ARCTIC TRADER shipwreck in Sheet Harbour Nova Scotia????

[Bonesnews]

Hello all
I just started this thread hoping someone would post an answer to a question. Have you ever dove the Arctic Trader wreck in Sheet Harbour Nova Scotia? If you have could you post some pics so my dive buddy and I can see them. If you have video even better i would really like to see them. I am planning on diving the wreck this summer 2010 and I would really like to hear from people who have dove this wreck for some feedback. I am unable to find any info on this wreck and if you have some i would like to see it. :blinking: I like to get background info on a wreck and site if possible before a dive, that way I have an idea of what I am going to possibly see. Thanks in advance to everyone who comments on this thread.

DIVE DEEP/DIVE SAFE
Bonesnews :goingdown:

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Hi there, I dove the artic Trader the year it went down, we got numerous portholes from it. you will see that were we had to cut them out of the hull in some places. I was inside the wreck which lies on her port side when my wieght belt buckle got snagged on a piece of the ship. It fell through some hatchs and down to the other side of the ship so retrieving it didn't look like a good option for me at the time. I secured a line to her and assended to the serface using the line to control my assent. I heard that some one diving with Divers World had found it the next year but can not confirm this.
Being that the ship is in the mouth of the river the water is quite dark so photographing and vidio would be hard with out a lot of extra lighting but who knos my be some one has some.
For those who don't know this ship it was tied up at the government whorf at Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia Canada after it was abandond by it's drug smuggling owners. The smugglers were trying to take it south to pick up a load of coke but the ship refused to go. They called for a tow from the coast gaurd and then got a newer ship to make the trip, but by now the cops were onto them. On their return they were approached and they dumped their cargo over the side in large weighted tubes so they could retrieve it later on, but the good divers at the navy's Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic beet them to it. All were arrested and locked up. I retrieved one port hole with a bullit hole in it, definitely a keeper. I believe the bullit hole came from vandels rather then a shoot out on the high seas, but again who knows?
My advice to you, untill you get alot more experience is to stay on the out side of the wreck. The water is shollow but the wreck is very dirty inside, vandels had lit fires inside her befor it sunk, and the water is very dark due to the river flow. But it's a good shore dive, you can swim to it from the whorf and I know we left some brass on her.
Good luck, ZDD

 

[Bonesnews]

Thanks for the info ZDD I am looking forward to the dive even more. I was not planning on going inside the wreck but the info you gave me is good to know. Thanks again.

 

[anassrat]

I just noticed this thread and I was curious if you dived the Arctic Trader or not yet. I attempted to dive there last summer with two buddies, but when we made it there we noticed that the water was quiet polluted and did not think it was a great idea to dive. We didn't think we would see much. Hope your dive turned out well!

Ahmed Nassrat
Owner/President
Atlantic Adventure Divers
Atlantic Adventure Divers - Atlantic Adventure Divers