Date: Fri 06-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

scuba-dive-wreck-Carey-CD-ROM

Full Text:

with cuts: Mystery, Adventure and History Beneath the Waves

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

Staggering under the weight of air tanks and an assemblage of equipment hooked

securely to his suit - a 100,000 candle-power light, a knife, drawing slate,

weights, dive charts, gauges, floats, bags - Tim Carey was finally ready to

enter the waters of Long Island Sound. He wanted at least one dive to the

wreck last Sunday before the impending hurricane kicked up the waters.

It was his fourth visit to a steel-hulled coal barge he believes may be the

Fred T. Kellers, built in 1897 and lost March 1, 1914 in what some newspapers

called the Storm of the Century.

Tim, a resident of Sandy Hook, is one of a handful of people in Connecticut

actively seeking undiscovered wrecks. He became interested in the site after a

fisherman gave him the chart locations for an area 3.5 miles off Stratford

Point that showed "relief," or high profile off the bottom. He consulted one

of his maps, which did not indicate anything at that location, and decided to

make the dive to see exactly what was there.

"Once reaching the site, we were all excited. This hump on the bottom jumped

up like a spike on the bottom finder. We knew we had something big," said Tim.

While he suited up he wondered if it was a reef or wreck. "At a depth of 50

feet loomed a large shadow. Visibility was, at best, three feet, as I hit the

top of... a structure. I was shouting through my regulator, 'Yes, yes, yes .'

It was definitely a wreck."

Tim tied off his safety line and felt his way along the wreckage which, at one

point dropped off into murkiness. He descended another 15 feet. "Rising off

the murky sand I reached a gunnel. I followed this until I came across a large

cylindrical object, a boiler, then winches, then an engine of some kind, then

coal," said Tim. "This vessel used coal to run a steam engine. [I wondered if]

it was for propulsion...or deck machinery."

At that point, the diver had to return to the surface. When the others had

finished their dives, they told Tim they had seen other machinery and showed

him coal that they had retrieved from the vessel. The group speculated they

had found a steamer.

Tim returned to the wreck the following weekend. Dropping down to a slightly

different location, he discovered a great many rocks inside the vessel and

realized the wreck must be a gravel or coal barge. He made a dive to an even

larger section of the wreck and began to formulate a picture of the barge in

his mind. Later, he committed the vessel to paper; it is now his custom to

sketch all wrecks he dives on.

"Knowing that is was a barge, something clicked. That night, I went back and

checked my local charts. There, like a knife in my heart was a wreck symbol at

the exact loran numbers," said Tim. His usually methodical approach to

research was clouded by the thrill of thinking he had found an uncharted

wreck, he admitted.

Although the wreck was charted, it was undocumented. So Tim checked his

Automated Wreck and Obstruction Information System (AWOIS) list obtained from

the National Ocean and Atmospheric Agency. Then he consulted a few of the 200

volumes in his library of material on ship wrecks, ship history, wreck

anthologies, wreck archaeology - many of which are now out of print. He

created a list of potential candidates from information listed in the

Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. With names and dates, he went to the

Bridgeport Library to search for articles that describe the loss of the

vessels.

"If the information is detailed, then you have a hit. If not, the truest form

of identification is something retrieved [from the wreck] that can physically

identify it - the ship's bell [with the name of the ship on it], name plate,

or some kind of cargo," said Tim, who believes he may be the first diver on

the coal barge. "The excitement is still there in just being able to identify

her... and in adding a new popular dive site [to those known]."

The four divers who accompanied him to the site last weekend did not seem to

care that the barge had already been charted. It was the challenge of

exploring a new wreck that drew them.

The Fred T. Kellers was one of five coal barges towed by the tug Salutation

from Bridgeport Harbor on that fateful winter day. "That day would see the

lowest barometric pressure ever recorded along the Connecticut coast, up to

that time," said Tim, after matching the wreck vessel type with the location

of the loss. "The ensuing storm, spawned two cyclones, caused flooding of such

magnitude that factories were closed, bridges washed away, dams threatened,

and heavy property damage caused in both low lying and inland areas. Water

levels and tides in Bridgeport Harbor were at the highest level ever

recorded."

The storm had reached 60 mph winds and 5 to 6-foot seas when the hawser

connecting the last four barges gave way. The eight crewmen aboard the vessels

were rescued but the barges remained adrift. "The last time the Fred T.

Kellers was seen, she was already low in the water and foundering off

Stratford Point. It was reported that the barges were to be salvaged and that

the 2,500 tons of coal that each was carrying, raised," said Tim. "The only

vessel of that ill-fated journey listed in the Encyclopedia of American

Shipwrecks as still being lost, is the Fred T. Kellers... The overall

construction, the overflowing cargo of coal, the parts of steam machinery

recovered, and the present location, all point to this wreck being the Fred T.

Kellers."

This weekend Tim and his diving partner, Tom DiGuglielmo of Norwalk, plan to

charter a boat and drag an underwater video camera so they can more fully

document the wreck.

Shipwreck Library On CD-ROM

A computer consultant by trade, Tim developed a multimedia shipwreck library

for those who dive in the northeast. WreckMaster CD-ROM, the first in a

series, details more than 500 wrecks on the coast between Maine and Virginia.

The information includes a brief history of each ship's activity prior to

sinking, 170 pictures of key wrecks, 200 nautical charts identifying exact

locations, a library of museums and historical agencies in the northeast,

artifact preservation techniques, an encyclopedia of vessel types, an

interactive quiz mode, maritime sounds, and more. Although it was originally

designed to assist wreck divers, the creator has found his product also

appeals to amateur historians and nautical buffs.

Tim has been diving for 18 years, but has actively sought undiscovered wrecks

for just the past five years. As he was developing his software, the intrigue

of the uncharted gripped him.

In Long Island Sound, alone, there are "hundreds" of wrecks dating from the

1600s to modern day. As with most wreck divers, it is not the sunken

fiberglass yachts that attract Tim, but rather those vessels with "mystery and

antiquity." These are what he documents. His favorite wreck to dive on is the

San Diego, a World War I heavy cruiser, located in the Atlantic about 13 miles

south/south east of Captree Base, Long Island. It is a "premier dive site" on

the east coast, said Tim.

"If anyone out there wants to dive some of these wrecks or has information on

wrecks they think are unidentified and would like to research them, I'd like

to help. We'll go do them," said Tim. "[Scuba diving] is not a hobby, it's my

passion."

Tim Carey can be reached by writing his company, Scubamation, P.O. Box 623,

Botsford, CT 06404, or calling 1-800-470-1234. The WreckMaster CD-ROM is

available for $49.95 plus $2.85 shipping.