SHIP: 29-30 April report
SHIP Recon Report: 2006-04: Lower Potomac River
29 April: After several tries we finally got the mooring buoy on the U-1105 site for the summer season. Many thanks to the people who helped do the job!
30 April: We scanned ten potential sites in the lower Potomac, found structure at five of them, and dived two.
One is the steel barge we visited before. We thought she might be tank barge STC 410, which exploded at the Piney Point oil terminal on 20 December 1986. We measured the beam of the barge to be 42' 6", but the beam of STC 410 was reported by NTSB to be 60' 0". So we don't know who she is. But she is modern, and we do not plan to return.
The other site we dived is a wooden structure with significant relief. At first glance her scantlings seem too light to be a barge. We will return over the next few weeks and map it -- and investigate the other three sites we did not dive.