During my high school years in the late 1950s, I became interested in all things related to the ocean (fishing, boating, sailing and scuba diving). Sharing this interest with several friends, we enrolled in a scuba course given at the local YMCA and learned a lot about this intriguing sport at the Y (indoor pool). After several weeks of lessons, we were ready for our first real ocean dive on the rocky coast of Nahant, MA.
On that special day, we used the buddy system where we would swim with another diver in case we needed help. Including the instructor, there would be three sets of buddies or six divers. With less than one hour of air in our scuba tanks, the group planned to enter the water on the beach at “Forty Steps”, Nahant, MA and swim around the rocks for a while then head in. As we approached the rock cliffs, we saw a beautiful under water world with large kelp swaying with the tide, various fish and sea anemones attached to the rocks. Walking across a sandy bottom, I stepped on a large skate fish under the sand that startled me and quickly swam away. With the air running out, we swam to shore and called it a day. What a great day.
Our instructor Jack had just started a scuba store in Chelsea, MA on Washington St. that was open on weekends and some evenings. Most evenings we would hangout at the store and help fill orders or wait on customers. At the store we also made custom fitted wet suits and lead weights for ballast belts. Although we didn’t get paid, we had free use of the equipment for future diving adventures.
We made the custom wet suit from ¼ inch neoprene rubber sheets. After taking the customers measurements, we drew an outline on a paper pattern for the pants, shirt and head piece. To make the pants, we placed the paper pattern on the rubber sheet and cut out two pant halves. We then glued the edges of the pant halves together and let dry. After dry we turned them inside out for custom fitted pants. We did the same for the shirt and head piece.
Several weeks later we made plans to dive off Manchester, MA, near Graves Island. Jack said that there was a sunken ship there that we could explore and maybe find some old artifacts. Unfortunately, I broke my ankle and had on a small cast but went along for the ride anyway. After getting to the rocky beach in Manchester, Joe and Jack put on their wet suits and I rowed the eight man rubber raft out to the dive site off Graves Island. I wore a life jacket and also had one wrapped around my cast. You do crazy things when you’re young and foolish.
The bottom was only about 30 feet deep off the south-west side of the island as the two divers went down to look. After a few minutes Jack came up with a piece of wood and a spike that he gave me to put in the raft. Later, both divers came up and were excited that they had found the edge of a metal object buried in the sand. It could be an anchor.
Since we needed a boat with a heavy wench to pull it up, we would have to come back another time. In the meantime, they tied a short piece of rope with a wood float to the metal object so we could find it again. Unfortunately, someone else could also find it.
When we got back to land we cleaned off the spike that we found. We saw the initials PR stamped on the side and thought that it might stand for Paul Revere who made all kinds of metal attachments for wooden ships. However, we learned later that many other spikes had been found with the PR label from other sunken ships which reduced the value to less than $20. Later, we just put it on display in Jack’s scuba shop.
A week went by and we didn’t have any luck with getting a boat. We also didn’t have any money to hire someone. However, that weekend we returned to Graves Island to check on the site. When we got to the beach we saw a dive boat near the island and our find. Joe and Jack rowed out to the dive boat which was called the Adventure III, as I watched from land. When they got there, the boat was pulling up an anchor and the divers said it was from the sunken ship, USS New Hampshire. As an additional surprise, one of the recreational divers on the boat was Rex Trailer, the local TV Cowboy from the kids show called Boom Town on WBZ. You can see info about Rex Trailer at the link … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Trailer
Recalling our historic dive in 1963, I recently drew a map of the location including (lat/long) with the computer program called Street Atlas. There are two sites on the map. Site #1 is our dive site in 1963 and site #2 is the location given in the historical record of the ship sinking in 1922. Sometimes storms will change the under water location of objects over time. See the link …… http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/GravesIsland1963
Before 1973, ocean salvage was run on the principle of finders – keepers. Since the dive boat got there first in 1963, they had first salvage rights to the anchor before we did. Today, the State Department of Marine Archeology has strict rules for salvage that require a permit process. Most ocean finds off Massachusetts are the property of the State and have historical value. You can see some of the rules and restrictions at the two
links … http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/buarregs.pdf and http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/index.htm
You can also see some information about the USS New Hampshire at the link ….
USS New Hampshire
http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/shipwrecks/ua-hampshire.htm
However, the State leaves certain dive sites open to recreational scuba divers who can keep small artifacts as long as they do not permanently alter the site. Graves Island is now an open dive site since most historical artifacts have been previously salvaged. You can see a list of open dive sites at the following link …. Shipwreck Sites Open to Divers
http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/buares.htm
Recently, I got a book from the library that describes several of the boats that have been lost off our coast. Hundreds of ships have sunk off the coast of Boston & Salem in bad weather by swamping, capsizing or hitting submerged rocks. You can see some photos and the map location of these ships and a list of their names at the link …. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/ShipwrecksNorthOfBoston
If you are interested in taking scuba diving lessons, I recommend Undersea Divers in Beverly, MA. I have periodically used this shop since 1963 to fill tanks, buy accessories and just get general info. For more info, see the link …. http://www.underseadivers.com/
Although we didn’t make a great salvage recovery in 1963, we still have the great memories of a great experience.
