Shipwrecks - Time Capsules of Human Civilization

Our Corporate Web Site Acknowledged By Prestigious Organization

One of the major goals and missions of the Nautical Research Group is to fostering the education of nautical and maritime history. We accomplish these objectives by offering a full array of diverse educational products that support these educational values. Our corporation has been recognized for its intrinsic educational source by the National First Ladies' Library organization. As the first and only facility of its kind, the National First Ladies' Library serves as a unique national resource for patrons from school children to serious scholars.  I am pleased and honored that my corporation, Nautical Research Group has been designated as a primary source link for the education of students in the area of the great ocean liners. The link for access to their educational site is:  http://www.firstladies.org/curriculum/curriculum.aspx?Curriculum=1484 . Our corporate site, under the link to Educational Services, provides valuable information on various shipwrecks and include a recent scientific research paper on the decay of Titanic and over 40 copyrighted photographs from our underwater expeditions to Titanic.

The following is an excerpt from Nautical Research Group's Corporate Profile:

Nautical Research Group, Inc. is a consulting firm that provides full service discovery, exploration, research and analysis on the sea and shipwreck disasters throughout the world. Our group of professional consultants are the leaders in their field for the scientific analysis of ships, shipwrecks and their historical preservation. Our corporation has had great success in the discovery and exploration of historic shipwrecks. Utilizing the latest in underwater and deep-diving technology, we have been exploring shipwrecks for thirty-five years. Our corporation provides nautical expertise in the following main areas:

DISCOVERY&EXPLORATION                     RESEARCH

PRESERVATION                                                   MARITIME EXHIBITS

MEDIA SERVICES                                                ACADEMIC SERVICES

                                      EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Please visit Nautical Research Group, Inc. main corporate web site at: http://www.nauticalresearch.com for more information about our corporation and for many rare underwater and land-based photographs of historic vessels.

Nantucket Lightship during the Heydays of the Queen Mary and Andrea Doria

The Nantucket Lightship station marked the southern extremity of the extensive shoals that make out south and east from Nantucket Island.  It served as a primary leading mark for both coast-wise and trans-Atlantic traffic.  It was located variously at distances from 20 to 50 miles from the nearest land throughout its history.  It was repositioned several times to provide a greater safety margin from shoal areas, and to conform to changed in the international traffic lanes.  Nantucket Shoals was one of the most exposed lightship stations in the world and it was the last of the U.S. lightship stations to be discontinued.

LV 112 / WAL 534 served as the Nantucket Lightship from 1945 - 1958 and was in place during the Andrea Doria-Stockholm collision. This vessel was overhauled in 1958 and was later deployed back as the Nantucket Lightship from 1960-1975. She was one of the longest standing lightships that the Nantucket Shoals ever had. She served 39 years as a lightship and is currently used as a museum that very recently was berthed in New York City. Although there were variations in the locations, they never deviated too much during its later years.

Comparing Titanic's Decay with the Empress of Ireland, Lusitania, Britannic and Andrea Doria

Although Titanic is deteriorating while subjected to the natural force of the Atlantic Ocean, it has been preserved relatively well throughout the past ninety-three years. More recent shipwrecks, like the ill-fated Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria which sank in 1956, is in much worse shape structurally than Titanic. The Doria lies in 260 feet of water about 40 miles southwest of Nantucket Island. The relatively shallow depths, strong currents, aluminum-alloy- based superstructure and weather conditions have battered the Doria to the point where the top five deck levels have fallen down to the bottom of the ocean. With its entire superstructure gone, the Doria is now a huge steel hull with all of its once-beautiful infrastructure lying next to it on its starboard side in a vast heap of metallic wreckage.

It is important to put the decay of Titanic in the context of other contemporary twentieth century ocean liner shipwrecks. These once-opulent liner shipwrecks like the Lusitania, the Empress of Ireland and Titanic’s sister, Britannic have all sunk in different parts of the world and been exposed to a variety of different environmental factors. Despite their environmental differences, all of these fine liners are in relatively similar states of deterioration to that of Titanic. Judging by these many differences in environmental conditions, the fact that their states of deterioration are similar may prove to be a mere coincidence.

