Shipwrecks

36

White Ledge_March2016.indd 36

j o u rn a l . c o m

3/10/16 4:33 PM

Trash & treasure

sB Channel wrecks reveal sunken history s t ory By P eter D u gr é Ph ot os B y Jo sePh D o vala Underwater explorers in santa BarBara Channel mix Up a potent CoCktail of thrills when popping in and oUt of the many aCCessiBle ship and plane wreCks that Came to rest on the marine sanCtUary sea floor. they gear up as aqua people and swim into the depths, hunting for sea life and portraits of a nautical past that sometimes ended in tragedy. every dive is a scientific expedition; wrecks transform into ecosystem-supporting reefs. then there’s the archeological element. ships from the gold rush era, warships from world war i, schooners and military aircraft are preserved in what robert schwemmer, the west Coast regional maritime heritage Coordinator for noaa, considers submerged time capsules. “some of the greatest underwater museums are in California,”

Diver on the Peacock Spring 2016

White Ledge_March2016.indd 37

37

3/10/16 4:33 PM

Schwemmer says. “Near Point Conception, you can literally swim from a four-stack destroyer to a Gold Rush steamer to a Japanese freighter. There’s a graveyard out there.”

A favorite anecdote of Schwemmer's, who relishes the human history aspect of shipwreck exploration, is of two ships, the Santa Rosa and the Harvard, which both met their dismal ends near Point Conception. Through a thick fog, a rancher in the area heard the distress whistle of the Santa Rosa one fateful morning in 1911. As if it were an apparition, the same rancher was struck by déjà vu two years later at hearing an identical sounding whistle. This time, the Harvard was sinking. When the Santa Rosa had sunk two years prior, the whistle was salvaged and fitted onto the Harvard. It was the same sound from the same whistle on a different sinking ship.

The Harvard, now a sunken relic of turn of the 20th Century grandeur, was a party boat that allowed the wealthy great indulgences on their trips between

San Francisco and Los Angeles. “Those ships traveled at a pretty good clip. They were magnificent,” Schwemmer says.

Along with the Yale, the Harvard came through the Panama Canal after its previous life in the Northeastern U.S. and was a fashionable way to make the passage between San Francisco and LA. Schwemmer, who is still discovering and mapping wrecks all along the West Coast with help from volunteer divers, was part of the 2011 discovery of the George E. Billings, a massive, fivemasted lumber schooner that was deliberately scuttled in 1941 off the coast of Santa Barbara Island. The ship had been converted to a fishing charter boat and regulators asked that it be outfitted with safety upgrades. Rather than pay for the upgrades, owners decided to sink the 40-year-old ship. It sat undiscovered for 70 years.

D i v i n g w r ec k s

All of the shipwrecks in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary are free for the

diving, and some are shallow enough for divers of all levels to feast upon. These artificial reefs also supply rich habitat for marine animals like California sheephead, the wall-eyed, blunt-foreheaded hermaphrodite of the channel, and Spanish shawls, a brilliantly colored purple, orange and scarlet sea slug.

Ken Kollowitz, owner of Channel Islands Dive Adventures, says wreck diving never gets old. “Shipwrecks are showing you new secrets all the time,” he says. Case in point is the history of World War II Minesweeper the Peacock, which rests just offshore at Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island. Divers and historians had long thought it was the wreck of The Spirit of America, but further research left the history unsettled and has historians favoring the Peacock.

The verdict is still out on the ship’s identity and full military history.

Some vessels have accessible inner hulls, allowing for divers to enter the dark and cavernous tombs, but Kollowitz cautions against any unprepared or

Wreck of the Peacock 38

White Ledge_March2016.indd 38

j o u rn a l . c o m

3/10/16 4:36 PM

inexperienced divers venturing in. “The door could be jagged metal. There are a lot of risks. A surge going in and out could push you up against something or leave you trapped,” he says. “Hopefully you’re a person with brains enough to not go in too far.”

Wrecks reveal a fascinating intersection between the manmade and natural that keeps divers thirsty to uncover more. “There’s just something mesmerizing about a plane on the sea floor,” Kollowitz says. The dark outlines of wings juxtaposed with a sandy bottom 100-feet deep strikes a place in the imagination usually reserved for dreams and delirium.

Peacock

Cuba stranded at San Miguel in 1923

NOAA

(AKA S pirit of America)

Wreck date: 1970s Location: Scorpion anchorage, Santa cruz iSLand This vessel can’t be 100 percent positively identified, but it is known to have the hull of a World War II minesweeper.

The Peacock served as a minesweeper in the Pacific and was decommissioned in 1955. Stories of its life after being decommissioned include a stint as a floating bordello, which is conjecture based on red cloth and mirrors found in its hull. In the past, divers could enter the hull, but the softwood has not stood up to time and is now impenetrable. The ship had its engines removed and likely sank at anchor in its position at a depth of 65 feet.

cuba

Wreck date: Sept. 8, 1923 Location: San MigueL iSLand The Cuba was launched in 1897 from the shipyard of Blohm and Voss, of Hamburg, Germany. During World War I, the U.S. seized the ship as a floating war prize. It was purchased by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1920 and renamed the Cuba. The ship stranded on rocks in heavy fog.

GeorGe e . b illinGs

Wreck date: 1941 Location: Santa BarBara iSLand Divers had searched for the George E. Billings for 20 years before finding it in 2011. Researchers discovered its location by matching the horizon of Santa Barbara Island to a newspaper photo of the fivemasted schooner sinking. The ship, built in 1903, had been a lumber transport

Sheephead near the Cuba's anchor, windlass and capstan

NOAA

Spring 2016

White Ledge_March2016.indd 39

39

3/10/16 4:37 PM

The Grumman TBF Avenger

until being repurposed as a sport fishing barge. Ordered by regulators to install a bulkhead, the owners decided the expense wasn’t worth it on the aging vessel and sank it instead.

Winfield Scott

Wreck date: 1853 Location: anacapa isLand This Gold Rush-era side-wheeled steamer was stranded and sank in 1853.

True to its maritime era, it carried passengers and gold. Robert Schwemmer, says this wreck is truly remarkable for its period in history and technology. The side wheel still holds its shape despite all the inhabitants both plant and animal who call it home.

the Grumman tBf avenGer

Wreck date: 1944 Location: anacapa isLand The Grumman, built in 1942, saw action in Midway during World War II and could carry a one-ton bomb or four 40

White Ledge_March2016.indd 40

500-pounders. Although it survived its war missions in the Pacific, the Grumman fell during a training exercise in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary in 1944. It collided with another plane in its formation and crashed in the channel. The other plane plunged on the opposite side of Anacapa Island and has yet to be discovered. Three lives were lost in the crash. |

ResouR ces foR wReck touR s and infoR mation • Channel Islands Dive Adventures www.Channelislandsdive adventures.com, (805) 469-7288 • Ventura Dive & Sport, Raptor Dive Charters www.venturadive.com, 1559 Spinnaker Dr. #108, Ventura, (805) 650-7700 • Santa Barbara Maritime Museum www.sbmm.org, 113 Harbor Way, Ste 190, Santa Barbara, (805) 962-8404

Rockfish on the Peacock

j o u rn a l . c o m

3/10/16 4:38 PM