U-853, October 2, 2004

[Henryville]

This is an identical thread to the one I posted on Decostop.

Planned trip to the U-boat on Saturday October 2 looked like it was actually going to happen after several blow-outs this season. Reports of 3 foot vis earlier in the week tempered optimism. Nonetheless, watching the weather earlier in the week, it looked possible that Saturday might just thread the needle between bouts of windy, rainy hurricane remnants. Friday night was absolutely clear and calm following same all day Friday. Of course, surface conditions do not indicate what's going on below, but hope springs eternal.

After looking at starry skies all the way down to the boat in the wee hours of Saturday, we pulled out of New London at 6AM on Atlantis, Captain Gary Chellis and mate Bill Calkins. Fog on the Thames had visibility at around 50 yards, and the fog persisted until we were well out past Fishers Island. Waves looked to be less than 1 foot, and swells were moderate.

Reaching the U-boat around 8:15, we tied into the conning tower mooring point. One boat of divers from Rhode Island was already there, (tied in to the stern gun mount mooring point) but it looked like a small group so we could hope that whatever vis was there would still be intact. Better still, no dredge in sight. Frank B dropped in first and I followed, from the surface I could see him following the mooring line at least 15 feet below me. Ya-hoo! Surface temp. was 62 F.

Reaching the conning tower at ~99 feet, vis was 15 feet, with the odd period of greater or lesser. Current maybe half a knot on the deck, very doable. This dive was focused on a circuit from conning tower around stern and back, stopping to probe aft blast hole. I'm not super-familiar with this wreck but the diagrams I've seen show the tip of the stern proud off the bottom and it looked to me on this dive as though it blended into the bottom. Perhaps it has collapsed? I followed it right to the mud at 123 ft. Could have just been the way it looked to me. Despite six divers from our boat and maybe four from the other being on wreck, the vis held up through the whole dive. Bottom temp was I thought surprisingly warm at 58 F. On ascending, there was a layer of silty, floaty junk from about 70 feet to 30 feet, thank goodness it had not found the bottom.

During a surface interval, another boat with two divers tied off to us and they went in. Two of our divers opted for a long deco dive and were done for the day, the remaining four prepped for a second dive. The crystal clear day was starting to give way to clouds, and a southerly wind was coming up with a bit more swell than we had started with. Captain Gary had already decided that based on developing conditions he wouldn't be venturing far off shore on Sunday, so we again thanked our stars for the lucky break Saturday AM.

Dive two for me focused on bow section and control room. It's really too bad the bow cracked and fell to the bottom. This was one of the most distinctive aspects of the wreck but that's what time and wear do to steel in salt water. I find that someone has helpfully positioned a nice artifact - a plate stamped "made in China" on a shelf. A good joke. This time the vis might have been marginally better than the first. Also felt colder at the bottom but the facts say surface was 63 and bottom was 58. Same layer of crud from 70 to 30.

On surfacing, the boat tied to us departed, while another dive boat had linked up to the one tied to the gun mount. Don't know the name of the boat, but while we were waiting for our last divers to come up we saw a hellacious boil of bubbles coming up next to the first of the two boats tied off to the gun mount. Then a diver surfaced on the mooring line yelling "I almost died, I almost died" and looking like he was trying to climb into the boat via the bow line. The captain got the diver on a tow line and pulled him around to the stern of the boat (it looked like this was not the boat the diver had come from based on the crew behavior on the second boat.) Another diver surfaced around this time, she said something about the first diver's BC we couldn't make out. The Captain hauled the guy over the stern and onto his back on the deck, I think started giving O2. Our captain let them know we had 8l of O2 and were ready to render assistance, our mate Bill jumped in and swam most of the way over to them to render assistance but they indicated everything was under control. We hung around for a while but no offer of assistance taken up so around noon we bugged out. We never heard a distress call issued. Hopefully the diver was just scared or something.

Well, we got lucky. This is a hit and miss proposition and we got above average vis with very benign surface conditions. By the time we got back to New London, the wind was coming up and the sky was almost totally filled with gray clouds. I hope those of you still getting out this season have similar or even better conditions. This is a really nice dive, rich in history, not crazy challenging, and not to be missed if you have any chance of making a trip.

 

[MSilvia]

Thanks for the report, it sounds like you had a great couple of dives. Sad about the bow dropping... I've yet to dive her, so deterioration is always disappointing to hear about.