RMS Olympic's Encounter with a U-boat

Many stories have been written about the two ill-fated White Star ocean liners, Titanic and Britannic. Because of the tragic sinking of these two liners, one by iceberg and the other due to a mine, these ships have been documented extensively in the press, web, documentaries and movies. The account of these other sisters have dwarfed those of the most successful White Star liner named RMS Olympic. The Olympic was known as "Old Reliable" because of its long service as a passenger liner, troop carrier and general purpose ship that the Crown used for various purposes. In its twenty-five year service, the Olympic steamed close to two hundred thousand miles into various ports around the world.

The Olympic has the unique distinction of being the only vessel of its kind to directly sink an enemy ship without the use of armaments. In 1915, the Crown needed to bring her into the war as a troop carrier to ferry soldiers to the front. Immediately she was repainted in the "dazzle" motif which was a bizarre, geometric-like abstract color pattern of black, white and gray on a yellow backdrop. This paint pattern was meant to confuse enemy ships from attacking this huge liner. In May of 1918, the Olympic, on its twenty-second voyage as a troop carrier, was attacked by a marauding German submarine U-103 in the English Channel. The submarine started the assault on the much quicker liner by launching two torpedoes directly at the ship's port-side bow. Unarmed but not defenseless, the Olympic used evasive maneuvers and was able to escape the torpedoes destructive impact. Even though the huge liner could of steamed away from harm's way following this torpedo attack, in a most courageous act, she turned on this deadly submarine and proceeded to ram the U-103. Even though the impact on the submarine was a glancing blow, the size and weight of the Olympic's attack proved to be deadly to the submarine and she quickly sank. Several submariners were able to escape and eventually were picked up by an American destroyer. The Olympic was the only merchant ship to sink an enemy warship during the war.

Oregon - Cunard's Greyhound of the Atlantic

Long before the Queen Mary and even before the beautiful swift sisters, Lusitania and Mauritania, was the fast and opulent liner called Oregon. In the 1880's, the Oregon was the fastest transatlantic vessel in the world and holder of the Blue Riband ( or Hales Trophy) while initially running under the Guion Line flag. The Oregon succeeded in capturing the westbound record from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in six days, ten hours and ten minutes ending on April 19th, 1884. She would later grab the eastbound record as well to have the fastest recorded times both ways across the Atlantic Ocean. The leading British shipping company, the Cunard Line, saw the potential in having a fleet of beautiful and fast ships. Five months after the Oregon's record-breaking performance, the Cunard Line acquired her from the Guion Line in August 1884. The pairing of Oregon with their other fast liners, Etruria and Umbria, the Cunard Line had the world's three fastest transatlantic vessels in their fleet. Oregon broke her records well into 1885 until her running mate, the Etruria, took the record away from her.

At the peak of her popularity, the greyhound Oregon collided with and was sunk by a schooner named Charles H. Morse on the morning of March 14th, 1886, off of Fire Island-Long Island, New York.  The Oregon stayed afloat long enough to have all of her passengers saved by nearby boats (with most passengers saved by the Fulda) that ply this heavily traveled waterway just outside of New York harbor. This tragic accident stunned the transatlantic shipping community, as the Oregon was a long favorite of the many European and American passengers. She sank in approximately 140 feet of water about 35 miles from Captree State Park. This wreck site is my favorite inshore wreck site in the entire New York Bight area.

