SEA LION SCRAP BOOK
CAPTAIN AL
Spring Lake Wreck - July 2015
Saturday, Nov. 16th– Private Charter
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The 28 inch 14 pound taug was impressive by itself and there were more than a few others that although
good size fish looked small next to that monster. The Korean Fish Assassins strike again.
Sunday, August 11th - Mohawk
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The anchor lanterns were both made by Russel Stolli & Co. New York. The picture in the middle of Tom
with the cage was from a few weeks ago and the two lantern tops were recovered Sunday.
Friday, May 17th – Astra
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The stern didn’t produce any galley items but it did produce electrical parts, lots and lots of insulators, and other electrical components.
The Peirce insulators are a standard dead-end spool. These were commonly used to tie off power drops on houses or other buildings.
They were extensively used from the 1930's through the 1950's
The Astra was built in Denmark in 1945 and is very similar in design to the Tolten but a bit larger at 333 X 51 ft. and 2709 gross tons.
She was sunk in a collision with the Steel Inventor March 30th 1951 while carrying automobiles and general cargo.
Saturday, May 18th – Almirante
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The Almirante was built in Ireland in 1909, 378 feet long with a 50 foot beam. She was owned by the United Fruit Company and carried
both cargo and passengers. Sunk in a collision with the tanker Hisko September 6th 1918.
Along with the large antique anchor and the quadruple size cold water faucet a
very rare piece of ships china was found with the United Fruit Company’s logo.
The operative words for the past few weeks were COLD and miserable
ARCTIC
Well maybe not THAT cold but it sure felt like it
We did get out on the 12th and although the vis. was poor a good number of artifacts again came up.
SuperStorm Sandy . . . October 2012
Hurricane Sandy  – My sympathies go out to all those so badly affected by the storm. Diving will resume when I can get the boat back in the water and at this point I really don't know when that will be. Seems that being on land wasn't the best place to be, although the SEA LION escaped damage the same can't be said of the other boats in the marina. The following pictures contain scenes of catastrophic damage. With the exception of the pre-storm shots these were sent to me as I have yet to be able to get down to the boat. |
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before the storm Sunday afternoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . .the morning after
Re-Blocked |
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 there are no words for this |
 travel lift rails |
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 – A 'Little Wreck'
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We snuck back to the wreck that had produced the snatch block and small anchor. We managed to recover another interesting piece.
It appears to be a some sort of sliding part from a small steam engine. As you can see the cast iron connecting rod has deteriorated
almost completely but the other end was literally un-screwed from a bronze shaft that went into a larger piece. An attempt to send up the
bigger piece was unsuccessful. Which simply means we need to go back with bigger lift bags and more appropriate rigging.
Capt Steve, well known for his cutting edge diving equipment, has gone a bit more retro. He made a dive the other day using a
double hose regulator. He had this vintage old regulator overhauled before taking it to the bottom and related to us that he had an
interesting and unique diving experience.
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Saturday, the 14th of July
A little wreck that I’ve been looking to get on for quite some time. One of my divers picked up a very nice “garden ornament”
and when he started chipping away the concretion he found he had a two-fer, inside the concretion he found what appears to be
a large single sheave block. You can see the hook and the sides of the block in the picture taken on the lawn after a bit of the concretion
was removed but as you can see it was very difficult to determine what the “clump” was on the boat.
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Saturday, July 7, 2012 – Delaware
Found, a tablespoon marked Clyde S S Co. for the “Clyde Steam Ship Company”, needless to say this made our day.
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Sunday, June 24, 2012 – Coffee Wreck AKA "Southwest Mohawk" / Boiler Wreck
Description found on line courtesy of njscuba.net
The "Southwest Mohawk" or "Coffee Wreck" is nothing like the SS Mohawk Artifacts found on the wreck indicated that is was a late eighteenth century sailing ship, and not a barge.
An assembly of fairly large timbers forms a low solid deck over most of the wreck, with bundles of iron pipes and stone ballast blocks scattered around. The bottom is clean, white, almost Caribbean sand. Visibility tends to be relatively good, and it is very easy to follow around the edges of the wreck or explore over the top without getting lost. Caverns and gaps around the edges of the wreckage provide homes for swarms of Sea Bass, some of them huge, and a few Tautogs.
Now that you’ve read the on-line description and with my personal knowledge that the description was fairly accurate I was more than surprised when one of my divers came back on-board “complaining” that the wreck was “tiny”. This was after a very productive dive where three divers came up with thirteen Sea Bass a very nice flattie and a trigger, go figure. When I sent the mate in to untie I gave him some extra time to scout around and he confirmed that the sand has covered up some of the wreck. We moved on to the “boiler wreck” (no this one isn’t in any on-line site) another old but a much larger wreck. The sand hasn’t swallowed this one and five more sea bass came up along with a couple of nice bugs.
Saturday, the 17th – Dec - Delaware 80’
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A fair pile of brass spikes and miscellaneous stuff came up.
Sunday, the 4th – Dec - Delaware 80’
| A coin made out of copper the size of a quarter with a hole in the top, One side said “White Brothers & Company Boston USA” / “Willow Calf” the other side had a horse shoe. Researching it turns out to be dated from 1890's so it really is from the wreck. The White brothers were shoemakers in Boston Massachusetts. The tokens were attached to a tag, which was then attached to a pair of their shoes. These tokens identified White Brothers as specialists in colored leathers which "will not crack" and are "free from arsenic" and appear to be a good luck piece that came with every pair of shoes. |
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Artifact found on the MV Pinta, Oct. 9th, was part of an old musical instrument (valve). It cleaned up and is fully functional. "The Pinta was a frieghter carrying a cargo of hard wood. I'm sure the rest of the instrument is still there waiting to be discovered however the ocean is neither a kind nor a static enviroment. Several years ago the Pinta was relativly intact, a storm blew through and ripped her open, since then we've been finding numerous "bits" that before had been hidden deep inside of her."