 

[sculler1x]

Reaching the U-boat around 8:15, we tied into the conning tower mooring point. One boat of divers from Rhode Island was already there, (tied in to the stern gun mount mooring point) but it looked like a small group so we could hope that whatever vis was there would still be intact.

I had to reply to this one since I was one of the divers (there were three of us, not four) on the Tresta, the boat tied into the aft gun mount. By the way, we had planned to leave later in the day, but checked Atlantis' schedule and decided to beat you guys out there so we could have the interior nice and silt-free. Sorry.

On the first dive we swam through from the captain's quarters through to the aft torpedo room. Missed the dish you mentioned, but had a great dive. By the way, did someone pilfer the control wheels, or did they just decay naturally?

On the second dive, we hit the enlisted quarters and the bow. Both the bow and the stern have collapsed, unfortunately. When we had reached the aft gun mount and were about 10 feet off the deck, I saw two wetsuit divers dropping like a rock, off the line, sculling with their hands, and generally looking like they shouldn't have been anywhere near this dive. They were from the boat that had tied off to our stern. My partner and I were diving air, while the third from our group was diving nitrox, so as my partner and I were sitting out our 20 foot stop, we saw an enormous cloud of bubbles coming from the wreck. A few minutes later, I saw one diver, I think it was the man, come absolutely flying up through the water, not on the line but about 20 feet away from it, looking like he was about to go for a chamber ride. I didn't see the second diver ascend, so I thought it might have been a fatality similar to what happened on the Poling a few years ago where a reg freeflowed at depth and his buddy surfaced. We were stuck decompressing so could not surface to see what was going on, and I didn't have enough gas left to drop back down and try to help. When I heard a boat start above us, I figured the guy had embolized and was headed back to shore. While we were hanging on the line, two drysuit divers in yellow and blue suits from the other boat who looked OK came up our line and headed back to their boat tied off our stern.

When we surfaced and talked to our captain Jim Beardsley (who, by all accounts, handled it extremely well), it turns out that this guy had surfaced off his bow in a panic. Jim pulled him in and administered O2, and he managed not to get bent. In fact, when Jim saw this guy descend, he looked unstable enough that he got his O2 kit ready at that point. Our third diver was pretty surprised to surface and find a diver on his back in our boat. Apart from the little adventure on the second dive, it was a fantastic day.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

When we surfaced and talked to our captain Jim Beardsley (who, by all accounts, handled it extremely well), it turns out that this guy had surfaced off his bow in a panic. Jim pulled him in and administered O2, and he managed not to get bent. In fact, when Jim saw this guy descend, he looked unstable enough that he got his O2 kit ready at that point. Our third diver was pretty surprised to surface and find a diver on his back in our boat. Apart from the little adventure on the second dive, it was a fantastic day.

Jim's a very good Captain. I've been out with him several times. I'm not surprised that he reacted as well as he did.

With regard to the underlying accident, some of the people I've seen on that wreck will never cease to amaze me.

 

[Henryville]

I had to reply to this one since I was one of the divers (there were three of us, not four) on the Tresta, the boat tied into the aft gun mount. By the way, we had planned to leave later in the day, but checked Atlantis' schedule and decided to beat you guys out there so we could have the interior nice and silt-free. Sorry.

On the first dive we swam through from the captain's quarters through to the aft torpedo room. Missed the dish you mentioned, but had a great dive. By the way, did someone pilfer the control wheels, or did they just decay naturally?

On the second dive, we hit the enlisted quarters and the bow. Both the bow and the stern have collapsed, unfortunately. When we had reached the aft gun mount and were about 10 feet off the deck, I saw two wetsuit divers dropping like a rock, off the line, sculling with their hands, and generally looking like they shouldn't have been anywhere near this dive. They were from the boat that had tied off to our stern. My partner and I were diving air, while the third from our group was diving nitrox, so as my partner and I were sitting out our 20 foot stop, we saw an enormous cloud of bubbles coming from the wreck. A few minutes later, I saw one diver, I think it was the man, come absolutely flying up through the water, not on the line but about 20 feet away from it, looking like he was about to go for a chamber ride. I didn't see the second diver ascend, so I thought it might have been a fatality similar to what happened on the Poling a few years ago where a reg freeflowed at depth and his buddy surfaced. We were stuck decompressing so could not surface to see what was going on, and I didn't have enough gas left to drop back down and try to help. When I heard a boat start above us, I figured the guy had embolized and was headed back to shore. While we were hanging on the line, two drysuit divers in yellow and blue suits from the other boat who looked OK came up our line and headed back to their boat tied off our stern.