The first time that I dove the Oregon was in the early 1980's with the dive boat Wahoo operating out of Captree and captained by Steve Bielenda.  I was amazed by its immense size and mesmerized by all the history that was still surrounding this vessel. Many personal and ship-related items were scattered all across this ship and an occasional porthole or piece of china were discovered. I continued visiting the Oregon several times a year for the next twenty years and she has aged gracefully. On several occasions over the past two summers, I have visited this once-proud liner using the Eagle's Nest dive boat with an old friend of mine, Captain Howard Klein, using a closed-circuit rebreather. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, I used to be Howard's deep-diving mate on board his wonderfully maintained dive boat and was very comfortable in using his dive boat for exploring this liner with a rebreather. Because of its relatively shallow depth (if you can call 140 feet relatively shallow), I had a long bottom time and a fairly long decompression. The nice thing about the rebreather is that it optimizes your breathing mixture based upon pre-set limits of oxygen partial pressure. Using this additional time on the wreck site gives much more opportunities to explore the wreck site without having to be too concerned about running out of gas. After shackling into the high section of the engine, the remainder of the wreck can be explored by looking forward beyond the huge boilers or aft in various collapsed hull plating that hide a vast array of ship items or huge lobsters.

One of the best ocean liner books and the definitive source of information on the steamer Oregon is a book by Herb "Cap" Kaasmann called Oregon Greyhound of the Atlantic . Mr Kaasmann has written the complete story of this beautiful liner from its inception to the many diving expeditions to visit her historic watery remains. The book was published in 1993 in soft cover and quickly went out of print. I have had the pleasure of chatting with "Cap" a couple of times this year and he has confided to me that he has copies remaining of his book that can be ordered directly through him at his email address of olwalrus@comcast.net . This book is an absolutely MUST HAVE for any person interested in ocean liners, shipwrecks and diving. For me, the fascinating history of this ocean liner and the advent of the generation of huge super-ocean liners like Titanic, Lusitania, Mauritania and Olympic makes this book a real treasure to have in your collection!

RMS Republic - Sad Times for Older Sister of Titanic

I noticed in recent days the news about the plight of Titanic's older White Star Line sister named Republic.  The Republic sank on January 24th, 1909 when she collided in a dense fog with an immigrant ship named SS Florida. The approximate location of her sinking is about 50 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The Republic was reportedly carrying a fortune of 5 tons of newly minted American Gold Eagle coins valued at $3 million in 1909, 15 tons of gold bars, a Navy payroll with estimated current value around $70 million and several tons of silver, as well as passengers' jewelry.  Additionally, it was reported to have on board JP Morgan's rare library of documents and books. She was discovered in 1981 by Martin Bayerle and salvaged throughout the mid-1980's. While I was diving the Andrea Doria through the 1980's, I could look off to the horizon and see about 5 miles away all the machinery of the rigs that were used to split open the Republic like a ripe watermelon. In all their destruction of this once-beautiful vessel, not one part of this vast fortune was found. Evenually, the salvors lost money and abandoned their claim to the ship. Auctions were held for the recovered artifacts from the Republic; however, there were very few buyers for these items. Literally boxes of artifacts were sold at a cheap rate and then the ship seemed to disappear for the past 15 years. In the mid-1990's, many of us that dove the Andrea Doria every year would then come over and dive Republic once.  Unfortunately, the salvors had broken up the ship very badly and we were all disappointed in the structural integrity of the ship.

Now Mr. Bayerle has, once again, secured salvage rights to the Republic. Since she lies in the shipping lanes into and out of New York, the Coast Guard has a mandatory 180 day notice to mariners period that must be given before diving can commence. With the weather window to dive the Republic all but closed, the operations will not begin until 2006. It will be certainly interesting to see if Mr. Bayerle's efforts will pay off or whether he will only succeed in desecrating the wreck site a second time.

Underwater Gold Mine - The Story of RMS Niagara

In 1913, the Royal Mail Ship, RMS Niagara was built by John Brown & Co. in Clydebank, Glascow, Scotland, to the highest standards of the great ocean liners of her time. This same shipyard had produced both the mighty Lusitania and the beautiful Empress of Ireland. She was made specifically for New Zealand-based Union Shipping Line's transpacific fleet and her ports of call were Vancouver, Auckland and Sydney. Although not a very large ocean liner at 525ft long and a displacement of 13,415 tons, she was considered quite luxurious and her passengers affectionately called her the “Titanic of the Pacific”. She served the Pacific route for quarter of a century and became an icon of style, quality and reliability.

