Shipwrecks - Time Capsules of Human Civilization

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?