alashas
Contributor
The RMS Rhone, a 310 steamship, was considered one of the finest ships in the world when it was built in England in 1865, and it is now considered to be one of the greatest shipwrecks for scuba diving in the Caribbean, and perhaps the entire world. What set the Rhone apart from nearly every other ship of the day was its power. Instead of being paddle driven, the Rhone was a full sailing twin-mast schooner that also had a huge 500 hp compound steam engine that drove a single, massive 15ft propeller, enabling it to travel comfortably at 14 knots. The Rhone was considered unsinkable and had made 9 transatlantic voyages when it embarked on its 10th and last trip from Southampton on Oct. 2, 1867, under the command of Capt. Robert Wooley.
On Oct. 29, 1867, the Rhone was anchored at the mouth of Great Harbour, Peter Island, BVI, when a late season category 5 hurricane struck the Caribbean and did enormous damage throughout the islands. When the barometer fell that morning, Capt. Wooley initially thought they were facing a late season tropical storm. The weather temporarily cleared up, and Capt. Wooley thought the storm had passed, but it was only the eye of the hurricane. As the ship headed out to sea, the Rhone experienced the back and more powerful side of the hurricane. Huge waves were increasing in severity, and the passengers were tied down in an effort to keep them safe, sealing their fate when the Rhone eventually went down.
The Rhone was attempting to clear Salt Island, where it would have made it to the open waters south of the BVI and perhaps survive the storm. The boilers were running wide open when an enormous wave threw the Rhone sideways onto Black Rock, on the southwestern tip of Salt Island, slashing a hole in its hull. The relatively cool ocean water rushed into the steaming hot boilers in the engine room, and a massive explosion blew the ship in two. The stern sank almost immediately in 20 to 30 feet of water, but the bow swung around before sinking in 65 to 80 feet of water.
123 passengers and crew died; however, 22 crew members and one passenger survived. It is humbling to dive the wreck, but it is also beautiful. After 143 years, most of the steel is covered in coral, and the wood has rotted away, exposing the steel beams that are perpendicular to the ocean floor, giving them the appearance of ancient columns. Because the stern was in shallow water, it was considered to be a navigational hazard and was dynamited into smaller pieces by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s, although there is still a fairly large section of stern in tact, including the massive 15 propeller.
The Rhone was popularized in 1977, when it was the shipwreck used in the movie, The Deep, which rocketed wet t-shirt Jacqueline Bisset to fame. And yes, Nick Nolte was a real hunk back then, and Robert Shaw wasnt too shabby, either! The movie claimed the boat was a shipwreck off Bermuda, where the land scenes in the movie were shot. Most of the underwater scenes were shot with Bissets stunt double, Jackie Kilbride, Bert Kilbrides 3rd wife. Bert Kilbride dived the Rhone thousands of times, and it is still possible to purchase artifacts from the Rhone that were retrieved before the Rhone became a National Marine Park in 1967 http://www.bertkilbride.com/giftshop/ In addition to artifacts, Bert found the skull of the ships carpenter. If you want to read more about the Rhone, I wrote an essay in 2007, the 140th anniversary of its fateful day, on this scuba diving message board:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/208262-140th-anniversary-wreck-rhone.html
I have dived the Rhone 12 times, and the visibility was some of the best yet when I dived it on May 18, 2010, with Dive BVI http://www.divebvi.com/ Jude Baird was the lead Dive Instructor, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet two 2007 U VA grads, Andrew and Samantha Hansen, who are also working for Dive BVI. The day before, I met Rosanne and her daughter, Lindsay, during dives we did at the Dog Islands, and I encouraged them to dive the Rhone. They came the next day and thoroughly enjoyed the Rhone. I shot these video clips with a Canon S90 in Fisheye FIX S90 Housing.