In 1940, the Niagara was appropriated for Britain's fight against the Germans in World War II. Since New Zealand was a commonwealth of Britain, the Niagara was used quite strategically for its transpacific ties into North America. On June 18th, her four-year captain, Bill Martin was given a secret project. In order to fuel Britain's war efforts, the Niagara was to haul a cargo of eight tons of gold bullion from its home port of Auckland to Vancouver, British Columbia. The bullion was being used to pay the United States for munitions that were essential for Britain's struggle in defense of its homeland.

Unfortunately for the Niagara, the Germans knew of this sea passageway across the Pacific and ordered a German raider, Orion, to lay an extensive minefield in the Hauraki Gulf under cover of the night that very same week. The Niagara hit a mine and slowly sank in a calm sea with no loss of life. Although all the passengers and crew were returned safely to Auckland later the same day, the beautiful liner RMS Niagara was lost with eight tons of gold bullion in 400 feet of water.

Following the sinking, plans were immediately made to recover the gold from the Niagara. A deep salvage attempt of this depth would be one of the most ambitious efforts ever undertaken. Led by Captain J P Williams, a salvage crew and boat named Claymore, the salvage team was assembled for the recovery. It took this crew almost a full year of arduous work to recover the majority of the gold bullion. Later in 1953, an original salvage dive leader employed by Captain Williams named Johnstone recovered all the remaining gold bars with the exception of five bars.

In January of 1999, the first technical divers ( Tim Cashman and Dave Apperley) to visit the Niagara using mixed-gas, closed circuit rebreathers were accomplished at close to 400 feet. Using full-support diving and video teams, the Niagara was extensively filmed and this footage has been shown several times on National Geographic television. The film shows a very beautiful and intact ship with very little damage from the mine or the previous salvage expeditions. May this beautiful ship rest in peace!

Niagara Falls Nostalgia - RMS Niagara and two USS Niagara(s)

I would like to thank Belinda Sawyer for breaking away from her busy schedule to give us a live report from the beautiful Malpelo and Cocos Islands. In three weeks, Belinda will report LIVE from the wreck site of the German battleship, Bismarck and our blog will have that exclusive story.

I would like to continue this coming week with ships that have a theme related to Niagara Falls.  The first ship that we will report on is the Royal Mail Ship - RMS Niagara. This converted luxury liner was carrying eight tons of gold bullion and hit a mine. She sank off New Zealand's waters on June 19th, 1940 in about 400 feet.

The other ships that we will report on are the two different USS Niagara(s). USS Niagara (the first) was built in 1857, served the Union in the Civil War and led a very long life. The second USS Niagara originally was called the steam yacht Niagara and was built in 1898. Because of the onset of World War I, the United States Navy purchased her in 1917 and renamed her USS Niagara.

Philadelphia's Rich Nautical History - Part IV SS United States

Last month, we ran a weblog story on the SS United States, that lies at Pier 82 on Philadelphia's waterfront.  Since that time, I had a chance to visit this beautiful but aging ship at its berth. Since I spend so much time diving sunken ocean liners, it is so humbling to see how huge and majestic these ships are at their piers. The United States is not opened to the public and is fenced in by industrial corporations that let trucks ladened with cargo in and out of the piers. I took this photo on Sunday while positioning the camera through a metal fence.

