I shall go the way of the open sea, to the lands I knew before you came, and the cool ocean breezes shall blow from me the memory of your name.
~Adela Florence Nicolson ~
The 180 foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter Blackthorn, was built at Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Corp., Duluth, Minnesota, on May 21, 1943, launched in July of 1943, and commissioned in March of 1944. She served in the great lakes doing rescue, salvage and breaking ice, off the coast of California and finally at ports along the Gulf of Mexico. She had just been refitted in Tampa and was heading to Galveston, Texas on January 28, 1980 when she collided with the 605 foot freighter S.S. Capricorn just outside the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The blending of lights from vessels, land and the bridge, inexperienced crew, lack of proper response, wrong side of the channel …… it doesn’t matter what the reason was, that doesn’t change the fact that 23 of the crew of 50 on the Blackthorn were lost that night in 40 foot of water due to an unbelievable chain of events. Such was the impact of this tragic loss that it prompted changes in the Coast Guard including special schooling of officers who would command ships and raised standards for emergency training and equipment. It also fore fronted the improvement of navigational aids in the shipping channel and systematic of tracking vessels in Tampa Bay.
The collision alone did not spell disaster for the Blackthorn, but one of the anchors of the Capricorn pierced their hull, at the crews showers, and dragged the coast Guard cutter along with the huge freighter until the Blackthorn pulled up aside the Capricorn causing slack in the anchor chain which folded under the cutter. Seconds later, when the chain went taunt again, like pulling the string on a top, it rolled the Blackthorn and she sunk in less than 3 minutes trapping 23 crew members inside.
In 2000, Seaman William Flores, was posthumously awarded the Coast Guard Medal for heroism. He had opened the life jacket locker as the Blackthorn capsized, and secured it open with his belt making sure that his shipmates were able to get to the life jackets as the vessel sank. His quick thinking and ingenuity and the time he took on a sinking vessel to complete this selfless act helped save many of the 27 survivors.
The ship was raised but so damaged that it was scuttled on January 28, 1980 just 300 feet from the Sheridan on Pinellas Reef #2. Today, the site remains a memorial to those Coasties who perished that night and a coast Guard flag “flies” at the wreckage and a yearly memorial service still takes place.
Topside, Dave is having computer troubles and opts to join another group for this dive. Mr. Bravo and I ready to dive and with a grace few others will ever know, I launch myself, like a big ole cannonball into the warm green swells.
We drift down onto the broken portions of the Blackthorn and begin our dive. She sits broken and turtled on the sea floor, covered in life from the sea bottom. There are not as many moon jellies here but swarms of bait fish still dart about and the ever watchful barracuda eye us like rent-a-cops at the mall.
A portion of the hull has given way and you can slide in and hover with the cool kids as they eye you with distrust. If you ask me, I think they hang in here and have a little toke outside of the prying eyes of ‘cuda gendarmes. That’s what I think…
We swim all about checking the nooks and crannies as fish swim freely all about. We head out into the sand to look and come across some oversized pipes. Shining my light inside all I see is Jens shining his light and waving from the other side. No one is home.
It is unfortunate that we missed the loggerhead turtle that was seen by other divers, but it was still a great dive and I mused as I made my way back to the boat how different yet the same this Florida diving could be.
As I surface I grab the tag line and as I pull my way over to the ladder, I remove one fin and place the spring strap over my hand and as I reach the ladder I pull back the spring on my second fin. Two large swells pass under the boat and the ladder bucks beneath me and I reach to hold my unsecured fin…. But I have a bad feeling….. a real bad feeling…… and before the next swell comes through I toss my spring strap and only my spring strap on the dive platform…… and then bang….. I am bounced on the ladder once more. Some days……..
The captain offers me a spare fin to go retrieve it but Tracy slips into her gear and steps off the back of the boat….. thank God for heavy fins….. straight down and in less than a minute she is back…. Fin in hand. Thank you Tracy, thanks.
The ride in is a pleasure. As all the men folk sit huddled beneath the canopy, trying to keep warm and dry, Tracy, Heidi and I sit near the transom drowned and drenched with the proliferation of waves and water clearing the gunwales of the boat. We make the best of it, laughing with each drenching. There is not much else you can do. We talked, and laughed, and rested and contemplated warm, dry land.
As we cleared the pass I looked back and it was like a crazy movie….. boats of every size, shape and color were heading in behind us. It looked like we were being chased….. boats going in and out, coming up port and starboard, huge cabin cruisers on our stern, jet skis zipping across our bow……. A traffic jam on the water. Expertly maneuvered through by our illustrious captain and safely tucked into our slip at the dock we unload and head home…..
There are more places like this out there…. There are….. I want to dive them…. I really do.