 |
Home |  |
About |  |
News | |
Links | |
Pictures | |
|
|
Home | |
About | |
News | |
Links | |
Pictures | |
|
The Spiegel Grove
|
|
|
Eyewitness account by SFDI Member Cary Solomon: The ship that almost sunk |
| Miami Herald's Susan Cocking:
Ship's
bow raised a foot on first day of salvage job
Florida Keys Tourism Council: Plans announced to reorient Spiegel Grove |
|
By Cary Solomon, Member, South
Florida Divers Inc.
The sight of a ship the size of the Spiegel Grove turned turtle, with 50 feet of the bow stuck in the air as if it was trying to keep its head up to get another breath of air, was enough to bring tears to anybody's eyes. Eight years, a million plus dollars, and untold hours of work and planning by dive shop operators, local governments and regular Keys citizens, sits six miles off Key Largo. Its fate as a dive site is now in the hands of experts who will try to sink it on its side so all will not be lost. Lydia and I went down to the Keys on Thursday so we would be ready for the big day on Friday. After many calls to the local radio station and the Chamber of Commerce, we were told the time was set for 2 pm. At 11 am we received a call from Lydia's mother who, at the time, was at the doctor's office and heard through the "coconut telegraph" that the ship was sinking. We jumped in our boat and flew out to the site. The VHF radio chatter was non-stop. Some people were blaming the person in charge for flooding the well deck after being told they were taking water in the engine room, and it would make the ship too low in the water and cause flooding in areas where holes had been cut for the controlled flooding. Then we heard the Keys dive operators who had taken out loans to get this project finished wondering what they could do with all the Spiegel grove medallions they had bought, how they were going to sell them to divers to reclaim some of money they owed to the bank. It was heartbreaking to listen to people who were losing eight years of work and thousands of dollars. You felt like an eavesdropper on somebody’s personal tragedy. The volunteers who had donated their time to weld hatches shut and cut holes in the ship were in harm's way. Some were below decks when a siren started to wail. This signal was one that nobody on the ship ever expected to hear. Abandon ship right now! The workers only had time to grab a few tools and head for the upper deck as fast as possible; this was no drill. By the time they reached the upper deck, a tug had pulled along side to rescue the men. The tug pulled away and within a few short minutes, the stern was down and water was flooding the lower decks. Then she rolled on her back taking welding equipment and tools with her as she slid below the waves with just the bow above water thankfully with no loss of life. The Speigel Grove saga is still not finished. We hope to hear some good news in the coming days. A sad report from the Keys, CARY & LYDIA © 2002 South Florida Divers, Inc. Return to newspaper story index Ship's bow raised a foot on first day of salvage job Posted on Tue, May. 21, 2002 BY SUSAN COCKING
The contractor hired to complete the sinking of the Spiegel Grove began work Monday by raising the ship's upside-down bow about a foot higher above the ocean surface. Workers from Resolve Towing and Salvage of Port Everglades deployed a diesel-powered air compressor from a borrowed barge to pump air into the bow so that it sticks up about 50 feet. The retired Navy ship had settled a bit since it rolled over and sank prematurely Friday morning in about 130 feet of water six miles off Key Largo. Resolve President Joe Farrell said he wants to keep the bow as high as possible as he prepares to roll the ship over on its side and, hopefully, turn it right side up on the bottom. Farrell said a dive support barge will depart from Port Everglades today and likely arrive at the station Wednesday or Thursday. He estimated it would take at least a week to pump more than 2,000 tons of air into the hull along the port side, then roll the ship onto its starboard side using 350 to 400 tons of air bags and two tugboats with 120 tons of pull. Many of the holes drilled by the project's volunteer workers to flood the ballast tanks in order to sink the ship will have to be patched before attempts are made to flip the ship. Farrell said he can't guarantee being able to set the ship upright on the bottom. ''We've raised and rolled up a number of ships, but this is right up there with the toughest you can have,'' Farrell said. ``It took weeks of engineering to sink it, and we're trying to unsink it. And they made it very sinkable.'' Resolve's contract with the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce says the company will be paid $15,000 per day. Farrell figures getting the ship over on its side will cost about $250,000. Righting it on the bottom, he said, will be even more costly. Hydraulic lift jacks with three-inch-thick chains would be fastened to the sides of the ship and to submerged cranes to roll it upright. The nearly eight-year-long effort to sink the Spiegel Grove has already topped $1.1 million. Most of the funds came from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, supplemented by private donations, a boat raffle and sales of commemorative dive medallions for $250 and $10. George Garrett, co-commander of the sinking effort and director of marine resources for Monroe County, said the Ocean Reef Club Homeowners Association has pledged $100,000. Garrett said the Friends of the National Marine Sanctuary also has promised to help, but did not specify the amount it intends to contribute. Officials of two banks, TIB and First State Bank of the Florida Keys, said they would extend the terms of loans for the project. ''Speaking for TIB, we're a player,'' bank President Edward Lett said. Added First State Bank Senior Vice President Bette Brown: ``Now that we see it, how could you not jump on board? We're all in it together.'' Chamber officials say sinking the Spiegel Grove upright is worth the extra cost. They project it will attract 50,000 divers per year and pump $14 million into the local economy. ''The Spiegel Grove will be the best artificial reef in the world -- once it's upright,'' said Stephen Frink, a member of the chamber's artificial reef committee. ``We've cut holes [for diver access]. We've done everything to make this a perfect dive. We just lack one element.'' © 2002 miami and wire
service sources. All Rights Reserved.
