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Admiral Sampson, April 2006
Wednesday, 26 April 2000
We departed Everett around 8 am. Predicted slack was at 10 am. We set the "hook" on the first pass. Unfortunately, we found out later, it was about 50 feet from the wreck. Once hooked, we checked in with "Seattle Traffic", the Coast Guard controllers who monitor commercial traffic on the Puget Sound. They confirmed our approval to dive. As slack approached Uncle Fester, Kurt and I geared up and hit the water. Our safety divers, JoeRad and Bret E. were big help loading us up with multiple stage bottles, scooters and camera. We each carried two 80 stages and three smaller deco bottles.

We collected at the big Orange ball on the downline and started scootering straight down toward the wreck. Kurt had trouble with his sinuses and had to bail. Uncle Fester and I continued down. Somewhere past 200 ft. we hit the deep current that seems to run in Admiralty Inlet and the line made a sharp angle and we ran the last 100 feet or so almost parallel to the bottom. After a three minute descent, we arrived at the bottom at 315 ft. Small rocks everywhere and no wreck. We started scootering in ever larger circles around the downline looking.

Finally, at 10 min. we had a wall of white anemones in front of us - the hull. We scootered up to the top of the hull and onto the main deck. We were on the starboard side at about 300 feet. Visibility was good. We could see as far as Mark's 18 watt hid would penetrate the darkness. The video lights lit up the scene in front of us. The main deck appears to be collapsing down inside the hull and slopes up toward the bow. We followed the slope towards the bow and found the remains of the forward mast. At 12 min. Mark signaled that his first 80 stage was gone and it was time to change to 80 stage #2. We continued on, but missed the bow. We arched back toward the stern. We saw the biggest red snapper that we have ever seen (and Mark & I have been diving a long time). We scootered over a pile of plates that Kent Barnard had stacked on the deck during his salvage operation in the early 1990s. At 20 min., Mark signaled that it was time to end the dive and we began our ascent.

We had a comfortable drifting deco. JoeRad met us at our 120 ft. stop and helped unload excess gear and keep us company for the balance of the dive. He did a superb job. We also had great support from Captain Mike of Porthole Charters and our other support diver, Brett E.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 26 January 2008 )
 
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