The first video shows the 150 section of the bow hull. You can see some of the columns behind Samantha at the start of the video. Jude points to the crows nest, and I swim out to the crows nest on the 65 foremast, from where you can get a good idea how massive the wreck actually is. The Rhone is lying on its starboard side, and the vertical columns are actually the horizontal steel deck supports after the wood has deteriorated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSXAbxL8sU
This second video is the swim through the large opening in the bow. I follow Jude, Rosanne and Lindsay into the bow, and Andrew and Sam are behind me. A big thanks to Jeff McNutt of Dive BVI, who loaned me his dive light, which illumines well the cup corals, fish, and sponges inside the ship. The noise you hear as I enter the wreck is me turning on the dive light and adjusting it under my camera. And a big thanks to Andrew and Samantha, who you can hear pointing out the turtle at the bottom of the wreck. You can see from the particulate that the current was moving at a pretty good clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c9dkuWQXKc
This third video is of a set of columns in the mid-section, where a large school of horse-eye jacks hang out that make for some great video. You can hear Rosanne laughing underwater around 1: 37 as she tries to catch a jack! Toward the end of this clip, I swim over to the full set of giant wrenches, of which the largest is 4 and weighs over 100 pounds. Andrew gives a wave at the end of video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yl6l7-k4zI
This fourth video at the stern is the colorful swim through the 15 propeller and rudder. I follow Jude, Rosanne and Lindsay, and Sam and Andrew swim through after me. There is some very colorful coral and a school of grunts outside the propeller. Jude knows I am air hog with the camera, and signals me to swim with Andrew back to the dive boat while the rest of the group spends a few more minutes exploring the wreck. Other objects you see on the stern of the ship, but that I did not video, include the lucky porthole and the silver spoon encrusted in coral, purported to be Capt. Wooleys. Legend claims that Capt. Wooley went to the top of the boat with his tea cup in hand in an attempt to calm the crew, when a giant wave threw him overboard, never to be seen again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bZE0eDylz4
Here are a few photo links. Jim Scheiner has taken this amazing photo of the entire bow section: http://www.rainbowvisionsbvi.com/Images/PGallery/Gallery01/Rhone_Bow.htm
The wreck is spread across a fairly wide area just off Salt Island, and, depending on where you moor, an entire section of the boat can be below you as enter the water:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/Peter-Island-Scuba-2006-Oct/2479936_UYPXG#130117852_XUzmA
Here is a signal canon on the bow:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#755681771_Mia5c
Ive often wondered if anyone made it out of this hatch, now covered on coral:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#755677105_QYfZB
Every staff member of Dive BVI carries an underwater writing tablet that they use to describe items on dives, and here is Casey McNutt pointing out things weve found here, a small collection of items such as lamp hangers, window frames and etched glass, that Dive BVI leaves in a hidden location at the Rhone:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#757755894_9Lka2
Here is Jude Baird of Dive BVI pointing out Capt. Wooleys silver spoon:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Under...ba-Rhone-Wreck/12362407_uHf3K#883501556_bNAoa
Here is a series of shots inside the bow:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#755668043_6skQu
The orange cup coral that you see inside the bow open up at night and various shades of red coral are spectacular at night, too:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/Peter-Island-Scuba-2006-Oct/2479936_UYPXG#130121530_rTvCx
After a dive with Dive BVI in 2007, I snorkeled over to Salt Island and got a couple of good above/underwater shots of Black Rock:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Under...a-Scuba-Snorkel/3719404_obfRp#213377231_a2dan
And here is the cemetery on Salt Island where some of the deceased were laid to rest:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Under...ba-Rhone-Wreck/12362407_uHf3K#883508845_RmYLL
All the best, alashas http://community.webshots.com/user/suelarhast
On Oct. 29, 1867, the Rhone was anchored at the mouth of Great Harbour, Peter Island, BVI, when a late season category 5 hurricane struck the Caribbean and did enormous damage throughout the islands. When the barometer fell that morning, Capt. Wooley initially thought they were facing a late season tropical storm. The weather temporarily cleared up, and Capt. Wooley thought the storm had passed, but it was only the eye of the hurricane. As the ship headed out to sea, the Rhone experienced the back and more powerful side of the hurricane. Huge waves were increasing in severity, and the passengers were tied down in an effort to keep them safe, sealing their fate when the Rhone eventually went down.
The Rhone was attempting to clear Salt Island, where it would have made it to the open waters south of the BVI and perhaps survive the storm. The boilers were running wide open when an enormous wave threw the Rhone sideways onto Black Rock, on the southwestern tip of Salt Island, slashing a hole in its hull. The relatively cool ocean water rushed into the steaming hot boilers in the engine room, and a massive explosion blew the ship in two. The stern sank almost immediately in 20 to 30 feet of water, but the bow swung around before sinking in 65 to 80 feet of water.
123 passengers and crew died; however, 22 crew members and one passenger survived. It is humbling to dive the wreck, but it is also beautiful. After 143 years, most of the steel is covered in coral, and the wood has rotted away, exposing the steel beams that are perpendicular to the ocean floor, giving them the appearance of ancient columns. Because the stern was in shallow water, it was considered to be a navigational hazard and was dynamited into smaller pieces by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s, although there is still a fairly large section of stern in tact, including the massive 15 propeller.
