KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- A South Florida-based salvage firm plans to begin the effort to roll the Spiegel Grove late next week, the firm's president announced Friday. 

The 510-foot retired Navy ship sank upside-down Friday, May, 17, hours before crews had planned to scuttle it to create an artificial reef. The ship lies partially floating in about 130 feet of water, its bow protruding above the sea, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, about six miles off Key Largo. 

"At this point, it's still a bit too early to predict exactly which day we will bring the tugboats to try to initiate the roll," said Joe Farrell, president of Resolve Towing and Salvage. "But we are targeting a time window from Wednesday, June 5, to Friday, June 7, to make the first attempt." 

Farrell cautioned that changes in weather conditions or other unforseen circumstances could delay the effort. He also said there was no way to predict whether Resolve would be successful on the first attempt. 

Marine salvage experts are to rely on a combination of modern technology and Mother Nature in an effort to roll the capsized and partially sunk Spiegel Grove onto its starboard (right) side, and possibly all the way upright, so it sinks as originally intended. 

The Spiegel Grove is the largest ship ever scuttled to create an artificial reef. 

Two days after the mishap, the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce inked a contract with Resolve to reorient the ship. The Spiegel Grove is anchored with the back end of the stern helicopter pad on the sandy bottom and the tip of its overturned bow floating clear of the water. 

Resolve’s salvage vessel, Lana Rose, pulled alongside the Spiegel Grove, and the company's salvaging experts ran a model of the ship through salvaging software. They devised a plan to roll the ship at least onto its starboard, or right, side but are aiming for a final upright position. 

"If we get lucky, and the current helps us roll it over, it will be a one-shot deal" with the vessel sinking upright on the bottom, Farrell said. 

Spiegel Grove organizers want the ship to come to rest upright so its upper decks approach within 40 feet of the surface. Its nooks and crannies would be visible to snorkelers, and scuba divers of all levels would have something to explore. 

If the Spiegel Grove just turns on its side, Farrell then will assess the possibility of securing chains to the side of the ship where it meets the bottom. In conjunction with repositioning the air bags, hydraulic jacks on a barge would hoist the chains upward, three feet at a time, with 300 tons of force apiece, until the vessel turned upright, Farrell said. "Maybe we’re too stupid to be intimidated but we feel we’re up to this job," he said. 

Resolve divers are in the process of installing 60 to 70 heavy vinyl inflatable airbags onto the left, or port, side of the Spiegel Grove to provide 500 tons of buoyancy or lift. When inflated, some of the bags would stand more than 24 feet tall. 

Resolve divers are to feed air hoses into 19 ballast tanks located on the port side of the well deck. The goal is to displace 2,000 tons of water from the left side of the ship, Farrell said. This must be done without bursting the tanks or pumping air into unintended parts of the ship. 

If all goes as planned, the left side will begin to float. Additional lift is to be provided by several 5,000-horsepower tug boats to help get the ship upright. 

The prevailing sea current, which runs from the south at up to 3 knots, should catch the hull and help to roll the Spiegel Grove, Farrell explained. 

Even with the company’s 20 years of salvage experience, there are many unknowns in the process, Farrell cautioned. 

As divers install the airbags and begin to pump air into the Spiegel Grove, the ship could begin to roll on its own, before the tugs arrive, Farrell said. 

Resolve team members must be careful not to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. "It’s going to get a little risky for us," Farrell said. 

Cost to the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce, whose board of directors approved the contract with Resolve, is estimated to add another $250,000 to the $1 million already expended. 

"We know we have a very valuable resource and the fact that the Spiegel Grove will be the best artificial reef in the world," said Stephen Frink, a project organizer and a board member of the Key Largo Chamber. "We're going to invest what we have to, to make this ship right." Frink added. 

Frink said several local groups, including the Ocean Reef Community Association on North Key Largo, have pledged additional financial support. He said the chamber is also counting on additional revenue from the sale of Spiegel Grove commemorative medallions. 

Posted Friday, May 31 at http://fla-keys.com

AP Photo by Andy Newman: A tugboat attempts to reorient the Spiegel Grove on Friday, May 17.

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KEY LARGO, Florida - The booty recovered from the 510-foot naval warship Spiegel Grove includes a welding torch passed from one generation to another and a box of T-shirts that, according to the woman who laundered them, become more significant if spotted. 

Scheduled for a 2 p.m. Friday, May 17, scuttling so that it landed as an upright dive wreck, the Spiegel Grove descended to the ocean's bottom prematurely, forcing those on board to evacuate and settling in an upside-down position, making it too dangerous for divers. Volunteers aboard boats out of Ocean Divers and Quiescence in Key Largo - the only dive operators permitted to enter the Spiegel Grove zone - have since been recovering tools and miscellaneous items that went down with the ship. 

Linda Bleser, wife of sinking project manager Rob Bleser and a bartender at Bayside Grille, was last week supplied a dive gear bag of nearly 80 recovered "I Helped Sink the Spiegel Grove" shirts that were to be provided to those making final preparations for the scuttle. 

"My husband wears T-shirts so often I have to try to get him to put on something else when we go out to dinner," she laughed, "but these were the biggest three loads I've ever had to wash." 

According to Bleser, a "couple of the shirts" apparently brushed the boat, causing rust stains to appear despite pretreatment with stain remover. "The volunteers will probably fight over them," she noted. 

Welder Terry Bates, who traveled from his Daytona Beach home with three torches for cutting diver access holes in the ship, was among those volunteers. One of his torches, dating back to at least the 1940s and etched with the initials "CB," had been passed on to him by his Pittsburgh-based grandfather, Charles. 

