AI
Tuesday, January 03, 2012 10:30:19 PM
Neb,
Just watched that HBO version of when America was born. "John Adams" That was taking place when the Scipion was in the hight of her career.
She faught in the Chesepeake war against the English then the battle of the Saintes down here in the Caribbean, Then she came to an end when she battled two more British ships here on the east end of the DR. They didnt sink her but chased her up in this shallow bay where she hit a coral head and sank.
After two year working on that site i knew it like the back of my hand. On her birthday of the sinking we cracked a bottle of Champane poured half over the side and drank the rest and bidded her fairwell.
Lots of thanks to Tracy for letting us work that important wreck. We learned a lot in them two years. And must have done a good enough job as when that excavation was over we were awarded a contract of our own. Great wreck with fantastic memories.
Diver Dave came to me one day of diving and said he was excavating a jack, I told him we were diving a ship not a truck. Sure enough he brings this jack to the surface. In the one picture you can see the date "1778"
Probably one of the most interesting pieces we found was this cannon ball stuck in a piece of oak. I am sure it must be English. Maybe it was already a suvenier and some on-board carpenter replaced that wood and kept this one. We found it where we found other carpenter tools.
Heres a "hand planer" and a "mallet" both found in the same area.
Never failed when you are on the trail of something good it always led you under a cannon. So many cannon needed to be removed for safety reasons. Some just popped right up and others we couldnt move with every air bag we had.
I have so much documentation pertaining to this ship wreck and backed up by many books on the subject with illustrations. I have a book i am writing about our time there. Lots of work for that book but one day hopefully it will get done and preserve for generations what we uncovered on that site. Including Captains, crew names and court proceedings.Captains log, Lots of info i have on that ship.
What a job huh? Think anybody in America would trade places with me?
Just watched that HBO version of when America was born. "John Adams" That was taking place when the Scipion was in the hight of her career.
She faught in the Chesepeake war against the English then the battle of the Saintes down here in the Caribbean, Then she came to an end when she battled two more British ships here on the east end of the DR. They didnt sink her but chased her up in this shallow bay where she hit a coral head and sank.
After two year working on that site i knew it like the back of my hand. On her birthday of the sinking we cracked a bottle of Champane poured half over the side and drank the rest and bidded her fairwell.
Lots of thanks to Tracy for letting us work that important wreck. We learned a lot in them two years. And must have done a good enough job as when that excavation was over we were awarded a contract of our own. Great wreck with fantastic memories.
Diver Dave came to me one day of diving and said he was excavating a jack, I told him we were diving a ship not a truck. Sure enough he brings this jack to the surface. In the one picture you can see the date "1778"
Probably one of the most interesting pieces we found was this cannon ball stuck in a piece of oak. I am sure it must be English. Maybe it was already a suvenier and some on-board carpenter replaced that wood and kept this one. We found it where we found other carpenter tools.
Heres a "hand planer" and a "mallet" both found in the same area.
Never failed when you are on the trail of something good it always led you under a cannon. So many cannon needed to be removed for safety reasons. Some just popped right up and others we couldnt move with every air bag we had.
I have so much documentation pertaining to this ship wreck and backed up by many books on the subject with illustrations. I have a book i am writing about our time there. Lots of work for that book but one day hopefully it will get done and preserve for generations what we uncovered on that site. Including Captains, crew names and court proceedings.Captains log, Lots of info i have on that ship.
What a job huh? Think anybody in America would trade places with me?
