Good Day to All! Iāve been a long time follower of this site but posting now for the first time and hoping to tap into some knowledge from the past. A very long story short, Iāve been working for the past 5 years with a group that has located a shipwreck off Melbourne, Florida. It is in State waters and we have a valid 1A-31 permit amended to allow dig and identify. Initially this wreck appeared to be very old as there were heavy wood timbers with iron fasteners. There was also modern wreckage distributed in the wreck site.
We spent 4 days on site this past August and were able to determine with certainty that the newer materials were indeed connected to the heavy wood timbers. In other words, it appears that someone had refitted an old hull (likely a sailing vessel) with more modern equipment. This equipment includes two 4 cylinder gasoline engines connected to marine gears with brass propeller shafts. The wreck appears to be complete but is badly broken up and tangled in at least 3 trawl nets.
We believe this vessel sank suddenly and unexpectedly and was not salvaged as we found a lot of equipment that would have been valuable prior to sinking. Most notable was at least two complete sets of vintage SCUBA gear and tanks as well as tools and other equipment. We also located an identification credential issued in August, 1965, to a person named āR. Hallā. Everything else we saw was consistent with a vessel that sank in the middle to late 1960s.
I have talked to a number of people and agencies and at this point exhausted all the resources I have in identifying this wreck. I believe there is a story to be finished and Iām hoping that the information Iāve shared here will bring back some memories. Please feel free to private message me if you can help shed any light on this story. Thank You!
We spent 4 days on site this past August and were able to determine with certainty that the newer materials were indeed connected to the heavy wood timbers. In other words, it appears that someone had refitted an old hull (likely a sailing vessel) with more modern equipment. This equipment includes two 4 cylinder gasoline engines connected to marine gears with brass propeller shafts. The wreck appears to be complete but is badly broken up and tangled in at least 3 trawl nets.
We believe this vessel sank suddenly and unexpectedly and was not salvaged as we found a lot of equipment that would have been valuable prior to sinking. Most notable was at least two complete sets of vintage SCUBA gear and tanks as well as tools and other equipment. We also located an identification credential issued in August, 1965, to a person named āR. Hallā. Everything else we saw was consistent with a vessel that sank in the middle to late 1960s.
I have talked to a number of people and agencies and at this point exhausted all the resources I have in identifying this wreck. I believe there is a story to be finished and Iām hoping that the information Iāve shared here will bring back some memories. Please feel free to private message me if you can help shed any light on this story. Thank You!