Return to newspaper story index From the Official Tourism Council Web Site for the Florida Keys
Joe Farrell, president of Resolve Towing and Salvage, of Fort Lauderdale, said his firm will effort to rotate the ship, but cautioned a week of engineering and testing is required before an attempt is made. He added that while the objective was to stand the ship upright, he could not guarantee success. "Our intent is to roll her up on the starboard (right) side," Farrell said Monday at a news conference at the Key Largo Bay Beach Marriott resort. Farrell said preliminary plans call for air to be injected in ballast tanks and other hull areas to remove water and lighten the ship. "We need to introduce at least 2,000 tons of buoyancy into the port (left) side of the hull," he said. After that, plans call for divers to attach and inflate about 35 underwater lift bags, each capable of surfacing 10 tons of weight. Two or three tugboats, providing about 120 tons of pull, along with assistance from any prevailing ocean current are to assist the rollover effort.
Farrell said that a 100-foot support boat equipped with mammoth air compressors and other equipment should arrive at the Spiegel Grove site by Wednesday. He estimated costs at about $250,000, saying it was well below his firm's normal rates because of a desire to help the community and a promise by local dive industry representatives to assist with underwater work. "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 member of the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber consummated a contract with Resolve Sunday afternoon, after receiving proposals from three salvage companies. "We're going to invest what we have to, to make this ship right," Frink added. Already more than a $1 million has been expended in cleaning and other activity. Frink said several local groups, including the Ocean Reef Community Association on North Key Largo, pledged additional financial support Monday. He said the chamber is also counting on additional revenue from the sale of Spiegel Grove commemorative medallions. Because the ship is anchored on the sandy bottom and was stripped of all contaminants, it poses no environmental threat to the ocean or nearby natural coral reefs, according to Lt. Commander Dave Score, Upper Keys region manager for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Wreck diving experts have said the ship is the largest ever intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef. Such reefs attract underwater wildlife and are popular with scuba divers, who already are a $33 million per year industry here. The Spiegel Grove - named for the Ohio home of President Rutherford B. Hayes - was decommissioned in 1989 and sat in a Navy shipyard in Virginia for almost eight years. Photography: [TOP] Diver Bill Harrigan photographs a military gun on the upside-down Spiegel Grove. (Photo by Stephen Frink/Florida Keys TDC) [BOTTOM] The same gun pre-sinking, right-side-up. (From Kevin Flatley's incredible Spiegel Grove history website. Click here for more pre-sinking photos.) |
Go
to Spiegel Grove Starting Page
|
May
14: History, photos, & Key Largo arrival
|
How about you?
Click on the coin to purchase
a
|
| Thank you for visiting our Spiegel Grove update pages. Much of the information here is copyrighted by other news agencies, as noted. This information is presented for the convenience of the members of South Florida Divers, by their newsletter editor, in order to bring all of the news to one central location. DO NOT use these images or stories for newsletters, web pages, or any other publications. You may print one copy for your own personal use only. Thank you. |
KEY
LARGO, Florida Keys - The president of a South Florida marine salvage company
detailed plans Monday to reorient and complete the sinking of a retired
Navy ship in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
"The
current may have had substantial impact on why it rolled over Friday, but
it is also going to help us to get it upright," Farrell said.
