Intro
Once again, Tyler has hit pay dirt and we have found and identified a previously undiscovered wreck.
We had previously gone out diving on the Triton and scanned a lot of targets a month ago and also found a new airplane wreck. We had a very brief weather window during all the recent storms in Southern California so we headed back up to see Danny and scan a couple more targets from Tyler and dive one of the ones we had previously identified as a good target.
The first target we scanned was in 120 fsw and was pretty close to another target Danny had that is believed to be an airplane. Given the recent storms, the water looked like a milkshake. We got a small return and decided it is probably worth checking out a later date when visibility improves. The second target was a little deeper at 160 fsw and we didn’t get much of a return. We’ll keep that one on the “maybe” list.
The third target was the one in 250 fsw that we had previously looked at and had a massive sonar return so we knew we wanted to dive it and we had brought gasses and equipment for that dive. Below is a screen capture of the sonar image.
The Dive
Since this location is in deeper water, we figured that we might have a chance at some okay visibility at depth.
We knew the surface visibility would be close to zero. Danny had spent some time making sure we had good scans and 3D sonar generated models of the wreck site so that he could put down the downline close to the target but right off to the edge. My stomach was having some issues so I sat it out and watched in envy as Steve Millington and Anton Kozhevnikov geared up and got ready to get in.
They got in the water and my stomach was starting to feel better. I decided that if they stayed down for the planned bottom time that they had likely found something good so I would chance it and do a dive. After about 20-25 minutes after their descent, we started to see some bubbles indicating that they were on their way up. I had some serious FOMO and got geared up and decided to do a dive and crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t have an accident in my drysuit (I won’t get any more graphic than that)!
Sure enough, I saw (pretty much ran into) both of them on deco and they indicated that the target was good and worth diving so I continued down the line. There was a LOT of crap in the water and the visibility was very limited until about 100 feet when it opened up. It was dark but I could see the downline trailing down. I followed it to the bottom and saw the large structure. I did one complete lap around the wreck and then took a few more pictures and started my ascent.
My bottom time was about 20 minutes with a runtime of about 90 minutes. The temperature was about 52F on the bottom and 58-ish on the last deco stop. Doing deco was basically like sitting in a green cloud with almost no visibility. Below is a picture I took at about 50 feet deep:
The Wreck
When I got down to the target, I saw a bunch of tires and started to swim along the edge a short way until I got to what I assume is the “back” of the wreck. No propellers or prop shafts and a very square backend along with the tires made it quickly obvious that it was a barge. However, this barge had a lot of equipment on it and was not just transporting quarry rock. I swam around the entire structure stopping to take photos of interesting areas. The whole structure is a bit warped and the front section is separated which was interesting and unlike most barges that would sink. I would estimate it at 70-100 feet long and 20-30 feet wide.
Most of the top of the wreck is smooth surfaces indicating that it is upside down. The pictures of the machinery systems below are also “under” the top of the wreck also indicating that it is upside down.
I took numerous pictures and Steve Millington took three videos. Even though visibility was decent, there was still a lot of “crap” in the water and you can see the backscatter in my photos and the particulate matter in the videos that Steve took.
The key to this wreck was a very large pipe that ran most of the length of the barge and there was a bunch of machinery and equipment that looked like it was for pumping. Our initial take was either it was for transferring fuel or for dredging (more on that in a bit).
The other thing about this wreck is that it was very warped and disjointed which is a possible clue to identifying it.
There was a TON of fish on the wreck including ling cod, some very large snapper and in one photo you can see a lot of rock crabs. According to Danny, you don’t see this very often. We also didn’t note any monofilament so it is likely that fishermen do not know where this wreck is.
Photos
Below are a lot of photos that I took during the dive.
Rear / Stern Area
Dredging Pipe
Warped Areas & Separated Bow Section
Miscellaneous Equipment
Videos
Steve Millington was kind enough to supply me with the three videos that he shot with a GoPro during the dive. I’ve included them below in case anybody would like to view them.
Identification
Finding and diving a wreck is only half the battle. The task of identifying the wreck can be just as tough.
We knew a few key facts about this wreck to help identify it: (1) Location, (2) Depth, (3) Barge shaped, (4) Big pipe, (5) Pumping machinery, (6) Disjointed / Warped / Broken Structure, and (7) likely upside down. Given those seven key facts, Tyler went to work to see if he could identify the wreck.
After a short period of time, Tyler came up with a couple newspaper articles about a dredging barge that sank in July 1971 that was owned by R.A. Watson construction and was on the way from Long Beach to Morro Bay. There are some key facts in the newspaper articles that align with this wreck and make us confident that we have identified it correctly.
- The location of “two and half miles off Point Mugu” and the depth “about 250 feet” matches the wreck location exactly
- It was a dredge barge which matches the type of wreck and the equipment and pipe that we found
- It was on a cable and they tried to tow it and they might have tried to raise it. It also sounds like it turned upside down and might have hit the bottom hard. This might explain the condition the wreck was in. It also looks like at least part of the wreck is upside down.
We could not locate a picture of the actual barge; however, we have found pictures of a similar type of barge. Note how the end of the dredging tube looks like the photo and you can also see one of the “blades” sticking out from the end of the wreck we found.
Thanks To…
Tyler Stalter has once again been able to locate a really nice wreck with his bathymetry detective work and has done some great post-dive detective work. Thanks also to Danny Graham for running the Triton and getting the downline in the perfect spot and taking us out to find yet another new wreck! Always fun to dive with Anton & Steve.
