The Unsinkable Speigel Grove

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The Speigel Grove

The ship that Murphy would not let sink.....

7/00 update......

Well, it is time to wait for Hurricane season to drop by again, and then, in 2001, we hope to watch this thing sink.....

It has been a long haul, and I have hoped that this beast would sink on schedule at least five other times....

But now, we hope that the dream will come true....

PS.... there is a website for it now, at http://www.spiegelgrove.com/

6/98 Update......

I have it from reliable sources that the vessel is about to be released to be sunk finally. What is needed now is either to figure the costs of increased insurances for sinking it during Hurricane Season, or the costs of storing it until the season is done. Stay Tuned for further......

10/11/97 update....... This article has been assembled and reassembled since early 1996, and it looks like the Speigel Grove might be going down finally in March or April 1998.......... Watch here for details as available.......

Last year, while reading through the e-mailings of the Bay Area Divers of California, one of the discussion threads caught my attention concerning their ideas about artificial reef formation.

Divers in many coastal areas of the world are working on such projects with several goals in mind.

First is the general health of the dive environment. These projects allow fish and corals to develop a new habitat in a location which they would not have been able to take hold of otherwise.

Second, is the chance to not only add another dive location to the list for fellow divers, but to also place the locale for ease of access. The majority of locations used so far in the Florida area have been either for ease from shore, or for close proximity to an existing dive location, thereby giving divers a chance to do a second tank dive without the need for extensive relocation.

Of concern to the Bay Area divers, and those working other reef projects, is what items are appropriate or feasible to use.

This was also demonstrated last week in the recent sinking of a booster rocket tube, on the Atlantic side of Florida, for an artificial reef project and dive site. Criticism was raised in this items value for such a project.

Granted that this large tube structure would make a nice dive site, being an overhead environment that even less accomplished divers could train and feel safe in, but questions arise to it's actual reef value.

Time will tell for the coral formations that may attach, but fish attraction may be questionable, as the smaller fish like areas that offer hiding spaces from larger predators, like the passageways, cabins, and bays of old wrecks.

Wrecks, most of them not even placed purposefully, but by acts of nature or war, have been known to be ideal for attracting fish, coral, and fishermen. The many U-boats, destroyers, and old wrecks are prime locations for divers on the coasts of not only the oceans, but the Great Lakes, and smaller inland waterways.

With more recent projects, the use of large ships has brought good results. In Florida's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the Duane, the Bibb, and the Eagle are all successes. June of 96 a new ship was to have joined their ranks, but at the other end of the park area, in a plan to promote diving in that area.

The Speigel Grove, a decommissioned Naval transport vessel, at 510 feet long, and 70 feet tall, would be sunk in 110 feet of water.

This vessel was capable of carrying about 650 personnel in it's duties, for which it did serve from 1956 when it was commissioned, until being decommissioned and now about to serve under the seas on which it rode.

An Atlantic vessel, the Spiegel Grove saw such destinations as the Mediterranean, Labrador, Seychelles, Kenya, Togo, Gabon, England, Denmark, and the Caribbean. The vessel was even a part of Scott Carpenters support crew for the May 1962 spaceflight.

Recently used in the Gulf and Atlantic areas are Military Tanks. When prepped and cleaned, these old hulks are ideal, as their deterioration will take some time.

Proper planning for whatever we, the diving community, use for our reef projects should be prime concern. We need not contaminate the waters with fuels or oils that can be removed with good cleaning and preparation. Nor should we use items that will deteriorate out to garbage in a short period of time.

Care in placement of the reef projects is important also. Proper coordination with authorities such as the Coast Guard is important to insure that the reef does not become a hazard to vessel traffic. This coordination also helps in public knowledge of the project, and cartography of the site on charts.

Overall, divers are in fact responsibly improving the ocean ecology and dive opportunities. We can enjoy many of these locations now, and look forwards to many more sites in the future.

"The best laid plans of mice and men..." And so it goes in diving also. The best of planning and setup, and things can go way wrong.

It was not a matter of the proper decompression tables, nor the pairing of the partners, or even gas consumption.

It became a matter of finances, weather, and insurance.

These were the things that postponed the dive of the Spiegel Grove, that should have become a part of the Florida Keys.

This is due to a change in several factors, first of which is the finances involved in the preparation of the vessel to be sunk.

This preparation involves cleaning the vessel to an almost virgin state, so as to not deposit any toxins into the environment that is intended to be enhanced. This process costs money, and the Key Largo folks have had a time in this endeavor.

The raffle of the 21 foot Wahoo did help. Other projects are also in progress, and hopefully will be ready for the time that the boat will arrive.

Insurance types did the rest of the postponement of the actions, in that the Hurricane season was getting underway, and so for the sake of the risk management bean counter types, the boat was rescheduled to go down with a bang in December.

When it will get down is anyones guess........

So far the date is now up to June 97, but let's get ready for a '98 date....

So while this reef project is in a state of replanning and regrouping, other projects go on. A new reef is in progress off the shores of California, with some innovative ideas in its formation and funding, along with peaking diver interest.

Taking over one year to complete, the reef will encompass nine acres of ocean floor and consist of a 92' steel tug boat (the "Colleen"), six M-60 army tanks, 2000 tons of concrete debris and several tire units.

The Colleen will take down with her a series of medallions, issued by Budweiser, for divers to search for; divers finding medallions get a donation made in their name to the GPPCBA/Budweiser Reef Fund.

The Guy Harvey gets blasted to the briney depths

For an AVI file of the sinking, click on the pic to go to Terry Brady's page..... (Thank You Terry...!!)

MOV files here.... Hi Quality 4.73MB file Med Quality 2.15MB file

Then just the 2nd week of May 97 a new addition was made for divers off Pompano, FL. The Guy Harvey, a renamed Russian Freighter, was sent to the bottom about 20 minutes out from Pompano's shores, south of the inlet. Placed into 142 feet of water, the deck lies at the 110-120 foot mark, making it an advanced dive, and definitely to be dove with caution for a while, as there are reportedly some cables and other debris in the site.

Watch for further postings on these exiting new dive reefs and the imaginative ideas for bringing divers in for the funding and participation.