Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not nailed down. -- Collis P. Huntingdon
We set out from Barnegat Light the Bast*rds on the TomKat with 6 divers the Bast*rds, Al R., Al S., Jim, Mark, Steve and myself. The skies were clear and their were slight swells in the water. A beautiful day.
Running a bit late as usual the Bast*rds, no finger pointing here, we arrived and loaded on the TomKat the Bast*rds in record time and headed out for a day of diving.
Our first stop was the San Saba, also known as the Magnolia Wreck, an iron hulled freighter en-route from new York to Tampa that hit a mine laid by the German U-Boat 117 in 1918. The San Saba went down within five minutes taking all of her crew with her. A week after she sank she was demolished as a navigational hazard and now sits as mangled wreckage in 80 fsw but still produces many artifacts. the Bast*rds The wreckage is broken in 2 halves located about 250 feet apart with the bow section having hull plates, the boilers and machinery and the stern being rubble.
Al R. tied in. Jim and I watched for the bottle and talked about alternatives that were more ocean friendly. I will be bringing a fresh orange next dive to test my theory, I am pretty sure that Jims suggested kiwi would be too hard to spot.
I have a bit of trouble with the step up onto the gunnel for a giant stride into the water but with a helping hand I was over. I buddied with Mark and Al S. and we descended down the line. Mark had a glint in his eye, he was on the hunt. the Bast*rds The temps on the bottom were a cool 46F. And visibility was fairly poor. We were tied in on a low wall of wreckage covered in the usual growth of anemones, sponges and hyroids. We ran a line and headed out and I saw many starfish and several small sea bass. But not too much else. We were obviously on the stern and we are still too cold to attract the bigger and more varied denizens yet. We turned back to the line and Al went up and Mark and I continued to look around a bit before heading up.
For the second dive we headed a short distance to the Chappara, also known as the Off-Shore Barge, another ship sunk by the U-117. The crew that survived the sinking rowed for an entire day to reach the shores of Barnegat Light.
This is a debris field which also still produced artifacts and is usually good lobster hunting.
We again went down the line in thick green water with very poor viz. At depth the water cleared to slightly less than we had on the San Saba and again Mark ran his reel and we had a look around. the Bast*rds Again the sea life was sparse, but the water is still cool at 46F, but this wreck provided more relief to peek about in. Back at the line and ready to go back up.......what is this? What has Mark picked up from the wrecks sandy bottom? It closely resembles a large silver ingot! Artifact?
Up on the boat, Jim and Steve the Bast*rds were dancing about and parading around a ships helm, laughing and dancing about like 7 year olds. the Bast*rds I am pretty sure that Marks find has them beat though. They must be jealous.
On the ride in everyone was sound asleep in the cabin at one point or another, with Steve the Bast*rds stretched out on the floor, most likely dreaming he had been the one to bring up Marks find.
While we were still a little short on fishy friends, but these dives gave me the opportunity to go to work and drop several lbs of weight from my harness (like 8?). And the ladder, while open sided was a bit steep and I had some difficulty reaching the railing as I got to the top of the ladder, I am going to have to work on that too.
*The Bast*rds is all I heard that day due to a prank played on aonther diver