SS Governor 2012

[Joshua Smith]

Last week, the Maritime Documentation Society conducted our annual dives on the wreck of the SS Governor. The Wreck lies in 240’ of water off of Point Wilson, near Port Townsend, WA.
For further information about the wreck, please visit http://www.dcsfilms.com/Site_4/SS_Governor.html

The currents in this area are notoriously powerful and difficult to predict, meaning that there are usually only one or two windows of time in a year when the site is dive-able.

We all met at the dock in Port Townsend and loaded the gigantic mountain of gear required for dives like this onto our boat, Lu Jack’s Quest, captained by the excellent Phillip Jensen of Diver’s Dream Charters. The trip, as usual, was planned and led by the President of the MDS, Ron Akeson, owner of Adventures Down Under dive shop, located in Bellingham, WA. Divers were: “Divealert” Dave Hancock (callsign “Spider”), Dan Warter (“Ginger Fury”), Paul Hangarter (“Short Bus”) Rob Wilson (still working on that one) , Ron Akeson (ditto) Chris Newley (“Fishguts”), and myself, Joshua Smith (Nailer? I dunno. I give nicknames to people, but they never return the favor). Our Safety divers and Deckhands were BJ Nussbaum(“Laser”) and his Fiancé Erin Keck (“Cuppie” )

We had intended to recover the Ship’s Bell we found last year, but were unable to get a Marine Archaeologist to accompany us to document the recovery. Mark Allen, of Underwater Admiralty Sciences, who own the salvage rights to the wreck, was aboard as well. He had anticipated the bell recovery, but chose to come out anyway.

Chris had never dived this wreck before, and he doesn’t own a scooter, so I volunteered to leave mine behind in order to buddy with him. We left the dock and headed out into very thick fog. We spent hours creeping around the wreck site, seeing inbound freighters on the radar long before we could see them with our eyes. Finally, with less than an hour to go before predicted slack, the captain gave us the OK to throw our grapple overboard to try and hook the wreck. At this point most of us had decided that the dive was going to be blown, because we didn’t have enough time, but BJ managed to grapple the wreck on his first try, and it was “go time!” Ron elected not to dive because of the limited time frame, which I would normally do myself, but everything felt “right” to me, and I reasoned that I might as well gear up, knowing that I could call the dive off at any point until I had a deco obligation.

Chris and I were the last two in. After meeting at the floats attached to our shotline, we made eye contact and exchanged “OK, Down” signs and began our descent. Viz wasn’t great on the surface, with a lot of plankton blooms, but by 100’ or so, it had opened up nicely. As I approached 180’ or so, I could see the strobes the other teams had hung on the shotline, and could even see their lights as they scootered along the perimeter of the wreck. I paused to hook my own strobe to the shotline, and then dropped down to join Chris on the wreck. We had agreed on a plan topside, that unless visibility was terrible, we would not use a reel, but simply stay within visual range of our strobe. Since Viz was 25-30’, that’s what we did. I exchanged a quick “fist bump” with Chris, to congratulate him on his first dive on this iconic NW wreck, and we set off to explore the wreckage. We were hooked in near the bow, which is barely recognizable as a ship any more- it looks more like a huge underwater pile of scrap metal. I saw a canary rockfish deep inside the wreckage that appeared to be twice the average size. Nearby, inside the twisted remains of the foremast, a monstrous ling cod that looked to be close to 6 feet in length lurked, waiting for lunch to swim by. We did a sort of cloverleaf circumnavigation of the shotline, moving in circles away from and back to the line. At 25 minutes run time, we collected our strobe and started our ascent. An hour and a half after we dropped, our heads broke the surface and we got back on the boat. A fantastic dive!

That evening, Chris had to leave us to deal with a crisis at home- his dog had been attacked by a bigger dog (all is well, dog is fine now!) This left me without a non-scooter buddy. Ron volunteered to join me the next day.

The following morning, we motored out into fog and lightning to see what fate had in store for us. Once again, we didn’t get clearance to set the hook until slack was almost on us, but we had anticipated this, and were ready to roll. As he was gearing up, Ron discovered that a hole had been poked in his rebreather loop somehow- he was out. Rob and Paul immediately volunteered to ditch their scooters and dive with me. (Thanks, guys!). I was the last diver in, and as I hit the water, I felt a huge surge of cold water at my right wrist. I had just installed new wrist seals and dry gloves before the trip, and figured something I had done had failed. I shouted to Rob and Paul to go ahead without me, BJ threw me a life ring and towed me back to the dive ladder, cursing the whole way. Back on the ladder, BJ saw that my glove liner had gotten pinched in my dry glove ring. He popped my glove off and fixed it right away. With a big grin, I shoved off the ladder and kicked over to the shot line.

