Stay informed on the most recent spectacular or significant nautical news and shipwrecks discoveries
from Divemaster News
Clad head-to-toe in insulated dry suits, five Massachusetts men recently became the first divers to reach the Portland, a luxury passenger ship that was thrashed by hurricane-force winds and sank off the coast of Cape Ann in one of the 19th century's deadliest storms.
Although the upper decks had been ripped off, perhaps as waves pummeled the paddlewheel ship broadside, the divers found portholes with the glass intact, half-filled medicine bottles from an apothecary in Maine, and stacks of delicate china plates, many of which survived without a scratch.
"It's like somebody set the table, and just left it for 120 years," said Dave Faye, one of the divers and a lawyer at a Cambridge law firm. "It was very spooky."
The five divers trained for more than a year before attempting the dive in mid-August. They reached the shipwreck twice more over the next month, but each time could stay for only minutes because of the conditions. Four other times they failed to reach the wreck because the currents were too strong.
Read more...
