Planning The Dive

We planned our dive with the current owner of the wreck, Argonaut Resources, Inc. (Kent Barnard and Gary Severson). Argonaut Resources located the Admiral Sampson in 1991 and, working through various state agencies and federal courts, secured exclusive salvage rights to the vessel in 1992.

With the help of local investors, Argonaut Resources financed several trips to the wreck and used a small submersible, ROVs and a Newt suit to recover artifacts and video the wreck. Both Kent Barnard and Gary Severson were excited to return to the wreck and see what we could accomplish.

Our dive also required approval from the US Coast Guard to conduct diving operations in the commercial VTS lane, and coordination by radio with the VTS controllers. May 11, 2000: We launched the boats at the Everett launch and headed out.

Our skippers fought rough water all the way around the south end of Whidbey Island. As we entered Admiralty Inlet, the ride got smoother. We did not have any trouble locating the wreck. However, we had to stop and move aside while a commercial freighter passed close to the site. We hooked the wreck and our surface support helped the mixed gas divers don doubles and stage bottles.

The Dive

Our gavin scooters were handed to us as we hit the water and we started down. Initially the line went almost straight down. However, at 290 feet, we hit the bottom current and the line made a sharp angle and the last 100 feet was almost parallel to the bottom.

We hit the wreck at about 300 feet and tied in a reel. We headed up the wreck (we thought) fighting the current with the scooters. Visibility was 10 - 15 feet. We marveled at the amazing amount of life on the wreck. We came to an end of the wreck, and a quick glance at our bottom timers told us it was time to turn around and head back. This was an incredible dive.

The divers spent 20 minutes on the wreck at an average depth of 305 feet, followed by 100 minutes of decompression. The dive went flawlessly and the team returned with some great video footage. Review of this footage indicates that the divers were on the smaller stern section of the wreck and turned around at the actual stern. Further exploration is planned.

According to the owner of the wreck, Argonaut Resources, this is the first time scuba divers have visited the Admiral Sampson. 

The SCRET team consisted of:

• Mixed Gas Divers: Kevin Connell, Andrew Georgitsis (Video), Walter Jaccard, Brock Wheaton
• Support Divers Mark Tourtellot, Miranda Alldritt
• Boat Captains: Jay Jordan, Arron Pailthorpe
• Surface Video: Gary Severson
• Surface Support Kent Barnard, Sonya Tittle