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Dive Report: Deep 423 (Marine Sulphur Queen?)
Date: Saturday January 27, 2001
Boat: Nauti Gal and Gulf Business
Captain: Jeff Hunter
By: Mike Rodriguez
The MSQ was a T2 type design tanker which was very common in the 60s due to the
speed and economy with which it could be built; the Liberty Ships of WWII were
similar in that they could also be built in about 70 days. Its 7,240 horsepower
turbo-electric engine propelled it at up to 15 knots and it had a range of 12,000 miles.
In 1960 the ship was one of the first T2 tankers converted to transport molten sulfur.
After the conversion, the MSQ was plagued with problems. It had two major sulfur
spills, one grounding, numerous problems with sulfur seepage, and almost
constant fires in the sulfur tank insulation. When the ship disappeared
with all 39 hands lost, it was the subject of national headlines as lawsuits against the owners, the Texas Gulf Sulphur
ompany, were filed claiming these and other problems caused the sinking.
On the evening of February 7th, 1963, the ship was reported missing and the Coast
Guard began a search. On February 13th the search was called off. Only a few small
items from the ship - a life preserver, fog horn, t-shirt - were ever found. The weather
around the time the ship disappeared was rough with seas up to 16 feet, but since
no distress signal was ever received, it is not known if the weather or something else
caused the sinking. Underwater searches of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Florida
Straits turned up nothing conclusive.
By the way, the "correct" spelling for the element is Sulfur, with an 'f'. While the older
spelling with 'ph' is still commonly used, the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry officially calls the element Sulfur.
A few months before this dive, Captain Jeff Hunter, whose boats the Association of
Underwater Explorers (AUE) gang frequently charters to the wrecks off the
Marquesas and Dry Tortugas, asked one of our guys if we'd be interested in diving an
"unknown" in 450 feet of water and 140 miles offshore Ft. Myers in the Gulf of
Mexico. Initially, we weren't very interested due to the extreme depth and the distance
from help if something went wrong. After some research by one of our guys, however,
it was determined that the wreck might be the Marine Sulphur Queen and this intrigued
us. His research also lead to an email contact with the daughter of one of the men lost
on the MSQ. She initially thought the email was a joke since she was an open water
diver herself and didn't think it possible to dive to such depths. About the same time,
she was contacted by someone from the BBC who was preparing a documentary
involving the MSQ. She put our guy in contact with them and after some negotiating,
the BBC agreed to fund an AUE expedition to the site to determine if the ship was the
Marine Sulphur Queen. So it was that the AUE core divers ended up 140 miles
offshore preparing for an extreme dive.
The team of four bottom divers, two deep support divers, and two shallow support
divers along with the daughter of the lost MSQ sailor and the BBC film crew arrived at
the boat Friday night around 8pm. We had dinner and loaded the boat then held a last
minute meeting to go over the plan. All the details had already been worked out
by email and during previous meetings, so this final meeting was just to wrap up final
details. Afterward, everyone found their bunk and went to bed. Around 3am, the crew
showed up and we started out under clear but dark moonless skies.
As we got out into open ocean we found the seas running about two to three feet and
choppy. Later in the morning conditions improved a little, but it was still a bumpy ride
for the 41 foot boats. We finally reached the site around noon and found the wreck on
the bottom finder. Fortunately, we read the sand at only 420 feet, not the reported 450
feet we were expecting. The shallowest spot we could find on the wreck was about
360 feet. From the image on the bottom finder, it appeared the ship was probably
turtled. If so, it would make identification of the ship very difficult. One of our
goals was to measure the beam of the ship and if it was turtled, that measurement might be
impossible to make.
With a good reading on the bottom finder, we prepared our large AUE grapple hook
and floatline. The captain took us over the wreck and I dropped the hook. I felt it
scrapping along the hull, but it didn't catch and we pulled it up again. The second drop
also met with failure. The other boat attempted to snag the wreck several times
as well with no luck. We decided to change tactics and tied the end of the line to the boat then
circled the wreck several times hoping the line would spiral down and catch something.
After about two hours, I felt the hook finally snagged something and we released the
ball. We watched the floatball to see what the current was up to; the small
wake behind the ball told us there was a moderate current. It looked too strong to swim
against which would significantly complicate things, but we'd planned for this possibility
and everyone knew what to do.
Everyone on the bottom team was diving the same gases and schedule. Our bottom
mix was trimix 9/68/23. The decompression gasses were trimix 35/20/45, 50% nitrox,
and 100% oxygen for decompression. On this dive, our bottom mix was sufficiently
hypoxic to require a "travel" mix. The bottom mix didn't reach a PO2 of .16 until 25
feet and a normoxic PO2 until 45 feet. With a travel mix, it's vitally important to switch
from the travel mix to the bottom mix before starting the final descent so part of our
plan was to have a pre-dive stop at about 40 feet so we could do a bubble check and
confirm that we all made the gas switch before starting down.
The teams on both boats began to gear up as the captains kept us appraised of each
team's progress. When everyone on both boats was nearly ready, my team splashed in
and we headed to the pre-dive stop at 40 feet. Once there, we switched to bottom mix
and waited for the team from the other boat. Unfortunately, the drag we placed on
the line with the moderate current was too much for the floatball which promptly sank
despite its 150 lbs. of buoyancy. We scooted toward the end of the line, but we were
sinking rapidly and there was no way to get the ball back up... it was squashed and
looked like a raisin. Our team had no choice but to let go and surface where we
met the other team who wondered what happened. We explained the situation and greatly
discouraged we boarded the boats.
