oceancorpD59
Tenderfoot
- #1
Thread Owner
For preface please see my previous post.
To the best of my recollection...
A classmate of mine at the Ocean Corporation (commercial diver training in Houston TX) called me up and said he found work as a diving tender and they were looking for more help. I needed the work so I said I was interested and arranged for an interview.
I met with the "company man" on a 180' supply boat at a busy Texas port. The ship was being outfitted with (2) elder buildings (trailer like structure for quarters with 4 bunks on one side and 6 on the other and a bathroom in between), decompression chambers, diving and tool compressors and jet pumps, all of this equipment being welded to the deck. He took me into a makeshift office set up in one side of one of the elder buildings. That's when he began his pitch to recruit me.
I had been told by my friend that it was treasure hunt. The company man showed me a picture of a piece of a gold bar and a ring in a hand. The ring was unusual being that the finger hole was very large, it had a lions face on it. I was told the large hole was so the ring could be worn over armor of the day. The gold bar had a noticeable shinny side but wasn't smooth. It was about 6 inches square, about a foot long. I was told that it was cut off a 6 foot long bar, one of many supposedly aboard, cut because the original bar was to large/heavy to be moved by hand. I was hooked !!!
In further discussion I was told that this was a sister ship to the Atocha. It's location was originally found by a couple guys that were active Navy men. Due to its depth and the clear water the wreckage was entirely covered by an estimated 22 feet of hard coral inside and out. The Navy men supposedly acted independently on this info stolen from the Navy. They went down to the wreck and started making holes in the coral. They successfully made a tunnel into the ship from the side. Once inside through the small tunnel they could barely fit through they cut the gold bar and took the ring. They couldn't use a crane as the hole was on the side, narrow and an estimated 50-60 feet long. Their story was that there were 28 chests full of riches and a 6 high and 6 deep stack of gold bars, again 6x6 inches and 6 feet long.
They left needing a better plan to get inside the ship. Eventually they came back with underwater explosives. They set the explosives on the top of the wreck and detonated them but only created a small crater in the top of the coral. The explosion caused 2 problems, one, it filled in a good portion of the tunnel they made and second it got the attention of the military. Supposedly they were arrested, I do not know when this occurred but I imagine it was after significant advances in diving were made. Also possibly around the time oil exploration began in the Gulf of Mexico. Definitely 2 guys carrying this out seems suspect so I'm sure there must be more to the story.
Another point was made that when the ship sank it was being towed and or escorted by 2 smaller ships with tin cladding. When the main ship sank it dragged down at least one of it's escorts.
That's about all the back story that I can think of. This is what I was told and I can't be certain that any of it is true. I signed a couple NDA's and a percentage guarantee and joined the crew !
The next 18 hours was spent loading groceries and securing everything to the deck. We had a 16 man dive crew and 6 boat crew, all secure and we head out.
It was about a 16 hour trip to the site and it took another 12 to get the 3 point anchors set up over the site. When we finally got in the water it was exactly how it was described ! An apparent crater on the top and part of a tunnel that was 25-30 feet deep, sideways in hard coral ! Not to mention between 150 & 200 miles offshore ! Something is definitely here !
This is getting kinda long so I think I'll make two parts. Coming next is my actual eye witness account of what I saw and how I almost died twice on this "job".
To the best of my recollection...
A classmate of mine at the Ocean Corporation (commercial diver training in Houston TX) called me up and said he found work as a diving tender and they were looking for more help. I needed the work so I said I was interested and arranged for an interview.
I met with the "company man" on a 180' supply boat at a busy Texas port. The ship was being outfitted with (2) elder buildings (trailer like structure for quarters with 4 bunks on one side and 6 on the other and a bathroom in between), decompression chambers, diving and tool compressors and jet pumps, all of this equipment being welded to the deck. He took me into a makeshift office set up in one side of one of the elder buildings. That's when he began his pitch to recruit me.
I had been told by my friend that it was treasure hunt. The company man showed me a picture of a piece of a gold bar and a ring in a hand. The ring was unusual being that the finger hole was very large, it had a lions face on it. I was told the large hole was so the ring could be worn over armor of the day. The gold bar had a noticeable shinny side but wasn't smooth. It was about 6 inches square, about a foot long. I was told that it was cut off a 6 foot long bar, one of many supposedly aboard, cut because the original bar was to large/heavy to be moved by hand. I was hooked !!!
In further discussion I was told that this was a sister ship to the Atocha. It's location was originally found by a couple guys that were active Navy men. Due to its depth and the clear water the wreckage was entirely covered by an estimated 22 feet of hard coral inside and out. The Navy men supposedly acted independently on this info stolen from the Navy. They went down to the wreck and started making holes in the coral. They successfully made a tunnel into the ship from the side. Once inside through the small tunnel they could barely fit through they cut the gold bar and took the ring. They couldn't use a crane as the hole was on the side, narrow and an estimated 50-60 feet long. Their story was that there were 28 chests full of riches and a 6 high and 6 deep stack of gold bars, again 6x6 inches and 6 feet long.
They left needing a better plan to get inside the ship. Eventually they came back with underwater explosives. They set the explosives on the top of the wreck and detonated them but only created a small crater in the top of the coral. The explosion caused 2 problems, one, it filled in a good portion of the tunnel they made and second it got the attention of the military. Supposedly they were arrested, I do not know when this occurred but I imagine it was after significant advances in diving were made. Also possibly around the time oil exploration began in the Gulf of Mexico. Definitely 2 guys carrying this out seems suspect so I'm sure there must be more to the story.
Another point was made that when the ship sank it was being towed and or escorted by 2 smaller ships with tin cladding. When the main ship sank it dragged down at least one of it's escorts.
That's about all the back story that I can think of. This is what I was told and I can't be certain that any of it is true. I signed a couple NDA's and a percentage guarantee and joined the crew !
The next 18 hours was spent loading groceries and securing everything to the deck. We had a 16 man dive crew and 6 boat crew, all secure and we head out.
It was about a 16 hour trip to the site and it took another 12 to get the 3 point anchors set up over the site. When we finally got in the water it was exactly how it was described ! An apparent crater on the top and part of a tunnel that was 25-30 feet deep, sideways in hard coral ! Not to mention between 150 & 200 miles offshore ! Something is definitely here !
This is getting kinda long so I think I'll make two parts. Coming next is my actual eye witness account of what I saw and how I almost died twice on this "job".
