boat going width wise over the wreck. When we felt the weight hit the side of the wreck we let go of the line. I slowly motored to the wreck dragging the weight. The line handler let go when he believed it hit the sub. We suited Rick up to go in. Again we eagerly awaited the bag. No such luck. Again we waited, while Rick decompressed. He had found the weight buried in the mud, not against the wreck. Back to the drawing board.

We went to the timed honored method of grappling for the wreck. This method involves running up wind and current from the wreck, dropping a grapnel hook in the sand ahead of the wreck, then letting the wind and current blow you slowly over the wreck, praying that it would "catch" the wreck The key words here being "SLOWLY and pray" There was no wind or current that day, so I was forced to back the boat over the wreck. Unfortunately if you go too fast the grapnel pops off the bottom, sailing over the wreck. I will spare you the ugly details, it didn't work. By now we had spent 4 hours trying to get into the wreck.

I decided to give it one more shot to get in. We did another ball drop. Tim volunteered to go in. We again waited with baited breath for the bag to come up. Long story short, no bag !! It was time to change gears. The Norness was about the same depth, 24 miles away. I plugged it into the G.P.S. while we waited for Tim to come up. When he finally surfaced he yelled for us to put in another diver. He had found the wreck but ran out of time before he could tie in. The chain was wrapped around a piece of wreckage. We immediately suited up Roger and Chad. Eventually the bag came up, I nearly Wept with joy and relief.

Conditions on he wreck were a little better than the bottom with 20 Ft. of vis. The hatches were all sealed, meaning the interior had never been dove. Basically a virgin sub!!! After every one had a dive we enjoyed a well deserved dinner.

the morning came with great conditions. We suited divers up in groups of two and three. Every one wanted another look at this sub. A few of the divers shot video of her. It will take some doing to get inside, there might even be a dry compartment.

This was only a preliminary trip. A three day trip is already planned for next year. No telling what we will find. After a morning dive, it was time to release our hard earned mooring and head home. There were smiles al around as we unloaded at our usual slip. Today, was a good day to be a dive boat Captain.