When we surfaced and talked to our captain Jim Beardsley (who, by all accounts, handled it extremely well), it turns out that this guy had surfaced off his bow in a panic. Jim pulled him in and administered O2, and he managed not to get bent. In fact, when Jim saw this guy descend, he looked unstable enough that he got his O2 kit ready at that point. Our third diver was pretty surprised to surface and find a diver on his back in our boat. Apart from the little adventure on the second dive, it was a fantastic day.

Thanks for filling in the details, Sculler. Glad to hear you guys had a good time out there, as I said I think we all got lucky with the conditions. I'm especially glad the guy in the incident came through it okay. From the surface it looked like there was enough air for an entire open water class coming up - a huge boil that left as all going WTF? When Jim was getting the guy in, not to be disrespectful to the distressed diver but all I could think was it looked like someone gaffing a big tuna and hauling it in over the stern. We were very concerned to see the guy just flop over on the deck like that, especially after having watched him try to climb the mooring line to the bow of your boat.

Who knows what they did or encountered but that dive on that day was clearly beyond the preparation and skills of those divers.

By the way, you left the interior just fine. We had a couple of divers "working on a project" somewhere who stirred things up a bit so you made the right call. Maybe we were the source for the plate. Don't know about the control wheels, but they sound like the kind of thing someone would see as a trophy. Too bad.

Dan, have a great trip out there and I hope you have even better conditions.

Thanks again for filling in the details. I would have always wondered what was going on there.

Dev

 

[matt_unique]

I was at the Bass with two other buddies Saturday. What a great day for the Block Island area. We planned to do the Bass then U853 but decided to make two dives on the Bass. I will post a trip report as well. Glad to hear you guys had decent vis. Everyone I talked to had mentioned the short vis due to the dredge. I have done the U about 12 times and my friends had never seen the Bass so we made a day of it. The vis on the U is such a crap shoot. I have had 30' vis with light current to 5' vis and hand over hand movement down the structure.

I have done the U on a charter only once and I could not believe some of the people they allowed on this dive. There was one wetsuit diver doing AOW checkout dives.....crazy.

--Matt

 

[salty]

In fact, when Jim saw this guy descend, he looked unstable enough that he got his O2 kit ready at that point.

I got a chuckle out of this line, sometimes I can just tell when it's better to stay suited up with fins and a snorkle near by while the circus is in the water.

See Quote below.

 

[matt_unique]

... I'm not super-familiar with this wreck but the diagrams I've seen show the tip of the stern proud off the bottom and it looked to me on this dive as though it blended into the bottom. Perhaps it has collapsed? I followed it right to the mud at 123 ft. Could have just been the way it looked to me....

... It's really too bad the bow cracked and fell to the bottom. This was one of the most distinctive aspects of the wreck but that's what time and wear do to steel in salt water....QUOTE]

This stuff happened over the last two years. The end of the bow has fallen off into the sand and a large portion of the stern has broken off. The stern portion still sits in place if you will like a broken pretzel sitting in the right place. I was really disappointed to see the bow section broken off. It was my favorite part of the wreck as well. I will have to check my log book for the date but it was just after the winter. It's amazing how much this wreck has changed since I began diving her (3 years), I can't imagine how disappointing it is for the guys who have been doing it for 15 years or more.

--Matt

 

[mello-yellow]

I saw two wetsuit divers dropping like a rock, off the line, sculling with their hands, and generally looking like they shouldn't have been anywhere near this dive... A few minutes later, I saw one diver, I think it was the man, come absolutely flying up through the water, not on the line but about 20 feet away from it, looking like he was about to go for a chamber ride. I didn't see the second diver ascend, so I thought it might have been a fatality similar to what happened on the Poling a few years ago where a reg freeflowed at depth and his buddy surfaced.

So what happened to the second diver? I take it she surfaced later and said something about her buddy's BC, but did anyone see her ascend?

 

[RIOceanographer]

Sounds like I should have tried to go to the U853 last weekend.

I tried to go on Sept 19th but was cancelled by the leftovers from hurricane Francis. I rescheduled for Columbus day, but I just heard from the shop today and it turns out the Captain they were using backed out of the charter so it was canelled again. Oh well, even if he hadn't backed out, the wind was looking borderline. That was probably my last attempt on the U-Boat for the year.

I still have some other wreck dives planned for October though. I will be doing the Mt Hope tug, the Prudence Island mystery wreck and two dives on the Neptune if the weather cooperates.