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Saturday, July 16, 2011 - TRIDENT Dive
Started out on the Ida K, had a very productive dive and a visitor, an extremely large grey seal.
| The grey seal is a large seal, with the bulls reaching 2.5–3.3 m (8.2–11 ft) long and weighing up to 300 kg (660 lb); the cows are much smaller, typically 1.6–2.0 m (5.2–6.6 ft) long and 100–150 kg (220–330 lb) in weight. It is distinguished from the Common Seal by its straight head profile with nostrils that are well apart, and fewer spots on its body. Bull Greys have larger noses and a more convex profile than Common Seal bulls. Males are generally darker than females, with lighter patches and often scarring around the neck. Females are silver grey to brown with dark patches. |
Of course when we first saw it we had no idea what type of seal it was and I’d like to thank Brandi Biehl of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine for identifying our friend. It would circle the boat dive down and hunt come up and circle the boat again. After one of it’s dives it brought up a big fluke and ate it at the surface. You can’t make this kind of stuff up and I have the pictures to prove it. What I don’t have a picture of is the massive sea turtle that I almost hit on the way in. It surfaced just in front of the boat close enough that I had to throw it in reverse. Probably one of the largest ones I’ve seen, it looked like a little floating island. |
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ATLANTIC CITY BRASS RECOVERY
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THE GREAT HELM RETRIEVAL
from the Almirante, May 26, 2011
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The Refitting of the Sea Lion
Spring 2011
THE PLAN |
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THE PAINT |
THE COLOR |
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THE GRAPHICS |
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THE LAUNCHING |
HOME |
New Year's Eve Dive 12/31/10
Great Day of diving as any of these Hard Core Divers will agree! Flat seas and temps in the 40's.
David L - aka, "Polar Bear" |
artifacts - 2 silver forks and 2 oil lamp wick holders |
Mark V |
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Tom F |
Manasquan Inlet, flat as glass |
Mo G |
SNOW STORM OF 2010
Floating Snow Drift |
Snow up to the window tops |
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Snow half way up the Cabin doors
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Getting to the Helm |
Getting to the Boat was not easy |
Union Lane |
Just about cleaned up and ready to go! |
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Brunette
Saturday, December 18, 2010
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The Great Atlantic City Expedition
June 2 - 8, 2010
 Ceramic Tiles |
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| Gene Peterson had the boat chartered to the Huntsville but a last minute destination change had us heading for the Almirante (AKA the flour wreck). Gene’s divers were anxious to dig the “Flour wreck” and there were numerous scooters on-board. Several holes were started, one that began to produce ceramic tiles that appeared to be cargo another that produced pieces of wicker furniture as seen in at least one of the pictures of the interior of the Almirante and the third half of a tea cup with a ships flag on it. | |
| Along with the artifacts the wreck produced a number of lobsters and a very large monk fish. To top all of that off a humpback whale breached (jumped completely out of the water) a few hundred yards from the boat, a pod of dolphins came within 50 yards and a very large sea turtle swam within a few feet. |  AC from the SEA |
  Steve and the giant Monk fish |
All in all, even though we only managed two trips I still consider the trip a success if nothing else than as a recon for the late July early August trip when we’ll be back. |
Atlantic Divers Arundo Trip - May 16, 2010
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Some of the things you get to see on the water. You can learn more at http://www.wasp.navy.mil/default.aspx
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We also passed a EUKOR cargo ship, run by one of the world's largest shipping companies specialized in transporting automobiles and other rolling cargo.
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North East Steamer and The Coffee Wreck Dive October 21, 2009
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pictures by Steve McDougal
Brunette Dive July 4, 09
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 Nice camera angle, right! |
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After the great cannon recovery, we had a really nice 4th of July picnic on the dock. |
Algol Dive October 4, 09
Hauling in the catch! |
Spade Fish and Black Fish |
Atlantic Divers Arundo Trip - September 20, 09
Turtle Light fixture |
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Turtle Light fixture sans anemones |
Emerald Dive August 9, 09 ................. Cadet Dive August 27, 09
Colored glass bottles and dipping pen |
Beautiful golden pearl found in clam shell |
June 09
Sea Bass from the Ventura Tug |
Jenn and Capt Mark with catch from |
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Capt Al with 'The Dredge' |
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Mate Dan |
Divers Below! |
Brunette June 26, 2009
 Twenty nine pounds of Ugly... |
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Thanks to Jenn for Pics
SEA LION Dredging trip to the Emerald May 31, 2009
Thanks to Perry Arts of Aquafirma Photography for the great pics
Visit his website at www.aquafirmaphotography.com
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RJ & Treasure Cove Divers Vivian/Tracy Dive Trip |
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Emerald Trip May 31, 2009 |
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Lakeland Divers Trip |
 Starting out at Dawn |
 Sea Lion |
Capt Al at the Helm |
 Jenn |
 Mo and Capt Mark |
 JP |
October 11, 2008 |
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| August, 2008 |
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| July 2008 |
