Melbourne Shipwreck ID

Eric S · Sep 8, 2018

Good Day to All! I’ve 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, I’ve 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 “R. Hall”. 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 I’m hoping that the information I’ve 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!

agflit · Sep 8, 2018

Call Halls in Marathon...never know.

https://hallsdiving.com/

Good luck,

ag

ropesfish · Sep 9, 2018

Eric -do you mind if I share this around on Facebook and report back? I have a couple of thousand people I can get this in front of, if you like.
Let me know.

xaos · Sep 9, 2018

Hurricane Betsy.

Eric S · Sep 9, 2018

I am fine with sharing on facebook and exploring all possible sources of information. I've exhausted everything I can think of and I'm convinced there is an interesting story to bring to conclusion. It was a small community of divers in the 60s and I believe there has to be someone still around who can shed some light on this mystery. I'm also happy to talk to anyone if they would be more comfortable speaking in person. My cell is Eric at 321 480 8883.

signumops · Sep 10, 2018

ropesfish said:
Eric -do you mind if I share this around on Facebook and report back? I have a couple of thousand people I can get this in front of, if you like.
Let me know.

Hey ropesfish, be aware the ID Eric spoke of was issued by NASA/Gov., not Hall's Diving, ect. Subject was a local. I'm thinking the boat was scuttled.

ropesfish · Sep 10, 2018

signumops said:
Hey ropesfish, be aware the ID Eric spoke of was issued by NASA/Gov., not Hall's Diving, ect. Subject was a local. I'm thinking the boat was scuttled.

Gotcha Signumops...
Scuttling...the 60's approach to that deadly combo of rising dockage rates and lowering boat values.

Eric S · Sep 10, 2018

While I won't rule out anything, I just can think someone would deliberately scuttle a vessel full of dive gear and other equipment and tools that would have been valuable at the time. The regulators were Healthways Deluxe models which were manufactured between 1960-1963. They would have only been a couple years old when this ship went down in the middle to late 1060s.

xaos · Sep 10, 2018

its called insurance claim. Seems like with that equipment they would be experienced divers, and did not recover the ship or contents?

tarpon192 · Sep 10, 2018

Does Kyle Kennedy have anything to do with this?

A2coins · Sep 10, 2018

That's the scuttle butt

Eric S · Sep 10, 2018

We have no connection whatsoever to Seafarer. We have purposely maintained a low profile for the past 5 years to stay off the radar and out of the rumor mill.

We originally thought our site could have a connection to a missing vessel from the 1715 fleet as there were heavy timbers and iron fasteners consistent with a much older wreck. After 4 days on site last month we are now confident that our wreck is an older hull that was refitted with newer equipment and went down in August 1965 or after. Our only motivation at this point is to try to figure out what happened to the wreck we have located.

I recently reached out on T-net, Spearboard, and SCUBAboard in hopes someone would be able to help us connect some dots on our site. I'm still hopeful that our story will ring a bell with someone. We have a very long and interesting story and I'm hopeful I can relate it here with a conclusion! Thanks to all who are interested!

FISHEYE · Sep 10, 2018

Maybe the boat was anchored off somewhere and a storm took it out to sea and it sunk.

tarpon192 · Sep 10, 2018

Is this a view of the search boat by drone?

Eric S · Sep 11, 2018

Looks like lobster divers to me. But no, that is not us.

Eric S · Sep 24, 2018

I'm still hoping to hear from someone who knows who "R. Hall" might be. SCUBA diving in the middle to late 1060s was a small community and I've got to believe that someone or someone who knows someone might be able to help. We have extensive video of the site and I've attached a couple stills lifted from that video.