Kyle tows John Chluski while he shoots video
Jay locates a mustard jar
A Good Last Day
The official web site for the Monitor Expedition is http://monitor.nos.noaa.gov/.
August 25, 1999 – The team assignments for today were:
- Captain, R/V Cape Fear – Dan Aspenleiter
- Principle Investigator – Dr. John Broadwater
- NOAA Historian – Jeff Johnston
- Diving Safety Officer – Dave Dinsmore
- Dive Supervisor – Cindy Creamer
- Diving Medical Officer (DMO)/On deck Standby Diver – Michael Ott
- Chase Boat Operator – Mike Smith
- Dive Medical Technician (DMT)/Chase Boat Support Diver – Chris Cote
- Chamber Operator/In-water Support Diver (shallow) – Glenn Taylor
- In-water Support Diver (deep) – Terrence Tysall
- Research Diver – Kyle Creamer
- Research Diver – John Chluski
- Research Diver – Doug Kesling
- Research Diver – Jay Styron
- Research Diver – Tim Gallagher
This turned out to be an excellent day for diving. The weather that we were expecting didn’t show, and with light winds and 2 – 3 foot swells, we had a nice ride out to the site. We were also greeted with no current and 70 to 80 feet of visibility on the wreck.
Kyle Creamer, utilizing a Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV), towed John Chluski over the wreck while he shot video. They made several passes from stern to bow. This video will be used by the Sanctuary staff to put together an updated site map. They also located one of the pyramid shaped markers that were place off the wreck several years ago. One of our first dives in the expedition had as an objective to locate this marker. It is located about 80 feet off the port bow in the sand and is exposed about 18 inches.
Jay Styron, staying in proximity to Kyle and John, searched for additional artifacts. He located another loose jar (a mustard jar) in the same location that we recovered the glass bottle just 2 days ago. He also tested the use of a DPV as a dredging device at the edge of the armor belt. It was discovered that this method would cause far too much degradation in visibility. Jay was also responsible for unhooking the downline so that we could remove it.
Tim Gallagher and Doug Kesling were on clean up detail. They were to attempt to locate a K cylinder that was dropped over 100 feet away from the wreck and send it up, as well as, to try to send up a ladder left by the Navy in June. They could not locate the cylinder and by the time they returned to the wreck to retrieve the ladder, Jay had reduced the visibility in the area where the ladder was located, and they left it tied to a sand screw on the bottom.
This was a fine ending to a very productive expedition. All parties, the Cambrian Foundation, NURC, the NOAA Diving Program, the R/V Cape Fear from UNCW, and the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary have been invited back for next year. We are attempting to set dates for next year’s expedition now. Check the calendar for upcoming events.