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WET & HOT NEWS ! > SS Famous
Adventurer dives for Famous wreck
The 24 Mar. 2010 at 20:08Wreck DivingBy Kevin Rothbauer - The Citizen
There aren't many unexplored places in the world, but for those willing and able to take the right steps, there is still plenty of adventure out there.
Maple Bay's Guy Shockey is one of those modern-day adventurers, and he continued his longstanding love of seeing and experiencing things few people ever have -- or will -- on the weekend of March 13 when he became one of the first people to set foot on the wreckage of the SS Famous, more than 75 years after it was sunk to the murky depths.
The Famous, launched in 1890 as the SS Amur, was scuttled in Bedwell Bay, part of Indian Arm off Burrard Inlet, in 1932. Since 2007, the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia has had an interest in a wreck in the same area, and wanted to confirm whether or not it was in fact the Famous. They formed a partnership with Shockey's team of Global Underwater Explorers-trained divers, who descended to the ship -- 230 feet below the surface -- on March 13 and 14.
The UASBC had sent a remotely operated underwater vehicle to the hulk in September 2007, but the data it gathered wasn't enough to confirm for certain that the wreck was the Famous.
"We had to actually go and put eyeballs on the thing," said Shockey. "We knew how big the actual Famous was, but we had to confirm this was it."
The dive team consisted of five divers who would descend to the wreck, two surface support divers and a surface manager. Diving to such a depth is like an "underwater ballet," said Shockey of the process for descending and safely returning to the surface, which involves extensive decompression. Divers with the appropriate skill set are not easy to find.Divers examine gold-rush vessel
The 15 Mar. 2010 at 02:54Wreck DivingBy Sandra mcCulloch - Times Colonist
Five Victoria divers and one from Cowichan plan to be 240 feet under the surface of Indian Arm Inlet near Vancouver this weekend, exploring the remains of a historic vessel that was scuttled in 1936.
Chris Fenton, a commerce student at the University of Victoria, heads a team set to explore the 216-foot-long wreck of the SS Amur, also named the SS Famous, at the request of the Underwater Archeological Society of B.C.
The group, which also includes two divers from Richmond, did a previous underwater exploration of a wreck for the UASBC in the water off Royal Roads University where they found an old wooden sailing ship that was intact.
This type of exploration is called technical diving, requiring training beyond that of recreational scuba divers and using specialized equipment.
"We like to say it's safe but if you make mistakes on these kinds of dives, the consequences are pretty extreme," said Fenton.
The Famous/Amur was launched in England in 1890. It worked in Siberia and China before sailing to Victoria to transport gold miners to Wrangell, Alaska, from where they hoped to get rich in the Gold Rush of 1898. Later, the vessel returned to China, moved on to Japan and then Australia. The vessel then returned to Canada after being purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Its last owners deliberately sank the Famous/Amur in Indian Arm. It was rediscovered in the summer of 2007 during an underwater survey by the Canadian Hydrographic Service. Since the vessel is too deep for recreational divers to reach, the UASBC sent a remotely operated vehicle to the site. The ROV sent up blurry images which were enough to raise interest of society members.