I knew that Rob and Paul were only a few minutes ahead of me, and I knew I could find them once I got there- their reel line was a different color from Dave and Dan’s, if I couldn’t see their lights when I got down. Doing a solo descent into 240’ was spooky and cool all at the same time. Sure enough, as I reached 180’ or so, I could clearly see both teams of divers, and I quickly teamed back up with Rob and Paul for another tour of the bow section. It was basically a repeat of the previous days dive- fantastic!

It wasn’t until I was back on the deco trapeze that I realized that I had a hole in my right wrist seal- my arm had been wet since I jumped in, but now water was starting to creep over my torso, and down my other arm. I was getting pretty cold, and I still had an hour of deco left. Not good.

I suffered through most of it, but with 5 minutes left, I broke. I signaled my buddies that I was done, and surfaced. I figured that I had padded my plan enough that I could afford to skip 5 minutes, and hypothermia was becoming a legitimate concern. Back on the boat, as I peeled off my soaking wet undergarment, somebody behind me asked what had happened to my left shoulder blade. I had no idea what they were talking about, and said so. They told me it was all covered in red welts, and as they were explaining this to me, it started to itch like mad. I was just starting to realize that it might be a skin bend, when I felt something “shift” inside my body, and suddenly it felt like my left nipple was in a clamp- I pulled up my shirt and saw more welts appearing on my chest. The crew immediately made me sit down and start breathing 02. After about 15 minutes, my symptoms seemed to have resolved, and I went back to breathing regular air. After 48 hours, I felt fully recovered, except for some lingering soreness. I’m categorizing it as a “near miss.” As tired and cold as I was, I probably should have done *more* deco instead of less. My decision not to seek treatment was, well, *my* decision.

Overall, It was a fantastic trip. I will never tire of diving that wreck. It is so huge, and can only be dived so infrequently, I don’t know if I’ll ever see the whole thing- I have 7 dives on her, now, and I feel like I’m just getting started! Thanks to everyone who made it possible!

[guitarmaker]

Great story, thanks for the recap. I was hoping to hear a "part 2" to the story after you guys found the bell earlier. Looking froward to "part 3"!

[Tom Nic]

Josh - I love reading the reports of these dives and really appreciate you taking the time to put them together. It's been my observation that not a lot of the people doing tec dives write up their stories, and certainly not with the honesty you do.

Sounds like amazing conditions and dives, and glad that you are OK.

[cardiver]

+1

[spatman]

It's not often Josh writes trip reports, but when he does it's always a good read.

[LCF]

Thank you for your honesty. I think any of us could face the situation of cold versus bent . . . you can fix bent; you can't fix cardiac arrest from hypothermia. I think I would make the same decision you did.

I also really, really love a wreck dive report that mentions the fish . . .

[Are-Jay]

Great write up Josh. I as well appreciate that you don't leave out unglamorous details. I'm glad you've recovered.

[Joshua Smith]

Thanks, everyone. I decided a while ago to start writing "warts and all" trip reports. If I screw up, I will write about it. The "net is full of "textbook perfect" trip reports, with people gliding, hovering, and reading each other's minds. I'm just going to write about what actually happened. Oh, and Lynne- about the fish: Rob taught me a great trick he learned in Bikini: If you bang on the wreckage with the butt end of your dive knife, the fish take off, and you can see the wreck a lot better!

[LCF]

That reminds me of a remark Nick Ambrose once made, that the fish are the things that get in the way of videotaping the wreck . . .

[mz53480]

Great report Josh. Glad that you are OK too.

[John Rawlings]

I'm continuously amazed at the yarns Josh can spin just to explain a bunch of hickies on his back after a night spent in the sheep pen....

Seriously, buddy....great dive report on a couple of fantastic dives. I'm glad that you had yet another incredible experience on the Governor and that you recovered from the after effects so well.

[Joshua Smith]

Hey, there's almost nothing you can't cure with whiskey and dirty limericks.

[Norris]

Great report man and fun to read. Glad you are ok!

[H20doctor]

Ship bell recovered?

[Dusty2]

Ship bell recovered?

NOT!

[Joshua Smith]

Ship bell recovered?

Uh....I guess you didn't actually bother to read my report, huh?