"Someone took one of my torches off the ship before it went down," said Bates, "but I couldn't look at it, because I wasn't ready to find out if my grandfather's wasn't saved." 

It wasn't. But upon revisiting the wreck site, a volunteer diver surfaced with the torch. 

"I thought, 'Wow, this is crazy,' " said Bates, who had tied the torch and some 200 pounds of tools under a set of ship stairs with a bungee cord. "My grandfather doesn't remember giving me the torch, but he remembers when he got it and using it, so I was real happy to get it back." 

The younger welder plans to obtain his diver certification so that he can explore the Spiegel Grove after it is re-scuttled. 

"I would probably eventually have gotten around to getting certified," he said, "but now I have more incentive because I played personal part in it." 

Posted Friday, May 31 at http://fla-keys.com
 

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BY ANN HENSON
Staff Writer

Work resumed on the Spiegel Grove to right the half-sunken ship, but the salvor in charge of the project won't give any predictions for its completion. Due to rough seas, work was suspended for several days.

When work resumed, one of the divers for the salvor, complaining of shoulder pain, took a trip to Mariners Hospital as a precaution, said Andy Newman, media spokesman for the project.

"It's my understanding that they don't know if it was a case of the bends or a precaution," Newman said. "He spent time in the [hyperbaric] chamber Tuesday morning."

Divers are going down to 130 feet to identify locations to attach giant inflatable lift bags, according to Joe Farrell, president of Resolve, the firm contracted by the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce.

Farrell plans to employ enough lift bags - including four that are 24 feet high - to raise about 600 tons of dead weight. These are to add to the buoyancy created after air is injected into the port (left) ballast tanks.

When the port side is lightened, Farrell plans to use at least two tugboats to roll the vessel on her starboard side, according to Newman. If the ship can be righted, that will be Phase 2. 

Farrell won't give any time frame for when the ship will be righted. "I don't think it will be this week," Newman said. "With the weather delay, [Farrell] doesn't want to sit there and come up with a date and not be able to
live with it." 

Ann Henson covers state and Monroe County government, environment, Key Largo and is the editor of the Reporter's website. She can be reached at 852-3216 or by e-mail at amhenson@keysreporter.com

Posted Thursday, May 30 at www.upperkeysreporter.com

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KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- Items recovered from the 510-foot naval warship Spiegel Grove that sank prematurely and flipped May 17 off Key Largo include a welding torch passed from one generation-to-another and commemorative t-shirts more significant if stained. 

The Spiegel Grove was to be scuttled by crews so that it landed upright and became an artificial reef. Now resting in about 130 feet of water, the vessel lies six miles offshore in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, its bow protruding above the sea. 

Volunteer workers quickly disembarked the ship when project managers discovered the vessel was sinking more rapidly than expected. In doing so, they left behind thousands of dollars in tools and equipment. 

While a contractor is working to complete the scuttling project, hopefully with the vessel in an upright position, several Key Largo divers have been recovering tools and other lost items. 

Terry Bates, a Daytona Beach, Fla., welder, lost a circa-1940s torch that was one of several he used for cutting diver access holes in the vessel. Etched with the initials "CB," the torch had been passed on to Bates by his grandfather and had been tied under a set of ship stairs with a bungee cord when the Spiegel Grove went down. 

A diver found the keepsake hanging from the cord. "My grandfather is getting up there in years, but he remembers a lot of stuff, including when he got the torch and using it," said Bates. "It's high quality but it also has sentimental value, so I was real happy to get it back." 

Linda Bleser, wife of sinking project manager Rob Bleser, was handed nearly 80 soaked "I Helped Sink the Spiegel Grove" t-shirts that were to have been provided to volunteers as they stepped off the vessel just prior to the final scuttling stage. 

According to Bleser, some of the shirts apparently brushed the Spiegel Grove, causing rust stains to appear despite pre-treatment with stain remover. 

"The volunteers will probably fight over those," she noted. 

Dave Gable of Gable Mobile Welding in Key Largo, on the other hand, knows the $4,500 welding machine he lost will never operate again. 

Still he wants the unit back as a social gathering point for his workshop. 

"When I get it back, I'm attaching coolie cups to it and putting it in the center of my shop as a monument," he said. 

Divers retrieved the welding machine Wednesday afternoon. 

Posted Thursday, May 30 at http://fla-keys.com
 

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Marine salvage experts are to rely on a combination of modern technology and Mother Nature in an effort to roll the capsized and partially sunk Spiegel Grove onto its right side, and possibly all the way upright, so it sinks as originally intended. 

Graphics from www.fla-keys.com/spiegelgrove/rotate.htm

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Chart from www.fla-keys.com/spiegelgrove/spiegel_chart.htm

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May 14: History, photos, & Key Largo arrival 
May 17: Breaking news & photos of the sinking
May 18: More stories & sinking sequence photos
May 19: Early plans to right her are forming
May 20: Underwater photos & interactive graphic
May 21: Exclusive eyewitness story
May 22: Crew heads south to begin work
May 23: The Lana Rose is on the scene
May 24: Efforts delayed due to weather
May 25: Project Chairman resigns, then talks
May 26: Spiegel Grove is not the first...
May 27: Salvor reveals righting plans
May 31:  Rolling date set.  Graphics & map
June 1:   Volunteers help salvor
June 2:   Work nearing completion
June 4:  A Friday flip?
June 5:  Use your mouse to right the ship!
June 6:  Sinking moved to Monday
June 7:  Attaching the lift bags
June 8:  Weather changes plans
June 9:  Tugboats arrive for final preparation
June 10: She's on the roll...and goes down
June 11:  Salvors are done...she's on her 
               starboard side...and she is 
               WORLD FAMOUS!