2004/01/17
WWII Minefield Wrecks of Bosilka and Luckenbach by Matt Hoelscher

What are the WWII Minefield wrecks?

The US Navy laid a minefield in the Florida Straights to prevent and sink German U-boats from attacking US shipping interests. However after laying the minefield, the US Navy didn’t put it out on navigational maps and ended up sinking 4 of our ships including a Destroyer. These wrecks were considered a hazard to navigation and were dynamited and wire-dragged. I studied the history of these wrecks from “Shipwrecks of the Sunshine State” by Michael Barnett. The GIS map below was created by Erik Neugaard.



Captain Chris Norwood
Dive Charter: http://www.floridastraitsdiving.com

Photo Gallery:http://www.tiswango.com/photos/040117keywest/

Friday 1/16/04

We drove down to Marathon to make the Holiday Inn in Marathon our base of operations. We caught up with Andrea at the Snapper Creek service plaza for an Argentinean picnic of small sandwiches and empanadas. After getting off the turnpike, US1 was closed and we were detoured onto Card Sound Road. The additional 15 minutes wasn’t a big deal. The drive to Marathon was much easier then I remembered last year when we drove down Saturday afternoon.



Saturday 1/17/04

We found Eric Neugaard resting in a car at the marina. Bob Camus came up and gave us a big welcome and told us where to drop our gear off. We loaded the 26ft Dusky “Lucky Dog” and headed off. Captain Chris Norwood asked we move forward while he gets up on plane. After kicking it up, the port engine asked for a day off. After checking the lines he kicked it up again, no go. The third time he got is up and running. I lost a little faith as we were heading 28 miles out, but we had no problems after that. He just had the engine overhauled for the long trip



Captain Chris took the “back roads” out through Jewfish Cut. He was on high alert as the Dog weaved through the “Bubba sticks”. Bubba was nice enough to put out some unofficial PVC poles with reflective tape to mark the channel. Cruising at 29.5 knots in water 3 ft deep is a hollow feeling. Small birds were standing up in inches of water. The boat only had to chairs seating, but Chris put out cushions and we found comfy spots on the boat. Bob and I shared a cooler for the ride out. We left at 8 AM and got out to the first wreck at 9 AM.



Conditions
Seas 1-2, with an occasional 3
Sunny
Air temp 70
Water temp 66 (gulf side)
Visibility 30ft, with whale snot
Current slight North, no surge

Dive 1: Bosilka
9:34 AM
S: Matt, Andrea, Charlie
A: 32%
D: 60ft plan, 59 max
D: 60 min, 59 rt
D: Around the wreck, drift off with anchor
D: 40 deep, 20/3 10/3

Captain Chris painted the wreck a couple of times on the 3D bottom finder and dropped anchor near the stern. We geared up and back rolled in. The new hooded vest kept the frigid water from hitting my spine, but I felt it on my face. This was 7 mil water, not 3! We check the anchor to make sure it was secure and found numerous bottles in the sand.



I have been reading Gary Gentile’s guide to wreck diving since I would finally be diving a wreck and not an artificial reef. One of the first chapters talks about how ships break down over time in the ocean. I was expecting a little more form and definition to the wrecks. On the bottom, it was flatten piles of steel in various angles and depths. There were Grouper everywhere. We saw Goliath, Gag, Black, and Reds in all different sizes. If I were spearfishing I would only have to choose which one with big enough. I’ve never seen more than one or two Grouper on the predicted wrecks off Miami. Here they were all many to abundant on my REEF fish survey.



There were Belted Sandfish everywhere along with Gray Snapper and some Grunts. Along one side of the wreck there was a 6ft path of hull 1ft wide scraped clean of growth and bright red with rust. I’m guessing it was caused by the small Loggerhead turtle wedged in the wreck. It looked like he crashed landed, perhaps he had to much to drink last night! After a couple minutes of observation he backed out and took off.



It felt like a winter dive, the water was cold and turf algae dominated the wreck. Along with the whale snot, it felt like were diving in a blizzard. the wrecks were white with little color except for some pink sponge. There was small corals in colonies less than ten total. As I headed South the wreck it got bigger, with more debris. We followed one trail and found our first Goliath. I was expecting several, but only saw two. We cornered one under some cover for pictures. I was waiting for a boom, but I guess we didn’t look threatening enough. I found several pieces of wreck in interested shapes besides hull plates, but have not idea what they actually were.