Yes, we did recover it, but as we were lifting it back onto the boat, a sparkly pink submarine full of unicorns surfaced next to us and offered us a handfull of magic beans in exchange for the bell. We foolishly accepted their offer, and then BJ ate all the magic beans, which turned out to be baby stonefish. He tried to put out the burning sensation in his mouth by drinking rubbing alcohol and bleach, which caused him to vomit explosively all over the head unicorn. The enraged unicorn ran amok, kicking and bucking and poking holes in everything with its horn. (Penelope was right about one thing- excited, angry unicorns actually DO fart glitter. Amazing.) Anyway, after all that, we had a good laugh, and went back to work on our plan to enslave the dolphins.

[spatman]

Lmao.

[Bric Martin]

Glitter farting unicorns, magic beans, and pink subs...whatever. I am still perplexed by the sheep hickies on your back.

Great write up!

[Joshua Smith]

Glitter farting unicorns, magic beans, and pink subs...whatever. I am still perplexed by the sheep hickies on your back.

Great write up!

If Sheep Hickies bother you....well, tech diving isn't for everyone. The actual dives aren't that bad, but 8-10 hours on a small boat with my friends will usually break normal people.

[H20doctor]

I read every word of the report.. Even the part about skin benz and flooding suits.. :p

We had intended to recover the Ship’s Bell we found last year, but were unable to get a Marine Archaeologist to accompany us to document the recovery. Mark Allen, of Underwater Admiralty Sciences, who own the salvage rights to the wreck, was aboard as well. He had anticipated the bell recovery, but chose to come out anyway.

Does this mean yes?

[Are-Jay]

Uh....I guess you didn't actually bother to read my report, huh?

Yes, we did recover it, but as we were lifting it back onto the boat, a sparkly pink submarine full of unicorns surfaced next to us and offered us a handfull of magic beans in exchange for the bell. We foolishly accepted their offer, and then BJ ate all the magic beans, which turned out to be baby stonefish. He tried to put out the burning sensation in his mouth by drinking rubbing alcohol and bleach, which caused him to vomit explosively all over the head unicorn. The enraged unicorn ran amok, kicking and bucking and poking holes in everything with its horn. (Penelope was right about one thing- excited, angry unicorns actually DO fart glitter. Amazing.) Anyway, after all that, we had a good laugh, and went back to work on our plan to enslave the dolphins.

Thanks man,

Now everyone that I'm out to dinner with knows I've become bored with there conversation and have resorted to cruising the forums for entertainment. I burst out laughing while two girls at the table were telling stories about tough break-ups... It was worth the dirty looks.

[Joshua Smith]

I read every word of the report.. Even the part about skin benz and flooding suits.. :p

We had intended to recover the Ship’s Bell we found last year, but were unable to get a Marine Archaeologist to accompany us to document the recovery. Mark Allen, of Underwater Admiralty Sciences, who own the salvage rights to the wreck, was aboard as well. He had anticipated the bell recovery, but chose to come out anyway.

Does this mean yes?

Sorry, Chris. I didn't spell it out, and I didn't mean to be a jerk. No, we did not recover the bell, because without an actual Marine Archaeologist on site to verify and document the recovery, it's just no good. Yes, you have a piece of brass, and it looks old, but it could have come from anywhere. It's strange to me, too- but it has to happen that way. We know where the bell is. I even stopped to pat it on the head on my second dive- but we won't be bringing it up until it can be done the right way.

[CaptnJack]

Doesn't the bell say "SS Governor" on it? Seems odd to me that its provenance would be suspect, I figured AUS wanted it too. We were originally planning on being out there last week but enthusiasm was eclipsed by budget concerns so we went to Galloping Gertie instead.

Sorry about the suit flood, those are always annoying but increasingly annoying and dangerous when you're just hanging out. :(

Oh and welcome to the bent club lol

[Joshua Smith]

Doesn't the bell say "SS Governor" on it? Seems odd to me that its provenance would be suspect, I figured AUS wanted it too. We were originally planning on being out there last week but enthusiasm was eclipsed by budget concerns so we went to Galloping Gertie instead.

Sorry about the suit flood, those are always annoying but increasingly annoying and dangerous when you're just hanging out. :(

Oh and welcome to the bent club lol

You know, even though I've seen it a couple of times, I couldn't tell you if it has any engravings on it or not. I'm no expert, but I've been told over and over again that the recovery has to be documented by a marine archaeologist. Whether that's actually true or not, I have no idea. But it might as well be true, since everybody involved believes it to be so. Not my call, in any case.

How was the Knot? I've never dived it. Finally got a seat on a boat heading out to her in August, I'm excited.

[Lonestar]

Nice!

(BTW if unicorns are passing out magic jelly beans who passes out pixie dust?)