There are two conservatory groups that are trying to preserve and save the United States. The two groups are the SS United States Foundation and the SS United States Conservancy. Obviously there is a lot of love for this ship and it is probably too simplistic to think that these two organizations should work together in preserving and saving the United States. I had a wonderful conversation with Daniel Trachtenberg, President of the SS United States Foundation about the ship and he felt very optimistic that the United States can be saved. Both organizations have very active groups that conduct regular meetings and activities throughout the year. I applaud all their efforts and I wish them the best of luck on their objectives. This ship is a national treasure that I would hate to see leave us! The United States is still recognized for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing and the Hales Trophy (or Blue Riband) has her name enshrined on the trophy. Nautical Research Group spends quite a bit of time doing presentations and research at the Unites States Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point, Long Island, New York where this beautiful trophy is displayed. The following picture was taken in November while visiting with Andrea Doria survivors. To visit our earlier weblog on the United States, please go to:
http://shipwreck.blogs.com/shipwrecks_historical_tim/2005/03/united_states_s.html

Philadelphia's Rich Nautical History - Introduction

Lately, I have been flying out of the Philadelphia Airport more and more. It is not to say that it is any easier to get to than Newark or the other New York-based airports. However, as I travel southbound from Nautical Research Group's central-New Jersey office on Interstate 95, through Philadelphia Center City, along the Delaware River, I get a sense of elation as I see a huge spectrum of our country's nautical history along the river banks.  I am truly amazed at how much maritime heritage ( and the diversity of ships and their related time-frames) is within plain view as we travel towards the airport. Every time I drive through this section of Interstate 95, I am craning my neck to see all the fabulous vessels that defined our history. 

For my next series, we will give a brief description of many of the tremendous ships that are docked in a brief five mile section of Interstate 95.  The diversity of ships is staggering and is literally a living text book on American nautical history. Within the Penn's Landing section, we will visit the USS Olympia, the flagship of Admiral Dewey during the Spanish-American War. Our next part of this series will be a tour of the Moshulu, the largest four-masted sailing ship in the world that was built in 1904, and now serves as a fine dining restaurant. The final ship in Penn's Landing that we will visit is the USS Becuna Submarine. This veteran of World War II completed 5 battle patrols and later served our country during the Cold War. Moving further southward from Penn's Landing is the beautiful ocean liner SS United States. Last month, we did a segment on the SS United States ( http://shipwreck.blogs.com/shipwrecks_historical_tim/2005/03/united_states_s.html ) and I hope to revisit this ship within the next eight weeks. Our last segment will be an overview of the Philadelphia Naval Yard, our countries oldest and most historic ship yard. Many of our most decorated naval ships were either built or served in this ship yard.  I hope that you enjoy our tour of Philadelphia's great nautical history!

Nantucket Lightship - Part IV Aftermath

Unfortunately, there were NO winners in this sad commentary on the story of the Nantucket Lightship except the media that got a really good, juicy story. The divers spent 6 years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars finding the wreck site, diving to the wreck and recovering items from the ship. They misunderstood their support and alliance with the United States Coast Guard Lightship Sailors Association (LSA) and felt that they were doing a huge service to the surviving families of the Lightship crew. Under threat of legal prosecution, these wonderful divers were called thieves, scavengers and grave-robbers by the global media and diving circles alike. The prestigious name of the Boston Sea Rovers was tarnished and will have to re-address the criteria for any new expeditions that they support. Additionally, the Sea Rovers had made many plans to publicly-display the items in various museums, in order to tell the true and complete history of Nantucket Lightship 117, which have been scrapped. These items have been turned over to the Coast Guard and a totally unknown future. Poor Doug Bingham, with all his wonderful thoughts, ideas and energies, was unceremoniously removed from his LSA office and officially banished from the organization. I can only speculate to the politics within the LSA organization that would initially tout the recovery of these items and then totally wash their hands of their representative, Mr. Bingham; and the divers that risked their lives for something that was believed to be a very good thing for their organization, surviving families and the public. It was through the pursuit of the LSA organization that the federal prosecutors were brought in to pursue legal actions against the divers. With such an inconsistent and vacillating attitude towards the discovery, exploration and recovery of items from the Lightship, the management of the LSA organization should be brought into question and be held accountable for this messy affair. A great news article was recently printed that gives complete vindication to the divers involved. This article can be found at : http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/newjersey/032905DIVER.cfm . If you have followed this series of weblogs on the Nantucket Lightship, then it is imperative that you read this article. Shipwreck divers are a rare breed of deep technical divers that visit these ships for exploration. They are not salvage divers! A large amount of the most recent significant historic shipwreck explorations are performed by this group of divers. The divers for the Boston Sea Rovers had their characters and their lives negatively impacted. They are to be commended, rather than vilified for their efforts on behalf of a great and noble cause!

