(From My Inbox Today...)
Source: Newsday, Long Island Edition

Read the story, "Secrets beneath the Sound" by Bill Bleyer from Newsday HERE

Undersea Historical Research Society (based on Long Island): Visit UHRS.org!

(From My Inbox Today...)

Wrecksploration Divers is a non-profit organization dedicated to the exploration of our local waters in search of undiscovered and unidentified shipwrecks.

Shipwrecks + Exploration = Wrecksploration

Wrecksploration Divers was founded in 2006 by local divers looking to expand their knowledge of shipwreck research. We believe that the vitality of the sport of shipwreck diving is directly tied to exploration activities, and it is our hope in this regard to contribute to the expanding interest and future growth of shipwreck diving in our area. If the idea of researching and exploring the many undiscovered and unidentified shipwrecks in the area interests you, we invite you to find out more about us. If the thought of participating in the research to locate an undiscovered historic shipwreck appeals to you, or if the idea of exploring an as-yet unidentified wreck fascinates you, we think you may have found the right place.

Diver Membership starts from $20 a year. (I just joined...)

Groupers soon will be joining them as a Club member for Wrecksploration.

For more information, please visit: Wrecksploration.org

(From My Inbox Today...)

What's fascinating about the wrecks is they all got the history. Whatever the reason why they are down there, it's always interesting to find out what happened, how it happened, and of course, how we can dive to see it.

Hunting New England Shipwrecks, Wreckhunter.net, was created by several divers, including Dave Clancy, and pretty much has it all. Information on some of the well-known New England wrecks, their histories, and maps etc. to list a few. I just love this.

Explore the world of wreck diving and wrecks from your home - at least during this Bunny time.

Check out: Wreckhunter.net

(From My Inbox Today...)
Source: BBC News

Two sisters from Sussex have finally won the right for the wreck of their father's World War II ship to be classed as an official war grave.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has agreed to grant the SS Storaa, which was torpedoed off the Hastings coast in 1943, full military protection.

Rosemary Fogg and Valerie Ledgard, from Worthing, won a court case and then an appeal in 2006 to protect the vessel.

But the MoD had been taking advice about the ownership of the wreck.

The women are the daughters of Petty Officer James Varndell, who died with 21 others when the merchant ship SS Storaa was torpedoed during WWII.

'Look not touch'

They argued in court that the ship should be classed as a war grave because it was on military duties when it sank.

James Varndell's daughters led the war grave campaign

Mrs Ledgard welcomed the decision, saying: "It's not a complete forgotten scene, someone will actually write down properly that the SS Storaa is a war grave."

Derek Twigg, Under Secretary of State for Defence, said: "Following the ruling by the Court of Appeal in October last year... the MoD reconsidered its stance regarding the designation of SS Storaa as a war grave.

"We have now agreed to designate the wreck as a protected place under the act.

"The wreck will be protected from unauthorised interference by divers who will only be allowed to dive on a 'look but don't touch or enter' basis once designated, any physical interference with the wreck would require prior licensing by MoD."

The SS Storaa was attacked by German E-boats as it transported steel in convoy to a weapons factory in Cardiff.

(From My Inbox Today...)
2nd post of the day
Source: Dive News Wire

Second-largest vessel ever to be scuttled as artificial reef, is relocated to shipyard for preparations.

After 10 years of fundraising and permitting, a project has begun to sink a retired military ship off Key West, in the Florida Keys, to serve as an artificial reef.

Last Friday, the decommissioned U.S. Air Force missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a 524-foot ship that also monitored NASA space launches from 1963 to 1983, was towed from the James River Naval Reserve Fleet in Fort Eustis, Va., to Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk, Va.

The ship also saw “action” as a film set in the 1999 movie “Virus,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin.

The ship is to become the second-largest vessel in the world ever intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef, according to maritime and sport diving experts.

Artificial Reefs of the Keys has $3 million in commitments from two Monroe County, Fla., government entities, a $1.3 million pledge from the City of Key West and other funding resources to help defray the estimated $5.7 million price tag to properly sink the ship, according to Joe Weatherby, the project’s coordinator and founder of ARK.

Make-ready and cleansing is being coordinated by ReefMakers, and is expected to take about a year. The ship is slated for scuttling about six miles off Key West in spring 2008.

The proposed artificial reef is expected to attract marine life, provide ongoing positive impact to the tourism-based economy and benefit the underwater environment by taking recreational diving pressure off natural coral reefs.

“She’s an eye-popper and doesn’t look like anything else out there,” Weatherby said, noting the large electronic tracking dishes that are to be removed and then reinstalled on the ship before sinking. “Portions (of the ship) will come up to within 40 feet from the surface, making it a world-class dive.”

For more information on the Vandenberg, dive into www.bigshipwrecks.com

More travel details on the Keys are available at www.fla-keys.com

Keys Diving Notes

Island Sun Splash
The Upper Keys Dive Association is planning Island Sun Splash, June 10-16, featuring a week of family adventure activities in the Upper Keys. Activities range from subsea photo and video seminars to Discover Scuba Diving classes to an underwater scavenger hunt.

Visit www.divecapital.org for more details.

Dive Safety Program, Event Announced
Dive Alive, an initiative designed to enhance sport diving safety in the Keys, is to be highlighted by a Lobster Diving Rodeo and Safety Expo Monday, July 23, in the Florida Keys. The free event is to be staged on the campus of the Florida Keys Community College in Key West, two days prior to the July 25 opening of Florida’s special two-day mini-lobster season. More details on the event and Dive Alive program, as well as a free downloadable dive safety card, are available at www.divealive.org

(From My Inbox Today...)
Source: Cyber Diver News Network
Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by DAVID SHARROCK

DUBLIN, Ireland (2 Apr 2007) -- Mystery surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania may be resolved after the American owner of the Cunard liner won his case to dive on the wreck.

