YF-415

Bill inspects the port propeller on the YF-415

Snuck away from my busy schedule for a short road trip with Bedford up to New England this past weekend. I had heard many good things about the Gauntlet which is run by Heather Knowles and Dave Caldwell out of Salem, Massachusetts and took the opportunity to hop on a charter to the USS YF-415. The YF-415 was a Navy lighter that sank when its cargo of ordnance exploded and sent her to the bottom of Massachusetts Bay, 230 feet below. The wreck has been found and identified relatively recently and you can read much more about the ship and discovery on the NADE website.

The ride out to the wreck was short by Jersey diving standards and we were on the wreck in under an hour which was pretty sweet. We splashed into a school of small dogfish who gave us some curious looks as we paused for a bubble check at 20 feet before heading down. The visibility in midwater was great and slowly faded from a bright emerald green to darker and darker shades before finally going lights out with only hints of ambient light remaining and about 15 feet or so of visibility but with a good amount of particulates which made me wonder if dragging the camera was a lost cause. The wreck isnt that big and we did a quick orientation which was easy since we were tied into the large towing bit on the aft deck. I fired up the camera which caused some confusion with my unsuspecting buddy. We dropped over the elliptical stern and checked out the twin props which rise 10-15 feet off the bottom. Coming back up the hull to deck level was a treat as the wreck is completely carpeted in beautiful anemones and little orange fishys. We headed forward and explored what remains of the superstructure. We had just dropped back down to the main deck forward of the superstructure when Bill gave me the light and signal that he was cold enough (it was 42 F from 230 up to 20 feet) and ready to roll a little earlier than our planned bottom time. Deco was uneventful until we met up with our dogfish friends again at the shallow stops who kept us company and made the long hang go quickly (for me at least).

The Gauntlet was a nice boat run by good people and it's safe to say we'll be back.

Side view of aft doorway into the superstructure and towing bit (right)

Dropping over the stern, you can just make out Bill's light


Port side propeller of the YF-415


Heading back up to the main deck level

Inside the deck house

Bedford got a little disoriented by the flashing lights

The remains of the periscope (just kidding this is where the smokestack was)


Looking inside the hole in the above image


Time to go

More info:

North Atlantic Dive Expeditions

Gary Gentile's newish Shipwrecks of Massachusetts: North

Chesapeake Bay

Sorry for the non-dive post but people keep asking about where I am living now so here is the overdue shot before I split for the weekend...

My front yard :-)

Stolt Dagali

Dan Martinez inside the engine room of the STOLT DAGALI

Made it out to the STOLT DAGALI today and got a chance to play with my strobes. Despite the flat seas we were forced to proceed at a reduced pace due to some heavy fog. The Independence II steamed on and we made it in decent enough time. The STOLT is one of the areas best dives and offers a little of something for everyone. Bill tied us in nice and high on the top of the wreck around 60 fsw. The first time Jersey divers on board were spoiled by the flat seas, lack of current, and great visibility which was at least 40 feet on top of the wreck but dropped down to around 15 feet or so near the bottom at 130 fsw. I headed down to the sand to play with my exposure settings before taking a tour along the sand. I gradually worked my way up and came across Danny who was entering the engine room area. Anxious to have a model and test the power of my strobes in the inky darkness of the cavernous engine room, I followed suit. I think Dan was annoyed with the blinding flashes because he didn't waste much time disappearing out of sight into a hatch going deeper into the recesses of the tanker. All too soon it was time to head outwards and upwards.

Top of the wreck looking forward

Entering the engine room

The engine

Heading up

Identification of the WWII tug KESHENA

After diving the KESHENA last week in North Carolina I read in Gary Gentile's Wrecks of North Carolina South book on the boat ride in that the wreck had been first positively identified by New Jersey's own Gene Peterson who recovered the letters off the bow. I contacted Gene when I got back to try and find out more about this piece of wreck diving history and he was awesome enough to share the story of the recovery and a picture of the brass letters which now reside in the Atlantic Divers shop. Here's the story from Gene, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


From Gene Peterson:

"I can't recall the year... it was a couple dozen years ago. So many wrecks we dived with fishing boats and then Truman Seaman, Roger Huffman, Eddie Jack and Arty Kirshner. I know it was speculated that the little tug was the Keshena when we dived it. It wasn't one of our choice destination, but I thought it was a real pretty dive. I guess because it was shallow the group figured it was picked over. All the divers came up wanting to go to another sight, saying there wasn't much to see. I was mating for Roger and I remember being exhausted from all the weeks tie ins, so I sat out. Arty didn't want to pull the hook so I made a quick bounce swim to the wreck, did a little tour and then went to pull the grapnel snagged in the bow. I did a double take of the chain which was rubbing the growth off the side of the bow. There attached in place were all the letters. I pulled out my knife and popped the loose brass KEHENA letters from port side and then swam to the other side and popped off the other letters which also spelled KEHENA. The S was missing on both sides. Some of the letters were made of lead and quite possibly the S may have been made of steel or just fell to the sand. I did look but I never found either. That dive lasted only about 10 minutes including recovering the letters and pulling the hook. Back on the boat six divers were waiting anticipating a one of my dull anchor pulling stories when I dumped my goody bag on the deck with 12 assorted brass letters. I kept one side of the letters and gave each of the group one letter. They were quite happy and wanted to return anticipating more discoveries. We did find a couple port holes but the wreck was so sanded in there wasn't really much more. I told Gary about the letters and we both speculated that the S must have been steel and corroded away, fallen to the sand or is still there or the name was put on the bow by an illiterate yard worker on a Friday. A few months later a lucky female diver recovered a large brass bell. It did have the name on it and it was spelled KESHENA. She positively identified the wreck's correct spelling. "