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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell us about Marine Wrecks/Disasters/Diving
 
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djssniper
Jan 10, 2003

Icon Of Sin posted:

I come from the Scuba thread, but I think there will be a fair amount of overlap here. I work as a divemaster in the Cape Fear region of NC. This is where the HMS Bounty was fleeing from when it sank in Sandy, but there's plenty more out there. Let's have the story of the John D. Gill!

The John D. Gill was an oil tanker en route from TX to PA (only her second voyage) when a U-boat acquired it as a target. That U-boat was U-158, which in itself was an infamous boat (17 ships sank and 2 more damaged, on only 2 patrols :stare: ). The torpedo fired by the U-boat blew a hole in one of the oil tanks on the Gill on the night of March 13, 1942 approximately 25 miles off of Cape Fear. The Gill didn't initially catch on fire or start exploding, but the life-rings in use back then had self-igniting flares rigged to them. Throw it overboard, add salt water, and you've got a "please come loving find me!" beacon ready and lit. A crewman threw one of those in the water after the torpedo strike, and ignited an apocalyptic inferno. The fires spread into the oil tanks of the Gill causing numerous secondary explosions, which destroyed a number of lifeboats. Complicating things further, the ship's propellers hadn't lost power when the ship started to list. A lifeboat that had made it to the water was sucked into one of the screws, killing everyone on board that lifeboat. One account has the lifeboat spilling guys into the water and having them sucked into the screws, but the end result isn't any different; everyone on board that lifeboat died. A second lifeboat was commanded by Edwin F. Cheney, Jr, the first Merchant Mariner to earn a Distinguished Service Medal. Let's have a look at his citation (from http://www.usmm.org/heroes.html):


The Gill is a divable wreck, being only ~25 miles offshore and in ~110 ft of water. Only 26/52 crew survived the sinking, and 11 of those people that survived did so because of Mr. Cheney's efforts. I haven't dove on it yet, and I'm not entirely sure if I will based on the story. I've got video from the Alexander Ramsey, the Hyde, and the Markham, but those are all artificial reefs. The Alexander Ramsey was a WWII Liberty Ship (most produced ship frame in history, with over 2700 Liberty ships built over the course of WWII), and both the Hyde and Markham are former US Army Corps of Engineer dredges.

Very interesting, I welcome any additions/crossovers personally

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djssniper
Jan 10, 2003

Flaggy posted:

http://infomory.com/famous/famous-deep-sea-divers/

Just popped up in my news feed. Nothing too deep, but a good jump off point for some of their adventures. Especially John Chatterton, great author.

Why does it say he died in 2003 when the rest of the internet seems to think he's still alive

Some lazy research i guess

quote:

Before to his career in television, Chatterton spent twenty years working as a commercial diver in and around New York City. His first co-host and diving partner from Deep Sea Detectives, Michael Norwood, died in a diving accident during an expedition to Palau in December 2003.
* # ¿ Feb 10, 2017 20:46
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell us about Marine Wrecks/Disasters/Diving