Many shipwrecks in the columbia river

H20doctor · Post by **H20doctor** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:43 pm

http://funbeach.com/local-attractions/shipwrecks/

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:28 pm

H20doctor wrote:http://funbeach.com/local-attractions/shipwrecks/

Gonna dig for them in the sands of the Columbia bar?

H20doctor · Post by **H20doctor** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:36 pm

I found a nice book in the everett lib.. And it had lots of good wreck info.. The Benson wreck was a big one..

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:45 pm

Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:57 pm

H20doctor wrote:I found a nice book in the everett lib.. And it had lots of good wreck info.. The Benson wreck was a big one..

I have a fairly old shipwreck book but its all about where you might see the bones in the sand at the beach.

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:58 pm

Blitz wrote:Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.

What, the graveyard of the Pacific? Doesn't SOUND dangerous or anything. And it happens to be right by the Coast Guard rough water rescue school. They could just come get you if there was a problem, I'm sure.

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:58 pm

Blitz wrote:Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.

lessons born in sand?

Penopolypants · Post by **Penopolypants** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:02 pm

CaptnJack wrote:
Blitz wrote:Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.
lessons born in sand?

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:05 pm

Nope. I just figure that if the ADV. Rescue Swimmer school for the USCG is there, it may not be the best place to dive...

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:55 pm

CaptnJack wrote:
Blitz wrote:Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.
lessons born in sand?

ROFL!

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:56 pm

Joshua Smith wrote:
CaptnJack wrote:
Blitz wrote:Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.
lessons born in sand?
ROFL!

+1. Good one.

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:44 pm

spatman wrote:
Joshua Smith wrote:
CaptnJack wrote:
Blitz wrote:Diving anywhere around the mouth is dangerous with the potential of farm animal stupid.
lessons born in sand?
ROFL!
+1. Good one.

Perfect!

oldsalt · Post by **oldsalt** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:45 pm

I was with a small navy command which put divers in the water there near Astoria. We anchored tethered objects, similar to mines, and watched them from day to day. Some days they would be covered by 10 feet of sand just to be uncovered the next day. I envisioned huges waves of sand, essentially underwater dunes, moving along the bottom. Wrecks would emerge and disappear. As much as wrecks fascinate me, I have not been tempted to dive there.
-Curt

guitarmaker · Post by **guitarmaker** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:14 pm

For everyone interested in wrecks and maritime history in the PNW area I would highly recommend a visit to the Maritime museum in Astoria. It's AMAZING!

http://www.crmm.org/

oldsalt · Post by **oldsalt** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:23 pm

guitarmaker wrote:For everyone interested in wrecks and maritime history in the PNW area I would highly recommend a visit to the Maritime museum in Astoria. It's AMAZING!

http://www.crmm.org/

+1 on the museum, and just down the shoreline on pier 39 is the dive shop and the Rogue Ale Public House (Just in case the diver shop is closed.).
-Curt

Raydar · Post by **Raydar** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:34 pm

Having grown up in the area, it's always been in the back of my mind to spend a little time with a sidescan out there. The Drexel Victory could be a potential dive. The Camden is a maybe, but it likely too deep, even if the conditions were right.

loanwolf · Post by **loanwolf** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:03 am

The summer before last I spend just over three months out on the peninsula diving just about everything that could be dove. I spent one month just doing wrecks off Grays Harbor. My mothers side of the family are from that neck of the woods and most of them have been in the fishing industry to some aspect. Their are tons of wrecks out there but it is hit or miss if you can find them literately from day to day with all the sand that moves around. Some wrecks have been known to disappear for several years then show up as much as a mile away from its old location.

It was easier in the old days when the charter industry was at its peak compared to today. With all those boats keeping track of all the targets on a daily basis. Were today with the few boats still working out there things are not as well known anymore. I was hoping to put together a good set of data but it is literally impossible out there with the sand moving as much as it is. we would dive a target then come back the following week and it would not be there or it was mostly buried. Each time the winds would blow things would change.

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:35 am

Raydar wrote:Having grown up in the area, it's always been in the back of my mind to spend a little time with a sidescan out there. The Drexel Victory could be a potential dive. The Camden is a maybe, but it likely too deep, even if the conditions were right.

The Drexel seems to be right in the middle of the channel? What about some of those north of the north jetty but beyond the dredge spoils area? And/or deeper beyond the depth where storms have so much influence on the bottom. Like the Rosecrans or the Iowa?

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:43 pm

Here's a link to some of the wrecks http://www.fluxstories.com/2011/06/brav ... pwrecks-2/

The difficult with diving the bar is 1) Marine Traffic 2) 4-8 knot current 3) Sea State

When I went to NMLB School we did our surf days off Clatsop Spit (the south one) as it was "safer". We were not allowed to operated in the area immediately to the north of Peacock Spit as it was too dangerous. I went to NMLB School in 1991, shortly after Charles Sexton drowned while the 52 was towing the M/V Sea King across the bar.

Personally I think the bar would be a great place not to dive.

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:55 pm

Another interactive link which also shows the shifting water/sand/land through time.
http://neochronography.com/shipwrecks/index.html

Lonestar wrote: Personally I think the bar would be a great place not to dive.

Cherry picker

airsix · Post by **airsix** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:22 pm

FYI, if you go 250 miles upstream the water is nice and calm. Well, there's current but no surf. Consequently the wrecks there are very well preserved. Sorry, that was a typo. I mean the rocks are well preserved.

loanwolf · Post by **loanwolf** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:27 pm

airsix wrote:FYI, if you go 250 miles upstream the water is nice and calm. Well, there's current but no surf. Consequently the wrecks there are very well preserved. Sorry, that was a typo. I mean the rocks are well preserved.

So are all the skeletons off the park ;-)

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:53 am

Cherry Picker? Yessir!

But thinking more about it, it would be a great dive to do for the challenge of it. I'm thinking a trip out to Carter Lift Bags in Enumclaw to pick up one of their 12 foot SMBs, wait for a quiet day on the bar, stay close(r) to one of the spits so as to be out of the VTS lanes, make a couple runs to see what you can find on sonar, run up current a bit, shoot a bearing and then it's yippy-skippy time!

I never thought Duncan and Duntze Rocks were dive-able and I was certainly proven wrong on that (as is often the case!). Still want to dive those!

airsix · Post by **airsix** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:56 am

loanwolf wrote:
airsix wrote:FYI, if you go 250 miles upstream the water is nice and calm. Well, there's current but no surf. Consequently the wrecks there are very well preserved. Sorry, that was a typo. I mean the rocks are well preserved.

So are all the skeletons off the park ;-)

I dive right there!

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:57 pm

Lonestar wrote:Cherry Picker? Yessir!

But thinking more about it, it would be a great dive to do for the challenge of it. I'm thinking a trip out to Carter Lift Bags in Enumclaw to pick up one of their 12 foot SMBs, wait for a quiet day on the bar, stay close(r) to one of the spits so as to be out of the VTS lanes, make a couple runs to see what you can find on sonar, run up current a bit, shoot a bearing and then it's yippy-skippy time!

I never thought Duncan and Duntze Rocks were dive-able and I was certainly proven wrong on that (as is often the case!). Still want to dive those!

The VTS area extends all the way north from Peacock Spit quite a ways but there are a few wrecks in 60fsw out of the way they might be do-able...

Northwest Dive Club