Treasure?? Maybe. Maybe not. Anyone want to do a survey and find out??

[old man]

Here's the deal. A few years ago my partner was teaching a class on side scan sonar in Key West. He was doing a hands on survey with the students. He was outside of the Sanctuary. He came across a pile of rectangular bars and further on he found what appeared to be cannons lying on the bottom.
He didn't have a hard copy of the images and the side scan wasn't his. Last year I had him go back with some other people. Within an hour he relocated the objects that appeared to be cannons. Some might call them pipes between 8 and 12 feet long. The guys that owned the boat and side scan went back to port and packed their gear without looking for the rectangular bars. SO THE SURVEY WAS NEVER FINISHED. I have a copy of the side scan images of what appears to be the cannons with GPS numbers.
I'll be in Key West next week. If anyone has a side scan with at least 600 feet of cable and wants to finish the survey. PM me. Anyone with an ROV that wants to get involved PM me. I can't guarantee anything but an Adventure and a percentage of anything of value that is found.

 

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[cornelis 816]

Go for it Ed . I wish you all the success you need . Let me know what happens . Cornelius

 

[stevemc]

PM me, I am interested. What kind of depths?

 

[rgecy]

Ed,

Don't waste time doing another survey on this site. You have the GPS numbers. You just need to put a diver in the water and see what the heck is down there. The biggest obstacle is finding someone competent at that deep depth! The current is going to be a bitch, not to mention the depth! Maybe even find someone with a drop camera with LOTs of cable!

There is definitely something of interest and maybe some treasure to go along with it!

Just remember to throw us a bone if you find anything!

Robert

 

[old man]

Ed,

Don't waste time doing another survey on this site. You have the GPS numbers. You just need to put a diver in the water and see what the heck is down there. The biggest obstacle is finding someone competent at that deep depth! The current is going to be a bitch, not to mention the depth! Maybe even find someone with a drop camera with LOTs of cable!

There is definitely something of interest and maybe some treasure to go along with it!

Just remember to throw us a bone if you find anything!

Robert

Robert , Check your PM's. You're right that there is something there. You were on site during the second survey. So I know that you know what you saw on the side scan. Did those objects on the bottom look like cannons to you Hopefully, we'll find out what it is this year. As far as that bone That goes without saying. Call me when you get a chance.

 

[inletsurf]

Ed,

Don't waste time doing another survey on this site. You have the GPS numbers. You just need to put a diver in the water and see what the heck is down there. The biggest obstacle is finding someone competent at that deep depth! The current is going to be a bitch, not to mention the depth! Maybe even find someone with a drop camera with LOTs of cable!

There is definitely something of interest and maybe some treasure to go along with it!

Just remember to throw us a bone if you find anything!

Robert

Robert , Check your PM's. You're right that there is something there. You were on site during the second survey. So I know that you know what you saw on the side scan. Did those objects on the bottom look like cannons to you Hopefully, we'll find out what it is this year. As far as that bone That goes without saying. Call me when you get a chance.

A member on this forum, Mike Barnette, is a shipwreck historian who has personally identified many wrecks off of Florida. He is a scientific diver and regularly dives to depths to 400 feet on rebreathers for research. He has experience in diving deep depths in high currents. He may be interested in helping you....contact info is on his website uwex.us

 

[Whittman]

What kind of depths are you talking about? I'm comfortable diving to 250' on open circuit. Anything past that I'll leave to the rebreather folks...

 

[rgecy]

We had originally talked with Mike. He is certainly my first choice.

Whittman, the depth is bellow 250'.

Robert

 

[bobinsd]

Has anyone developed a method to control/stabilize a submersible robot in a high-current environment. I have an idea, but it's probably already in use.

 

[cornelis 816]

So bobinsd , Let us know what you have in mind . That is the purpose of this forum ! Cornelius

 

[bobinsd]

I am not a boat owner, nor am I familiar with underwater video/search equipment, except that it is controlled from above by nerds with joysticks. Love it. If the current were overpowering the thrust capabilities of the 'bot, I would anchor 50 feet or so into the current from the target. By attaching a caribiner? about 5-10 feet off the bottom up the anchor rope/chain, I could run the control cable/safety rope thru the caribiner and let the water current position the 'bot over the target. The anchor and the 'bot would be lowered simultaneously, but separated.
Thus, by offsetting the current forces with the safety rope, I could use the thrusters to move the 'bot in a side-to-side motion, like a lateral pendulum, and thus carve out a pie shape wedge of controlled area without risk of losing equipment. In fact, in strong enough current, it may be wise to attach multiple caribiners to the anchor rope at 20'-30' increments. That way the drag forces on the control cable will be minimized, and the caribiner design would allow for easy extraction of the cable/rope, sort of like those long-liners removing swordfish.

That's it... excuse me if I've exposed my nievity, but it just seemed like an obvious way to use Mother Nature rather than waste a day or longer.

 

[Salvor6]

Bob, the wreck is 300' deep. If you anchor at a 2:1 scope your anchor will be 600' in front of the wreck. When your bot gets close to the bottom it will be nowhere near the wreck.

 

[bobinsd]

Salvor...the anchor would be positioned only 50- 60 feet from the target, so that the length of the control/safety rope would be the length of the anchor rope plus the 50-60 foot radius. If the ropes are long enough, this method should be good at any depth, and no thruster energy would be use to get to the bottom. I don't know the def of "scope". I assume it is a ratio of depth to drift, but that would not be an issue once the anchor is positioned.

 

[Whittman]

300' in Florida is doable, would just be a short 10 to 15 min. bottom time...

 

[bronzecannons]

Old Man, I would love to see what the side-scan image looks like. Care to post it here?

Whittman, if you will dive down to 250 or 300 feet on open circuit you're a better man than me. I worked as a commercial diver in Southeast Asia for 20 years but wouldn't even attempt such a feat.

TW

 

[Whittman]

I don't know about that bronze cannons. Commercial diving has to be one of the hardest occupations out there. Been deep diving for a good number of years and it's not something you jump right into. Took years and years of gradually doing deeper and deeper stuff. Even during any given season, I'll only do the deeper stuff if I've had a lot of dives under my belt. I try to keep my depth under 250' because that's where my risk vs. reward ratio seems to be. Past 250' on open circuit can obviously be done, but is pretty serious stuff. The limited bottom time and extended decompression obligation makes it very unappealing most of the time. The rebreather folks now are doing some previously unheard of dives now... almost routinely. Who knows what the future will bring!

 

[bronzecannons]

The deepest I've been on SCUBA is about 150 feet. The deepest I've been while surface-supplied air diving is 220 feet. The deepest I've been while surface-supplied gas (He O2) diving is 240 feet. The deepest I've been while bell diving is 450 feet. In the offshore oilfield industry, we very rarely use SCUBA because it's considered not nearly as safe as using hose gear.
TW

 

[Digger54]

Whittman, if you will dive down to 250 or 300 feet on open circuit you're a better man than me.
TW

That goes for me too.

Deepest I have gone is 170 recreational on a regular tank and I did not like it at all. I did not feel good, I felt crummy at depth. A few weeks later tried it one more time but when reaching 165 got the same crummy feeling at depth. Majority of my deep dives were 130-140 looking for rare sea shells in Okinawa, during which I felt what I referred to as a dentist chair buzz which was not a bad feeling. Always had a reef to hang onto during the decompression stops and passed the time feeding I can't even imagine 250-300.

 

[FISHEYE]

Theres also a 4-8 knot current in that area all the time.

 

[bronzecannons]

Theres also a 4-8 knot current in that area all the time.

Sounds like a 'death wish' dive to me.
TW