The MOST wrecks in a stretch of river??

[moosicman]

I live in Bainbridge, Georgia and over the weekend I volunteered at a River Run race for the Kiwanas Club at the Boat Basin on the Flint River. There was a historic marker at the Boat Basin dock about the steam boats that worked the river long, long ago. The marker also said that this area of the Flint was widely known to have the most sunken ships per foot (or something to that effect, I don't remember the exact phrase). So I got to thinking that there may be some pretty neat finds laying on the bottom of the Flint. It may be a long shot but have any of you guys ever heard about such or done any diving on the Flint. I'm not too crazy about diving in the river, as it can be very poor vis. but it did get me to thinking.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Rivers, at least back in the day before the Corps of Engineers got involved in maintaining them for navigation, tended to constantly change their course. If you look at the average river valley it is very flat as over the last several thousand years the river has at one time or the other ran just about everywhere in the valley.

Sediment gets removed from one side of a bend in the river and sediment gets deposited on the other and the bed can rapidly (in geologic terms) move. For example, it is not uncommon to find the remains of a steam boat wreck from the mid 1800's 200 or 300 feet from the river bank in the middle of a field. So many of the potetnial wrecks may not be under water at all and/or may be washing out of the bank rather than being in mid channel.

In some cases the changes can be drastic with the river radically changing the course of it's water shed. Barring inttervention by the Corps of Engineers, the lower end of the Missippi would no longer be in the same course leaving most of the current port facilities high and dry.

In general, with the Corps of Engineers rip rapping shore lines, etc, rivers tend to stay in their original courses.

The contour of the river bottom also constantly changes in rivers with any degree of current and wrecks and artifacts that have been coivered for the last century may suddenly start appearing so it is always worth a drift dive to survey a previously empty stretch of river bottom.

Prior to steam boats, hand poled barges were used on most navigable rivers and these wrecks are much smaller but also probably much more common. Wood tends to stay well preserved in the silt at the bottom of a river due to very low oxygen levels, so it is not uncommon to find wooden barge construction materials, trade hatchet and axe handles, etc that are much, much older than they appear to be.

 

[moosicman]

sorry....wrote this post in the wrong spot....oops...

 

[ElizabethGreene]

This page looks really promising.
River Diving Technique

I hound enough scrap to build one of the crawlers, but I'm not experienced enough for this type of dive yet.

-ellie

 

[Doc Intrepid]

You may want to talk to some of the older divers in your area before you jump into the Flint River.

One of the issues with diving in rivers with zero vis is that there are frequently sunken logs, broken picnic tables, sunken docks or moorings, etc. in them. The point is that its easy to find yourself in a sort of "overhead environment" without being aware that you're being swept by the river current UNDERNEATH some sort of object that prevents your direct ascent to the surface.

Second, in many rivers, with any sort of current at all it can be extremely difficult to work your way upstream against the force of the river. In a river near my home in the PNW we have used short pieces of rebar in each hand to pull ourselves, hand over hand, upstream against the flow for short distances. Its really the only way to traverse upstream along the river bottom when the flow is strong.

The combination of being swept beneath an obstacle you can't see, and then pinned underneath it by the flow of the current, can be dangerous - particularly in low vis water.

So if you choose to dive in this river, talk to some divers who have been in it before (check with your local sheriff department or county dive team to see if any of those guys can give you information about entrapments, entanglements or other hazards); check out the flow rates; do your homework (especially about points to get out of the river - which, depending on what type of bottom and river banks there are can be difficult); and be careful.

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[moosicman]

I won't be diving in the river, it just got me thinking. I'll bet there are some great finds there however!