Sitting on the boat again I was happy to see that the ball had come back up. We tied
two additional balls to the line and prepared for a second drop. This time everything
worked. Both teams splashed in at nearly the same time and rallied at 40 feet. We
switched gases, did a bubble check, and waved goodbye to the support divers as I
took the lead on the way down into the gloomy darkness. The visibility was fair at
about 50 feet all the way down. It was a sunny day, which helped, but it was still very
dark below us. I went hand-over-hand down the line which sloped at about 30
degrees. I kept up a steady pace and was very relaxed which kept my gas consumption down.
At about 100 feet I stopped to check on my buddies above me on the line. Everyone
was there, so I continued down. As I dropped deeper, I thought about other Florida
wrecks near my home; at 170 feet the Hydro Atlantic, at 210 the Lowrance, at 260
the RBJ, at 280 the Pappa's Wreck, at 300 the Vitric, at 320 the Ozark, at 360 the
Liberty Ship Bodenhamer, then I saw the floatline intersect the wreck by a
humongous warsaw grouper bigger than many jewfish I've seen. The wreck was on its side and
fortunately not turtled. I dropped onto the side of the hull by the line and looked up to
check on my three buddies as they arrived, their HID lights shining brightly in the
gloom. The depth here was 370 feet on my Nitek 3 which can read to 600+ feet. My
Uwatec locked up at 328 but came back to life later when we ascended. It
was dark, but not too dark to read my instruments without a light thanks to the bright sunshine
above. The current was nearly gone at this depth and the temperature was about 70F.
The visibility was about 50 feet. Our HID lights help cut through the haze somewhat,
but we were unable to determine which way the bow and stern were.
I tied my reel to the floatline which was precariously hooked onto the growth on the
bottom of the hull. The surface current was running laterally over the hull toward the
deck which is why hooking in was so difficult; had it been running the other way we
would have hooked the wreck on the first try. I unspooled my reel to the
gunnel, tied a knot, then dropped to the sand and tied another knot. I would
later measure the distance between the knots to determine the beam of the ship and try to identify it.
Immediately after tying the second knot I glanced at my depth gauge, which read 423,
then I pushed off the sand and headed up to the top gunnel. With my measurement
taken, I stowed my reel and took a closer look at the wreck. It was heavily
encrusted and looked like it had been down several decades. A long mast stuck out from the
deck into the gloom over the sand. A couple more large warsaw groupers hovered
around us as the team studied the deck and peered into the gloom looking for
identifying details.
Our planned bottom time nearly over, I swam back to the line and did a quick
head-count, then I swam down to the hook. It was just barely snagged and one sharp
tug pulled it loose. It scrapped up the hull with me holding on, then over the wreck and
out over the sand. My buddies held out the loop we'd previously tied in the line and I
fouled the hook on it. Everyone headed up to our first deep stop at 210 feet where we
met the deep support divers. We signaled that everyone was OK and began our long
decompression.
At our 60 foot stop, one of the support divers spotted something big swimming in the
distance. It had a dorsal fin and he indicated to us that it might be a shark. Our team
has had trouble with Gulf sharks before, so we took the threat seriously and
instinctively set up back-to-back to look around. Fortunately, it turned out to
be a pod of friendly dolphins. One of them came very close whistling and clicking at us. I swam
slowly toward it, and it let me get to within two feet before it moved away. Why
anyone would want to swim with imprisoned dolphins at the various "Dolphin
Institutes" scams that have popped up all around florida is beyond me when, with
a little effort, anyone can see them up close in their natural habitat. These beautiful and
intelligent animals deserve better.
Anyway, after the brief encounter with the pod, we finished our deco and boarded the
boats. I was anxious to measure the distance between the knots on my line and quickly
got out of my gear. My measurement came to 48 feet, significantly shorter than the 60
feet expected on the MSQ. However, since the ship is on its side and looked to be
fairly well settled into the sand, I can't say if my beam measurement confirms or denies
the identity of the wreck. Perhaps another expedition to this site later this year will
provide more conclusive results. Due to the uncertain identity of the ship, we
temporarily named it after its depth, "Deep 423".
The crew dragged in the floatline and everyone settled in for the long ride home. Due
to somewhat rougher conditions, it took over eight hours to get back to the dock. It
was after 2am before we had everything unloaded and packed up. I said goodbye to
the observers on our expedition and to my buddies and support divers, then drove
home.
The BBC's footage is being edited and will air on the Discovery Channel in May,
2001. Additional footage and stills will be posted to the web site shortly.
Although we were unable to positively identify the wreck, it was a good dive. The
team's performance, especially the support diver's, was excellent in the difficult
conditions. I had the easy job compared to the support divers and sincerely believe it's
their hard work that really make dives of this magnitude go off without a hitch.
I'd like to thank our support divers, Marc, Ralph, Sleepy, and Tony for their help and
the BBC for their generous funding of this expedition, and I'm looking forward to
returning to this wreck again soon.
Copyright
© 2001 Mike Rodriguez. All rights reserved. |