The Rhone was popularized in 1977, when it was the shipwreck used in the movie, The Deep, which rocketed wet t-shirt Jacqueline Bisset to fame. And yes, Nick Nolte was a real hunk back then, and Robert Shaw wasnt too shabby, either! The movie claimed the boat was a shipwreck off Bermuda, where the land scenes in the movie were shot. Most of the underwater scenes were shot with Bissets stunt double, Jackie Kilbride, Bert Kilbrides 3rd wife. Bert Kilbride dived the Rhone thousands of times, and it is still possible to purchase artifacts from the Rhone that were retrieved before the Rhone became a National Marine Park in 1967 http://www.bertkilbride.com/giftshop/ In addition to artifacts, Bert found the skull of the ships carpenter. If you want to read more about the Rhone, I wrote an essay in 2007, the 140th anniversary of its fateful day, on this scuba diving message board:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/208262-140th-anniversary-wreck-rhone.html
I have dived the Rhone 12 times, and the visibility was some of the best yet when I dived it on May 18, 2010, with Dive BVI http://www.divebvi.com/ Jude Baird was the lead Dive Instructor, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet two 2007 U VA grads, Andrew and Samantha Hansen, who are also working for Dive BVI. The day before, I met Rosanne and her daughter, Lindsay, during dives we did at the Dog Islands, and I encouraged them to dive the Rhone. They came the next day and thoroughly enjoyed the Rhone. I shot these video clips with a Canon S90 in Fisheye FIX S90 Housing.
The first video shows the 150 section of the bow hull. You can see some of the columns behind Samantha at the start of the video. Jude points to the crows nest, and I swim out to the crows nest on the 65 foremast, from where you can get a good idea how massive the wreck actually is. The Rhone is lying on its starboard side, and the vertical columns are actually the horizontal steel deck supports after the wood has deteriorated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSXAbxL8sU
This second video is the swim through the large opening in the bow. I follow Jude, Rosanne and Lindsay into the bow, and Andrew and Sam are behind me. A big thanks to Jeff McNutt of Dive BVI, who loaned me his dive light, which illumines well the cup corals, fish, and sponges inside the ship. The noise you hear as I enter the wreck is me turning on the dive light and adjusting it under my camera. And a big thanks to Andrew and Samantha, who you can hear pointing out the turtle at the bottom of the wreck. You can see from the particulate that the current was moving at a pretty good clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c9dkuWQXKc
This third video is of a set of columns in the mid-section, where a large school of horse-eye jacks hang out that make for some great video. You can hear Rosanne laughing underwater around 1: 37 as she tries to catch a jack! Toward the end of this clip, I swim over to the full set of giant wrenches, of which the largest is 4 and weighs over 100 pounds. Andrew gives a wave at the end of video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yl6l7-k4zI
This fourth video at the stern is the colorful swim through the 15 propeller and rudder. I follow Jude, Rosanne and Lindsay, and Sam and Andrew swim through after me. There is some very colorful coral and a school of grunts outside the propeller. Jude knows I am air hog with the camera, and signals me to swim with Andrew back to the dive boat while the rest of the group spends a few more minutes exploring the wreck. Other objects you see on the stern of the ship, but that I did not video, include the lucky porthole and the silver spoon encrusted in coral, purported to be Capt. Wooleys. Legend claims that Capt. Wooley went to the top of the boat with his tea cup in hand in an attempt to calm the crew, when a giant wave threw him overboard, never to be seen again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bZE0eDylz4
Here are a few photo links. Jim Scheiner has taken this amazing photo of the entire bow section: http://www.rainbowvisionsbvi.com/Images/PGallery/Gallery01/Rhone_Bow.htm
The wreck is spread across a fairly wide area just off Salt Island, and, depending on where you moor, an entire section of the boat can be below you as enter the water:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/Peter-Island-Scuba-2006-Oct/2479936_UYPXG#130117852_XUzmA
Here is a signal canon on the bow:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#755681771_Mia5c
Ive often wondered if anyone made it out of this hatch, now covered on coral:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#755677105_QYfZB
Every staff member of Dive BVI carries an underwater writing tablet that they use to describe items on dives, and here is Casey McNutt pointing out things weve found here, a small collection of items such as lamp hangers, window frames and etched glass, that Dive BVI leaves in a hidden location at the Rhone:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#757755894_9Lka2
Here is Jude Baird of Dive BVI pointing out Capt. Wooleys silver spoon:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Under...ba-Rhone-Wreck/12362407_uHf3K#883501556_bNAoa
Here is a series of shots inside the bow:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/DiveBVI-Scuba-Wreck-Rhone/10835262_WEuDB#755668043_6skQu
The orange cup coral that you see inside the bow open up at night and various shades of red coral are spectacular at night, too:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Underwater/Peter-Island-Scuba-2006-Oct/2479936_UYPXG#130121530_rTvCx
After a dive with Dive BVI in 2007, I snorkeled over to Salt Island and got a couple of good above/underwater shots of Black Rock:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Under...a-Scuba-Snorkel/3719404_obfRp#213377231_a2dan
And here is the cemetery on Salt Island where some of the deceased were laid to rest:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/Under...ba-Rhone-Wreck/12362407_uHf3K#883508845_RmYLL
All the best, alashas http://community.webshots.com/user/suelarhast
