The Buccaneer sinks!

[Dean810]

For those that don't know, we sank the Buccaneer yesterday about 9 miles from Burnham Harbor off of Chicago. This was about four years of work to make this happen. The Buccaneer was originally owned by the Coast Guard and was used to hunt down Rum Runners during Prohibition. At one point, it sank a boat in the Gulf of Mexico that it believed was carrying illegal hooch and caused an international incident, since the boat was Canadian and was in international waters.

The boat is 98 feet long and is in about 70 feet of water. First reports from divers is that it is sitting upright and in good condition. The engine room is very accessible and will have a lot of places to explore.

No news yet as to when it will have a mooring. The first charters to it are through Windy City Diving.

 

[diver_paula]

Wonderful news! Would love to dive her.

Paula

 

[StreetDoctor]

Diving it tomorrow in the morning and will hopefully get some good video. Check back tomorrow night =)

 

[Captain_Bob]

It looks great I dove it Yesterday, she is sitting upright one the bottom. She still lists to port a little but looks great, and yes Dean some how the mirrors survived, they look great. We had 40+ ft of viz. The bow hit pretty hard and the port side is covered in clay and the bow is not touching the bottom due to the nice size crater it left when it struck the bottom, it almost looks like someone could swim under the ship. Overall this is a great new dive for Chicago, and Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.

 

[kjvander]

are there numbers for it?

 

[diverchet]

Thanks to all who made this possible. I think this is a huge boost to local diving. Please post the GPS numbers asap.

 

[Dean810]

Sounds like the boat ended up better than we hoped! The port side list works for me, since the whole time I knew the boat during cleanup, it had a port side list. It's great to know that the mirrors survived, since it will be cool to look at yourself when you dive her. Can't wait to get on it! As far as the numbers go, don't have them now. When I have them, I'll let you all know.

 

[Dean810]

You might find a few above water pictures here Photos - The Chicago Scuba Meetup Group (Chicago, IL) - Meetup.com

 

[StreetDoctor]

A fun wreck! Depth is 70' to the props (which are both visible). Interesting areas include the bow which is unsupported for about the first 30' of the ship, the props, two large mirrors that survived in the middle (by the bar I believe). It's a great wreck for penetration with lots of ups and downs, with the ability to penetrate the crew quarters, forward quarters, wheel house, and a few other small rooms. Some of the doorways are kinda tight but I was able to squeeze through sideways with double AL80's. My 130's would have been an extremely tight squeeze and might not have made it. We did two 35 minute dives on it today , visibility was 25-30' with temps in the mid 40's. I'll probably have some video to put up later tonight or tomorrow.

I don't think numbers are going to be openly available for a while, Jim and company put a lot of hard work in to get it sunk, show him thanks and book a charter with him and he'll take you there.

 

[StreetDoctor]

Sounds like the boat ended up better than we hoped! The port side list works for me, since the whole time I knew the boat during cleanup, it had a port side list. It's great to know that the mirrors survived, since it will be cool to look at yourself when you dive her. Can't wait to get on it! As far as the numbers go, don't have them now. When I have them, I'll let you all know.

Wait until you see the video I have... The mirrors are pretty cool!