Intro
I’ve dived the Cape Charles wreck off Point Loma a number of times but it has been a few years. I hadn’t been in the water since the U-869 dive and needed something to shake out the cobwebs. I decided to start a project to build a photogrammetry model of the wreck. My estimate is that it will take 3-4 dives including the challenge of getting the crane that sticks out to the port side of the wreck.
The Dive
I had a good dive even though I hadn’t been in the water in almost 60 days. I had some kind of small leak on the right sleeve. It originally seemed like it started at the elbow; however, DJ @ Scuba Repair found a pin-hole in the wrist seal. Hopefully it will be a quick fix.
I had about 40-45 minutes on the wreck and about 45 minutes of deco and the dive went well. I noticed two things on the dive (1) I remembered the sand being 160′ deep or so — but that is about the depth on the deck and (2) the wreck is a lot longer than I remember.
Overall, I got a good portion of the model done. Instead of doing the normal start at the bottom and make rising concentric circles around the wreck, I decided to do something different on this dive.
Cape Charles Wreck Photogrammetry — Phase I
The deck and pilothouse are the most interesting parts of this wreck so I started at the stern and made my way forward going back and forth across this deck.
There might be a small alignment error on the starboard side of the pilothouse which I will have to fix at some point. Looking at the top-down view below, you can see the lower deck of the pilothouse “curving” on the starboard side but that might also just be the way the ship was constructed.
I took about 1,500 photos and built the first phase of the model shown below. This also has the advantage of being useful to other divers without even getting any of the hull in the model. It covers the entire back deck, the lower portion of the crane arm, and the lower part of the pilothouse.
There is still a lot of work to do and I expect some complexity, especially around the pilothouse where there are a lot of moving coral tendrils on the top deck which will make photogrammetry photo alignment tough.
My guess is that might next dive will involve building out the foredeck, the pilothouse, and possibly the crane and then I will start thinking about whether or not the work to build out the hull is worth it.
Next Up
I tentatively have a couple dive days planned in October. I might try to get back to the Cape Charles on one of those dives to see if I can finish up the pilot house and crane. Those are the two most interesting areas left to do.