Nantucket Lightship - Part III Politics and Deception

Several experienced technical divers that were diving under the sanction of the prestigious Boston Sea Rovers were branded scavengers, grave-robbers and thieves for discovering, exploring and retrieving items from the wreck site of Nantucket Lightship 117 by the world media. Federal prosecutors were seeking suits, and potentially arrest, for anyone involved with desecrating the wreck. How can such a prestigious diving organization and well-known deep divers be so branded and vilified? How can these divers be sued by the federal government under threat of arrest? Unfortunately, this is where the "media" story ends and the real story begins.
In the fall of 1999, our story starts with the founding of the United States Coast Guard Lightship Sailors Association (LSA) and the installment of Doug Bingham as their official historian. Unlike many in the group that were former Coast Guard members, Mr. Bingham was former Navy and his appointment was quite controversial.  Through Mr. Bingham's association as a member of the Board of Trustees at the Marine Museum at Fall River, Massachusetts, he met with a group from the Boston Sea Rovers. After their meeting there were several discussions about ships and the Nantucket Lightship. These meeting were then replaced with a stronger bond and collaboration about sharing a common belief that the world should know the true and complete story of the Lightship and its tragic encounter with RMS Olympic in 1934. The only way that this objective could be met was by finding the Lightship and diving down to the bottom of the ocean, nearly 200 feet, to where the Lightship lies.  Mr. Bingham was very active in promoting the LSA Association and was doing his best to preserve the memory and dignity of the ship and crew members of Lightship 117. From the Boston Sea Rovers perspective, this was a great relationship with the LSA that would enable people to remember the Lightship in perpetuity. Working collaboratively with Mr Bingham, the diving group was able to discover the wreck site, explore its remains, definitively ascertain the collision and sinking, and to bring up items from the ship that were to be used in various museums to promote and preserve the legacy of this historic Lightship. From Mr. Bingham's perspective, he was doing a very valuable and noble thing for the LSA, the public and most notably,  bringing closure to the surviving family members of the crew of Lightship 117 . However, despite the success of this venture, the LSA organization was not very happy with Mr. Bingham's association with the divers and were equally upset about the thought of divers visiting a wreck site of their fallen colleagues. When items were recovered by the divers to place in museums, the LSA took unprecedented actions by removing Mr. Bingham from the LSA and contacting federal prosecutors. The divers and Mr. Bingham were totally blindsided by this action; as they all had thought these activities were sanctioned, promoted and endorsed by the LSA. Initially, the LSA's official website had even touted the recovery as a wonderful thing and placed photographs of the recovered items on their front page. However, sometime soon afterward, the tide had changed and Mr. Bingham was ousted, the Boston Sea Rovers' name was globally-smeared and the divers, under duress and immediate orders from the federal government, surrendered the recovered items to the Coast Guard in Cape May, New Jersey. In the last of our 4-part series, we will explore the aftermath of this latest Lightship catastrophe..........

