Re: True tales of the Chicora

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: : : : : : I am posting this to clear the air and cut through some of the hype that has been posted on this topic in the past. In the spirit of full disclosure, let me state that I was supposed to be with one of the teams diving the wreck. I missed the dives due to an injury at work leaving me out of the water until later this summer. I feel the wreck may be identified, but will let others come to their own conclusions. : : : Last Sunday while my wife was doing a shore dive (I was hanging around on crutches); a friend came up to me and casually mentioned that he had talked to Jeff Voss on Saturday. They were diving the Chicora that morning and had seen a large mast on the wreck. : : : I sent the following e-mail to Jeff that night: : : : Jeff, : : : I talked to James yesterday, and he said that you ran into a mast on Saturday. Was the mast in the area of a cargo deck with open hold? Did it have a fife rail and belaying pins around the base? Did you see any rigging, rat lines etc.? : : : Just curious (and not happy about being laid up) : : : Bob : : : On June 8, 2002, Paul Kuiper, Jeff Voss and Todd VanderArk did a second dive on the Chicora. They found the visibility to be slightly better than the week before, six to ten feet. This is Jeff’s reply to my e-mail, published with his permission: : : : I don’t know too much about the terms for a mast. I will have to sketch a picture. It was just behind where the stack was. The stack looks like it was about 10 feet in diameter. The Mast? Was about 20 feet aft of where the stack was. It was huge in diameter. About 3‘-4’ in diameter. I remember seeing footholds sticking out of the side of it. Aft of the mast near our anchor line is like a small room with the roof ripped off. I dropped into the area and saw a bell mounted on the wall. Not a brass typical shipwreck bell but a “dome shaped” 10-12” diameter wall mounted one. (like what is used in schools now, only bigger) Below that were 2 brass gauges. The one one the left was larger about 10” in diameter. I didn’t get a look at the face. The smaller one was about 8” in diameter. The needle was stuck vertically at 110 (PSI?). It had a lot of small writing on it. (I will need to take a picture of it) Written across the top was (I couldn’t make out the first word, too discolored) xxxx Engine Works. Across the bottom was Ferrysburg, Michigan. I assume it came from the boiler or engine manufacturer. I think I need to go back. Jeff : : : : : Doing some research on my book I stumbled across some original material on the Chicora's engine it was built by Detriot Engine Works, I would be glad to share any info I have if I knew where to send it. Feel free to email me Jon : I was a little wrong when I said Detriot Engine Works the proper name is as follows "Detroit Dry Dock Company" also known as "Dry Dock Engine Works" and that is my disclaimer Jon

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