Near the other end, there was a Southern Stingray near the bow. On the way back there were a couple swim through in the hull plates. As we came back the other side I saw a huge doom appear out of the gloom. Gary’s book mentioned after a wreck deteriorates, the boiler is the tallest feature left. The boiler was much bigger then I imagined, but I guess to generate several thousand horse power it would take something of size to boil a lot of water.



Back at the anchor, I dug out a small intact bottle from the sand. This ship was carrying medical supplies and there are bottles all over. Charlie got out the lift bag and the plan was to drift with the anchor. After adding gas it wouldn’t budge, I went grabbed the anchor and unwedged it, there was so much gas I couldn’t get it back neutral and let it fly. Andrea got out her sausage and we ascended under it.



The Dog was right there to pick us up. The surface was chilly, but the sun helped. We motored slowly over a mile and a half to the next wreck.

Dive 2: Luckenbach
11:46 AM
SI 1:12
S: Matt, Andrea, Charlie
A: 32%
D: 60ft plan, 64 max
D: 60 min, 54 rt
D: Around the wreck, drift off with anchor
D: 40 deep, 20/3 10/3



Andrea was cold and wanted to only do a short dive. For the time, money, and effort, I wanted as much dive time as I could stand. Andrea paired up with Erik who as wearing a 6 mil shorty with long sleeves. We all jumped in together and headed down the anchor. It was secure as well. This wreck was much more intense as there was more wreckage and numerous swim thrus. We got all the way up one side of the wreck in 18 minutes and Erik and Andrea turned around the head home. Charlie and I did some swim thrus and headed back to the anchor. Not freezing yet, we headed off in another direction to see a different part of the wreck. By keeping the navigation simple, it was easy to find the anchor again. This is another key tip in Gary’s book. If you can’t navigate by landmarks, run a line.



The cold was interfering with my brain process and all I could think about was “cold makes you stupid!” I was glad to only be in 60ft of water. It was hard to shoot photos and fish count at the same time. I just didn’t have the brain power. The same fish were on the is wreck, but not as many of them. The Sheepshead were huge. We saw two large White Grunts “Jaw off” at each other for dominance. I pondered how they actually declare the winner? There isn’t a third independent Grunt to judge. This rivalry was intense as the fish were ramming into each other with mouths open trying to get the other fish to back down.



The swim through were excellent on this wreck. I peaked, timidly, into each shadow to avoid a face off with a Goliath. After 40 minutes we went back to the anchor and lift-bagged it with a more skill this time. I brought it up and we went for a ride over the sand as the wind pulled the boat. At one point the chain hit bottom and startled a stingray into a full speed escape. I enjoyed the 5 minute “poor man’s scooter ride.” Captain Chris was right, there was nothing else out here by dusty fine powered sand.



On the surface, Chris pulled us in to the boat and we got back on board. Andrea found a small crab on the deck and played with it before returning it to the sea. Chris headed home, but gave us all the time we needed to get ready for the run in. I rested in the stern to avoiding the bumpy bow. We got back at 2 PM which wasn’t too bad considering the distance traveled.



Impressions



This was not a relaxing, pretty fishy, dive trip. This was more like exploration. You never know what your going to get. I learned a lot, but it wasn’t what I expected at all. I could see coming back to dive the other two wrecks just to say I dove them. But there the lack of fish and lack of structure means you really have to know about wreck diving to see the story of the ship. Gentile’s booked also mentioned that wrecks that go “turtle” last longer as the round shape of the wreck supports the weight better underwater. I would like to see the USS Sturtevant to see if there is any more left of that wreck compared to the others. The Guvnor is in two pieces that are hard to see on one dive.



At least diving gives you a reason to see the sunrise in the morning and set in the evening. There was a beautiful sunset as we headed back to Marathon to spend the night. In our rooms, we partied with two 6 packs of good beer and watched the cooking channel for 3 hours straight, the best being the Iron Chef Competition. We went to sleep early to get ready to dive the Thunderbolt in the morning!