Nantucket Lightship - Part II The Story of the Lightship Beyond Olympic

The sinking of the Nantucket Lightship 117 by Titanic's older sister, RMS Olympic was relatively obscure over the next 70 years, relegated primarily as a footnote to any study of the White Star Liners. While browsing through the Nantucket Lifesaving Museum (Nautical Research Group has an Andrea Doria exhibit within this wonderful museum) in the late 1980's, I saw a large picture on the wall that I would never forget- a huge ocean liner with a tremendous bow running over a small lightship. Next to this picture was the caption that stated that the White Star Liner - RMS Olympic sank the Nantucket Lightship. I was astounded seeing this picture as this was the first time I had ever heard of this disaster. For the public, many would never know this tragedy had ever existed until a month ago when the media caught wind of a "newsworthy" event.  According to the news, "the federal government is suing a group of deep-sea divers to demand the return of artifacts recovered from the wreck of a US Lighthouse Service ship. The Justice Department said that a group called the Boston Sea Rovers salvaged items last year from the Nantucket Lightship even though they had been warned by the Coast Guard not to disrupt the underwater grave site." The press, the public, former Coast Guard personnel and the dive community were very quick to condemn the actions of these divers. The divers were called everything imaginable from grave-robbers to scavengers (some other words were also used that go beyond the rules of this weblog). I would of been the first to vilify these actions had I not known two of the divers that were part of this operation and the fine reputation of the Boston Sea Rovers. The Sea Rovers are the oldest and most prestigious diving organization in the USA and possibly the world. The two divers that I know, Steve Gatto and Tom Packer, are wonderful, experienced wreck divers of fine character and repute. I knew that there was more to the story than what the press was telling us. Little did I know that this story would take a huge turn in subsequent weeks that we will hear about in the next installment...

Nantucket Lightship - Part I Collision and Sinking by Olympic

RMS Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic and Britannic, led a very long and successful career as a White Star Liner. Despite the untimely demise of her sisters, Olympic plied the Atlantic for almost 25 years and 257 round trips to America. Unfortunately, on the fog-bound night of May 14th, 1934, she was destined for a very tragic collision with the Nantucket Lightship 117 .
The Nantucket Lightship was used to guide ships through the channel beyond Nantucket and was giving Olympic its bearing past the dangerous shoals. This 130-foot Lightship was permanently anchored 50 miles southeast of Nantucket, and was the main focal point for all the trans-Atlantic shipping lanes. Because of this critical location, Lightship 117 was considered the most exposed lightship on the East Coast. Additionally, the lightship was farthest from the coast and subject to the North Atlantic's heaviest seas and most unpredictable weather. Four months before the Olympic struck the 117, this lightship had been sideswiped by another liner, the SS Washington, the largest American ocean liner ever built to that point. On that fateful May night, Olympic's bells were tolling throughout the heavy fog when she literally "ran over" the Nantucket Lightship. Four of the Lightship's eleven crew were killed instantly, and three more died of exposure or injuries after their rescue by Olympic's crew. The accident came just a few weeks after the announcement that the White Star Line would merge with arch-rival Cunard. Within a year and a half, Olympic was sold and eventually scrapped in late-1935. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end here for Nantucket Lightship 117 as we will see in the next part of this story.......

United States - Sad Times for a Once-Proud Ocean Liner

Over the weekend, while driving down to Philadelphia's airport on Interstate 95, I saw the beautiful red-white-blue funnels and exquisite lines of one of the most elegant ocean liners of all-time named the United States. Unfortunately, she is just a shell of her former self and is rotting away at her dock near the Philadelphia Naval Yard. All plans to do something with this great liner have fallen through and it looks like she may not be around much longer. This amazing ship was once the pride of the American fleet in the 1950-1960's and still holds the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing of 3 days and 10 hours (35.59 knots average speed). Emblematic of this honor, she is the holder of the Blue Riband and awarded the Hales Trophy. This beautiful trophy resides at the United States Merchant Marine Academy's Museum at King's Point, Long Island, NY and the curator of the museum is the famous ship historian and writer, Frank Braynard. I would love to see this beautiful, historic vessel be refit and returned to active service; plying the Atlantic. Unfortunately, it appears that the fate of the United States is the scrap yard, where many a great liner's fate has been determined. From my perspective, if she can't be saved to return to service, then she should be towed out to sea and scuttled as part of New Jersey's artificial reef program. In that manner, many divers and fishermen can enjoy this once-proud vessel again; albeit quite different from its original purpose. I would rather have this ship become a new home to our thriving marine life along the Jersey shore than suffer the indignation of the scrap heap. What are your thoughts?