The Associated Press
May 22, 2002, 7:53 PM EDT

KEY LARGO -- A salvage vessel arrived Wednesday at the site of a Navy ship partially submerged off the Florida Keys to work on sinking it again.

The 510-foot Spiegel Grove sank prematurely Friday, hours before crews had planned to scuttle it to create an artificial reef. The ship is upside down in about 130 feet of water, its bow protruding from the sea six miles off Key Largo.

Joe Farrell, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Resolve Towing and Salvage, said he did not know when the crew would be ready to attempt to lift the boat. Workers tied the 100-foot Lana Rose to the Spiegel Grove Wednesday.

The re-sinking will cost about $250,000. The Key Largo Chamber of Commerce has already spent more than $1 million to make the retired Navy ship an artificial reef.

Photo: The Lana Rose, a 100-foot-long salvage vessel, owned by Resolve Towing and Salvage of Fort Lauderdale,is moored against the upside-down hull of the Spiegel Grove Wednesday in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo. Under contract to the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce, Resolve began efforts Thursday to complete the sinking operation of the 510-foot retired Navy Landing Ship Dock to create an artificial reef for sport divers.  (AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau, Andy Newman) 

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KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- A salvage vessel owned by a South Florida marine recovery company is on scene of a partially submerged, retired Navy ship late beginning efforts to reorient it upright and complete its sinking in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 

The 510-foot Spiegel Grove sank upside-down last Friday, hours before crews had planned to scuttle it to create an artificial reef. The ship is upside down in about 130 feet of water, its bow projecting above the sea, six miles off Key Largo. 

The 100-foot-long Lana Rose is alongside the Spiegel Grove with a crew compliment of 14 including divers, a salvage master and engineer, said Joe Farrell, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Resolve Towing and Salvage. Onboard are approximately 35, 10-ton-lift inflatable air bags, three high volume diesel-powered air compressors, underwater cutting and welding equipment and a half-dozen hard-helmet diving rigs. 

Farrell said work commenced Thursday morning with initial efforts to test ballast tanks for air injection and hole cutting along the port side of the superstructure to attach air bags. 

Farrell could not project a date when the first attempt couldbe made to roll the ship upright. 

"This job is one of the most complicated and challenging marine salvage projects in recent history," said Farrell. 

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 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. It was an almost eight-year project for the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce Artificial Reef Committe to acquire, cleanse and tow the ship to Key Largo.

Top photo: A crew member on the Lana Rose, a 100-foot salvage vessel belonging to Resolve Towing and Salvage of Fort Lauderdale, ties up to the upside-down hull of the Spiegel Grove Tuesday in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 

Bottom photo: The Lana Rose moors to the upside-down hull of the Spiegel Grove.

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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!