On that special day, we used the buddy system where we would swim with another diver in case we needed help. Including the instructor, there would be three sets of buddies or six divers. With less than one hour of air in our scuba tanks, the group planned to enter the water on the beach at “Forty Steps”, Nahant, MA and swim around the rocks for a while then head in. As we approached the rock cliffs, we saw a beautiful under water world with large kelp swaying with the tide, various fish and sea anemones attached to the rocks. Walking across a sandy bottom, I stepped on a large skate fish under the sand that startled me and quickly swam away. With the air running out, we swam to shore and called it a day. What a great day.
Our instructor Jack had just started a scuba store in Chelsea, MA on Washington St. that was open on weekends and some evenings. Most evenings we would hangout at the store and help fill orders or wait on customers. At the store we also made custom fitted wet suits and lead weights for ballast belts. Although we didn’t get paid, we had free use of the equipment for future diving adventures.
We made the custom wet suit from ¼ inch neoprene rubber sheets. After taking the customers measurements, we drew an outline on a paper pattern for the pants, shirt and head piece. To make the pants, we placed the paper pattern on the rubber sheet and cut out two pant halves. We then glued the edges of the pant halves together and let dry. After dry we turned them inside out for custom fitted pants. We did the same for the shirt and head piece.
Several weeks later we made plans to dive off Manchester, MA, near Graves Island. Jack said that there was a sunken ship there that we could explore and maybe find some old artifacts. Unfortunately, I broke my ankle and had on a small cast but went along for the ride anyway. After getting to the rocky beach in Manchester, Joe and Jack put on their wet suits and I rowed the eight man rubber raft out to the dive site off Graves Island. I wore a life jacket and also had one wrapped around my cast. You do crazy things when you’re young and foolish.
The bottom was only about 30 feet deep off the south-west side of the island as the two divers went down to look. After a few minutes Jack came up with a piece of wood and a spike that he gave me to put in the raft. Later, both divers came up and were excited that they had found the edge of a metal object buried in the sand. It could be an anchor.
Since we needed a boat with a heavy wench to pull it up, we would have to come back another time. In the meantime, they tied a short piece of rope with a wood float to the metal object so we could find it again. Unfortunately, someone else could also find it.
When we got back to land we cleaned off the spike that we found. We saw the initials PR stamped on the side and thought that it might stand for Paul Revere who made all kinds of metal attachments for wooden ships. However, we learned later that many other spikes had been found with the PR label from other sunken ships which reduced the value to less than $20. Later, we just put it on display in Jack’s scuba shop.
A week went by and we didn’t have any luck with getting a boat. We also didn’t have any money to hire someone. However, that weekend we returned to Graves Island to check on the site. When we got to the beach we saw a dive boat near the island and our find. Joe and Jack rowed out to the dive boat which was called the Adventure III, as I watched from land. When they got there, the boat was pulling up an anchor and the divers said it was from the sunken ship, USS New Hampshire. As an additional surprise, one of the recreational divers on the boat was Rex Trailer, the local TV Cowboy from the kids show called Boom Town on WBZ. You can see info about Rex Trailer at the link … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Trailer
Recalling our historic dive in 1963, I recently drew a map of the location including (lat/long) with the computer program called Street Atlas. There are two sites on the map. Site #1 is our dive site in 1963 and site #2 is the location given in the historical record of the ship sinking in 1922. Sometimes storms will change the under water location of objects over time. See the link …… http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/GravesIsland1963
Before 1973, ocean salvage was run on the principle of finders – keepers. Since the dive boat got there first in 1963, they had first salvage rights to the anchor before we did. Today, the State Department of Marine Archeology has strict rules for salvage that require a permit process. Most ocean finds off Massachusetts are the property of the State and have historical value. You can see some of the rules and restrictions at the two
links … http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/buarregs.pdf and http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/index.htm
You can also see some information about the USS New Hampshire at the link ….
USS New Hampshire
http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/shipwrecks/ua-hampshire.htm
However, the State leaves certain dive sites open to recreational scuba divers who can keep small artifacts as long as they do not permanently alter the site. Graves Island is now an open dive site since most historical artifacts have been previously salvaged. You can see a list of open dive sites at the following link …. Shipwreck Sites Open to Divers
http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/buares.htm
Recently, I got a book from the library that describes several of the boats that have been lost off our coast. Hundreds of ships have sunk off the coast of Boston & Salem in bad weather by swamping, capsizing or hitting submerged rocks. You can see some photos and the map location of these ships and a list of their names at the link …. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/ShipwrecksNorthOfBoston
If you are interested in taking scuba diving lessons, I recommend Undersea Divers in Beverly, MA. I have periodically used this shop since 1963 to fill tanks, buy accessories and just get general info. For more info, see the link …. http://www.underseadivers.com/
Although we didn’t make a great salvage recovery in 1963, we still have the great memories of a great experience.
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