KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- The South Florida-based salvage team, contracted by the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce to fully sink a retired Navy ship in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, has moved the target date of its first attempt to roll the Spiegel Grove to Monday, June 10. 

The 510-foot decommissioned Landing Ship Dock 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 ocean water, its bow protruding above the sea, about six miles off Key Largo. 

Thursday, Resolve Marine Group President Joe Farrell said his divers were having some difficulty gaining full access to several port ballast tanks. Farrell and his team are hoping to inject air in these and other ballast tanks to provide about 2,000 tons of lift in an effort to reorient the vessel. 

"A number of the tanks have baffles, which we didn't anticipate," he said. "That makes it impossible for our divers to physically penetrate those tanks. So we need to do additional underwater cutting to get air into those tanks as well as looking at other areas of acheive appropriate buoyancy." 

Farrell said after a sufficient number of ballast tanks test properly, tugboats would be dispatched. One is to come from Jacksonville, while the other from Miami. Both tugs are to provide about 100 tons of pull. Coupled with the ocean's current; buoyancy in ballast tanks and other areas; and 500 tons of buoyancy from 70 lift bags, the tugs are to play a key role in helping to roll the vessel. 

Farrell said the slight delay would also provide additional time to increase chances of success. 

"The ultimate goal is to make sure this ship is light enough to not only roll up, but all the way over on her bottom," he said. 

Farrell cautioned that weather conditions and unforeseen circumstances could result in additional delays to reorient the Spiegel Grove. 

A 500-yard safety zone remains in effect around the vessel and will continue until the salvage operation has concluded. No pleasure boats will be permitted inside the safety zone. There is no recreational diving allowed on the Spiegel Grove until the safety zone is discontinued. 

Marine salvage experts are to rely on the 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 currently anchored with the back end of the stern helicopter pad on the sandy bottom and about 70 feet of its overturned bow floating clear of the water. 

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

Two days after the misap, the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce inked a contract with Resolve to reorient the ship. 

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. 

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. 

Return to newspaper story index

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!