USS Kittiwake-Grand Cayman

[under water]

This is one great dive, i would not however want to do a two tank on it. It is interesting, but there are no fish there yet...maybe next year

There are fish there now.

 

[billinwilliamston]

 

[DiveCaves]

Found the plaque yesterday.
I was teaching a wreck course and my students brought this post to my attention the night before.

We found it and took some pics. (My students will probably post them soon).
On the second dive we took a deck brush and tried to clean the plaque. It didn't work as well as I hopped for.
Will bring a stainless steel or brass brush next time and will try again.

Here is a picture of one of the decompression chambers.

Enjoy

 

[Sorrows]

DiveCaves, that is so sweet of you! We are planning to bring a steel brush and a toothbrush to help make the plaque spiffy when we go next week.

We were a sailing family when I was growing up. At one time, we had a 42' teak boat, gleaming and beautiful. I swear to God, every time we got on that thing, he handed us a toothbrush and we would start scrubbing. So I've got some experience with the scrubbing!

Thanks again!

 

[diversteve]

You might want to check with CITA before you go modifying their wreck... The Official Website for the Kittiwake Shipwreck

The Kittiwake is situated in marine park that is protected under law in Cayman, with no touching or taking of anything, no gloves allowed and no fishing allowed on the wreck/Kittiwake site.

 

[EastEndDiver]

DiveCaves, that is so sweet of you! We are planning to bring a steel brush and a toothbrush to help make the plaque spiffy when we go next week.

We were a sailing family when I was growing up. At one time, we had a 42' teak boat, gleaming and beautiful. I swear to God, every time we got on that thing, he handed us a toothbrush and we would start scrubbing. So I've got some experience with the scrubbing!

Thanks again!

Read DiverSteves post above.

Also using a steel brush will badly damage the plaque by imbedding steel fragments in the brass material and rusting at an incredible fast rate.

Leave the plaque to the experts that know what they are doing.

Contact CITA if you think anything needs to be done don't do it yourself.

 

[Sorrows]

Thanks for the advice, guys!

 

[DiveCaves]

@ Sorrows
I have used a brass brush two days later and it worked much better. You may want to bring a small brass one (1cm width), so you can get between the lines and letters.

@ diversteve and
@ EastEndDiver
Thank you for your for your concerns. I work for company which is hired to maintain the Kittiwake moorings, wreck itself, including cleaning ALL the plaques throughout the whole wreck.

 

[Sorrows]

No worries, DiveCaves! My husband (who is a marine engineer and installed the plaque when the Kittwake was in Norfolk) has some sort of special brush just for this sort of thing. I will, of course, bring my old toothbrush, but more for sentimental reasons. And everybody will have his/her own task--a fitting tribute to my dad!

Thanks again for all your care and concern. The entire Austin family greatly appreciates it.

 

[Sorrows]

We just got back last night--here is a photo of my dad's (Thomas F. Austin) plaque. On the centerline entrance between the big towing winch and the recompression chamber room on the starboard side--head into the room and look to your right. It's just inside the doorway and is easy to miss. I'm afraid it's a bit hard to read (already!); we did try to clean it a bit, but didn't get very far. I wish we could have spent more time there--or done both tank dives there. It isn't that deep, so that would be do-able, I think.

The inscription on the bottom, btw, is "Everything I am, I owe to the US Navy."