The decision by the Supreme Court in Dublin, the highest court in the Irish Republic, to overturn a refusal for an exploration licence from the Arts and Heritage Ministry clears the way for Gregg Bemis to realise a 40-year dream to uncover what made "the Greyhound of the Sea" sink so fast after she was torpedoed by a German U-boat off southwest Ireland in May 1915.

The Lusitania – which held the speed record for crossing the Atlantic until 1909, when she lost it to her sister ship, the Mauretania – sank in 18 minutes, taking 1,198 people, including 100 children, with her.

The blast that sank the 790ft (241m) vessel came from a secondary explosion on the starboard side after the torpedo, fired by U-20, hit the Lusitania under the bridge.

The sinking caused massive controversy because the vessel was carrying civilian passengers between New York and Liverpool, including eminent and wealthy politicians, artists, academics and businessmen.

The captain of the German U-boat, Walther Schwieger, was branded a war criminal, and the furore added to pressure on the US to enter the Great War on Britain's side. But since the Lusitania sank, eight miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, rumours and conspiracy theories have abounded about her fate.

In 1993 Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, said that he believed that the dust in the coal bunkers would have been thrown into the air by the vibration from the torpedo impact; the resulting cloud then being ignited by a spark and causing the second explosion.

But that theory has been discounted by the damp conditions and the sudden rush of seawater into the ship through the hull's damaged plates.

The U-boat captain has also been accused of lying about the number of torpedoes fired at the stricken vessel. Marine forensic investigators have suggested that an explosion in the ship's steam-generating plant may have been the cause.

Mr Bemis hopes that his court victory will clear the way for the true story to emerge. The venture capitalist from a wealthy food-packaging family suspects that the Lusitania was secretly carrying munitions to Britain and that these caused the huge explosion.

Mr Bemis, 78, is planning a dive on the Lusitania, lying in 300ft of water, this summer. But his main research will be conducted next year. "All the equipment that I need has already been booked for this year," he told Irish newspapers.

"There is some work that can be done that I think will be very advantageous to my ultimate dive, preliminary survey work."

The exploration will be complicated because the Lusitania is lying on its ruptured, starboard side. Mr Bemis hopes that his team can cut through the port side and make his way down to the damage using a "saturated" diving system.

"They will always be under pressure equivalent to the depth of the Lusitania, so they can put in shifts of two or three hours working on the bottom," he said. The court granted Mr Bemis a five-year licence to dive after a protracted legal battle with the Arts Ministry.

The wreck was declared a protected site, placing an underwater heritage order on it to deter treasure hunters. That was in response to reports that the art collector Sir Hugh Lane, one of the passengers who perished, was transporting paintings by Titian, Monet and Ru-bens in sealed containers.

Mr Bemis became a co-own-er of the wreck in 1968, a year after it was sold for £1,000 by the Liverpool & London War Risks Insurance Association to John Light, a former US navy diver. "There was one other bidder: the British secret service," Mr Bemis claimed. "Obviously they were too cheap to put up the cash." By 1982 Mr Bemis's two partners in the salvage venture had given up in the face of mounting bills and he bought them out. "We'd spent a lot of money by then. My kids reckon I'm like a dog with a bone.

The next challenge was in the courts. "Everyone has their point of view. The Irish Government said no one should touch it but I disagreed. They were in the wrong – it is my property."

Mr Bemis made his first visit to see his property in 2005 at the age of 76, but he is under pressure from his family not to return. "I reckon it might have been an age-depth record. I'm an experienced recreational diver so I went down but was only there for five minutes. But what I saw of her was very beautiful."

The venture may cost £3 million, which Mr Bemis hopes to recoup by making a film and mounting an exhibition of recovered artefacts.

He owns anything on the liner that belonged to Cunard, while luggage and cargo belongs to the Irish authorities as receiver of the wreck.

Nevertheless, it is not the lure of gold or fine art that has driven Mr Bemis's passion for the Lusitania, but the mystery of its final voyage. "It's almost impossible to sink a vessel of that size so fast. I don't agree with government cover-ups. To prove what really caused it to sink would help bring real closure for the relatives of those who perished."

Gregg Bemis, is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur.

He has run unsuccessfully three times as a Republican candidate in New Mexico.

Bemis also has a keen interest in the Estonia, a ferry that went down in the Baltic in 1994, taking 852 lives. He suspected foul play and conducted an unauthorised dive in 2000.

Last days of the Lusitania

Departs New York at noon, May 1, 1915, amid German warnings to its 1,256 passengers

May 6, Lusitania's captain receives warning that U-20 is active off southern Irish coast

May 7, Lusitania alters course after a new warning, heading northwest to approach coast, thinking that U-boat would stay in open waters

U-20, low on fuel and heading for home, spots Lusitania at 1pm. Steaming at 20 knots into Queenstown (new Cobh) harbour

U-20 captain gives order to fire torpedo at 2.20pm as Lusitania crosses right in front of submarine. A second explosion occurs immediately after torpedo hits

Lusitania sinks at 2.28pm

SOURCE - Times Online

For more information on lost liners including Lusitania, visit: PBS - Lost Liners' website

(From My Inbox Today...)

There are a few sites we visit to check out where a particular wreck is, and you may have heard us talking about a couple of sites already.

This site, GPSCharts.com is the link of the day. We'd say... this is one of the most comprehensive lists of wrecks in the North Atlantic on the web.

Check out: GPSCharts.com.

I checked the site today and tried to order a map. The website gave me an error and would not process my request. There is no phone number on the website but I am going to try to email them. The page with the maps has not been updated since 2005. I hope they are still around.

I'll keep you posted.
Jim V.

Thanks, Jim!!
K