S.S. Commodore
Stephen Crane
Open Circut vs Rebreather
Bill in Rebreather
Conrad Mapping
Group in Spruce Creek Scuba T-shirts
Project Participants and Sponsors
Dive Rite Manufacturing
Sartek Industries
Ocean Odyssey Dive Center
Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse
Volusia County Marine Science Center
Sea Dog Diver
Spruce Creek Scuba
Golub Mechanical Contractors
Fuqua Schools
DAY 4: Mapping Begins
Thursday, May 2, 2002
Since we’ve been getting alot of questions about the ship itself, now would be a good time to give a brief history of the Commodore. Built in 1882 in Philadelphia, PA, the Commodore sailed as a tug-style steamship in the New York area. In 1895, it went south on filibustering expeditions, or acted as a gun-runner to Cuba during the Spanish-American War. After a few successful trips, on January 2, 1897 she sank under somewhat mysterious conditions, 12 miles off the coast of Daytona Beach, FL.
One of her crew members was author Stephen Crane (“The Red Badge of Courage”), and his ordeal in getting to shore, after spending 30 hours in a 10-foot dinghy with three other men, led to his writhing of the famous short story “The Open Boat.”
Back to the diving….
After the usual morning ritual, we were given a briefing during the boat ride to the site about how to map the artifacts in our pre-assigned grid square. Kim expained how to use our mylar(plastic) over graph paper clip boards. Notible technical instructor, Jan Neal and photographer came along to document the Commodore Expedition for Dive Training Magazine.
Once again Pete demonstrates how efficient and less cumbersome a rebreather is compared to an open circut unit. By recirculating his expelled gas, Pete was able to use only 13 cubic feet of Nitrox while other divers consumed up to 140 cubic feet.
Bill can also lengthen his bottom time in his rebreather. And he can tell you how much easier it is to climb the boat’s ladder than the rest of the group in double tanks.
Once we get back to the lighthouse, all the divers transfered their data from their underwater slates to the site plan or larger map of the wreck.
Thank you again Golub Mechanical Construction for donating the oxygen supply.
Thank you again to Spruce Creek Scuba for donation all the air fills and for these lovely t-shirts!
Send questions or comments to the trilobite.
Questions and Comments To the Trilobite
Are you going to find any dead pirates on the site?
michaelSorry Michael, no pirates were on this ship, but we’ll let you know if we find any on other shipwrecks.
Are there going to be any future projects planned for this site and who pays for it?Future projects are still in the works. As for paying for the projects, most of the supplies and money are donated by generous benefactors and all the divers are volunteering thier time and resources to be here to dive. Whatever is still not covered is paid for by the Cambrian Foundation.