Britannia Beach - wreck three

[DaleC]

Dove the first, second and third wrecks at Britannia Beach today with Michel, Gabriel and the Fraser Valley Dive Club.

Here's the youtube link for that:
[video=youtube;e-vbX3FY-bQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-vbX3FY-bQ&list=UU5zvhnU0XYpf_cadpYJYkhQ&index=1[/video]


and the first two wrecks from a while ago:
[video=youtube;_VQyzSxFAtU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VQyzSxFAtU&list=UU5zvhnU0XYpf_cadpYJYkhQ& index=22[/video]

 

[Daviddives]

Nice videos! The Britannia Wrecks are a fun dive! I have heard of some other Wrecks and we're going to check them out soon!

Here is a link to a video I made of Britannia beach south.
Dive Buddy - Dennis Chow

Britannia Beach Wrecks - YouTube

Cheers!

 

[DaleC]

Hey David, I know of 4 wrecks there, three along the shoreline and the SS Joan. Do you know of any more? I had heard that there was a fourth along the shore but we did not find it.
What type of lens do you have on your GoPro?

 

[vancouverdiver]

Can anyone please provide some details where the ss joan is lying in 100 ft. Of water? I believe it is south of the art gallery. Thanks!

 

[Daviddives]

I am using a Go Pro hero 2 with an aftermarket flat lense housing. I am heading out to look for others this weekend But im not sure exactly where yet. Dennis Chow has information and he will be heading up the dive. I will re-post after the dive! Cheers!

 

[MarkH]

This old page:http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/clad/britannia/downloads/reports/tech_reports/WTP_sidescan_sonographs.pdf shows a wreck at Britannia Beach, but I don't know which one it is.

 

[vancouverdiver]

Yes, I found that late last night and I think that is it. The ready and the other 2 wooden seine boats are further south on the other outcropping. A buddy is going today, and a few of us are going tomorrow.

 

[DaleC]

If I read figure 6 from that paper correctly, the SS Joan lies somewhere in the vicinity of the label "Arcuate failures" to the left of Britannia wharf. The Ready and other two wooden wrecks lie to the left of the wreck in the image, somewhat in the area labeled "Failure headscarp". I have dived the pilings on the left (south) side of Britannia wharf and have seen a large chain with (from vague memory) about 6" links, running down slope. Gabe followed it down to about 70' I think. I wonder if that has anything to do with the large wreck in the image.

Those pilings are a great dive for shallow macro photography and there is a (roughly) 30' metal wreck at the point. An old skiff or net tender.

Be careful crossing the train tracks across from the Galileo (sp?) cafe. We were warned last time that the Railway will fine people for trespassing. You can park just south of the cafe on the water side at a pullout beyond the save on foods sign to avoid that.

 

[vancouverdiver]

We dove the wreckage today. It is a rather large wooden frame, and it is hard to determine "ship" features. I actually saw it over a year ago and thought it was a dock, or barge. However, this time, we went down to 100 ft and saw the second piece of the wreckage. This large wreckage is reportedly the SS Joan, but it hardly looks like a ship. I'm looking forward to reviewing the video.
Dale, if Im reading the map properly, the word wreck is actually where the Joan is. The Ready and the other 3 wrecks are further to the right/south on the map where the gallileo coffee shop is located. Cheers, and safe diving.

 

[DaleC]

Yep, I see the mistake. I thought the Britannia dock was the wharf running off the boathouse on the sharks tooth shaped point to the south. Thanks for catching that. At what depth is the shallow wreckage of the Joan?