Background
Danny Graham, Mike Wynd, and I spent two days at Catalina Island diving targets that Tyler Stalter had given us. As we were searching around and running scans, I noticed a “Wreck” marker on Danny’s system and asked him what it was. He said he hadn’t dived it yet and it came from another system. Mike and I decided to “dive in” and check it out.
Given that the mark was already in Danny’s system, somebody has probably dived this wreck but I’ve never seen photos or information on it. So, we likely were not the first divers on it but I don’t think it has been documented before and is likely a “new” Catalina wreck for most people.
The Wreck
The wreck is a wooden sailboat that has been down for quite a while. It was initially constructed with primarily wood which has eroded over time. You can see the wood panels that were used. It is approximately 25+ feet long.
I found a tackle box, old flare gun, and a bunch of other things on the site. I spent a bit of time and took photos for a photogrammetry model while Mike took photos of me doing that. I noticed a “CF” number near the bow so I scraped it off a bit to reveal three of the numbers. The wreck also had a lot of fish and wildlife so I’m guessing that fisherman do not know about it.
Photogrammetry Model
Below is a screenshot of the photogrammetry model with links to the on-line model.
Below is a link to the online model:
Photos
Below are some photos I took of the overall wreck as I was leaving the site. Mike was still on the wreck taking photos so it provides a sense of scale. In addition, below are some photos of some of the details of the wreck.
Below are some miscellaneous closeup photos showing the tackle box, flare gun, bow railing, the stern and then some kind of white box that looks like it has a closure buckle on it.
Sea Life
It is pretty obvious that fishermen and lobster hunters don’t know about this wreck since it is littered with fish & critters!
Mike got some really good photos of me working on the photogrammetry model. I’ve selected a few and posted them below (thanks to Mike for permission to use his photos). In the upper left photo, you can see me bringing over the flare gun to show Mike. 🙂
All photos below are from Mike Wynd:
Identification
I scraped off some debris to reveal a partial CF identification. It is obviously CF 81×2 which limits the number of possibilities.
I built a table of all possibilities of boats registered with the US Coast Guard. The “problem” is that the data isn’t very good. For example, it lists almost all of the vessels as “Active” but it is likely that isn’t mirroring reality. Also, many of the wrecks don’t have a length, or year of manufacture, etc.
The total number of possibilities is (at least) 51. Many of those can be removed for size (too small, e.g., 9 feet), for type (e.g., Commercial), or for manufacture date (e.g., built recently). However, that still leaves a LOT of possibilities.
If I had to hazard a guess, it would be CF8162CC. It was manufactured quite a while ago (1963), it is a Recreational vessel, and it is about the right length (25 feet). However, I doubt we will even know for sure unless somebody else dives the wreck and searches around for more of the CF number.
Here is the registration page for CF 8162 CC:
