Submerged Volvos in Halifax Harbor?
blurp
day in Halifax and visited the Marine Museum there. On the second
floor, as part of a display covering the rich heritage of sinking
ships, was a satelite map of Halifax harbor with certain submerged
landmarks annotated. The most unusual of the notes was one indicating
a point where there was a pile of volvos lay at the bottom of the
harbor.
No one there could explain it for us and I've never been able to find
an answer as to what a pile of Volvo's would be doing on the bottom of
the harbor (besides rusting). My best guess is either improperly
secured freight or part of a trade dispute.
Anyone know more?
blurp
Joseph Oberlander
Nope - entire ship full of them sank.
blurp
shipwreck rather than submerged cars. Perhaps they salvaged the ship
but some cars stayed behind.
Got any more details?
blurp
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:25:27 GMT, the illustrious Joseph Oberlander
<josephob...@earthlink.net> favored us with the following prose:
Joseph Oberlander
> Wow, that's too bad. You'd think they'd mark it on the map as a
> shipwreck rather than submerged cars. Perhaps they salvaged the ship
> but some cars stayed behind.
IIRC, the ship was a huge navagational hazzard, so it was
cut up in sections and raised to the surface. About 1/4
or so of the cars didn't make it up with the pieces.
James Sweet
"Joseph Oberlander" <josephob...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:Q4uYb.7623$tL3....@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
How deep are they? Seems like someone would have tried to salvage rims and
plastic parts if it's not too hard to get to.
blurp
area...maybe not a safe recreational diving environment. In searching
for details I came across this report of a different wreck from
Cyprus:
"Since it sank one nautical mile off the Larnaca coast 19 years ago,
the Swedish vessel carrying a cargo of Volvos has become a tourist
attraction for pleasure divers. Several local diving schools
specialise in expeditions to the wreck."
Let this be a lesson to all you freight captains: Beware the Curse of
the Volvos!
blurp
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:53:32 GMT, the illustrious "James Sweet"
<james...@hotmail.com> favored us with the following prose:
blurp
http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/review/2002/english/BIO_2002_in_Review.pdf
"Highlights of the talk focused on the presence of former islands in
the basin; archaeological sites of interest; the discovery of the Erg
shipwreck - a wartime sinking in the basin with the loss of 19 lives;
the discovery of the barge that caused the 1945 magazine explosion; 32
Volvo automobiles on the bottom; and many other fascinating aspects of
the seabed."
So there's 32 of them. Now I just need to figure out what year they're
from and I'll start putting the expedition team together.
Who needs parts?
blurp
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:43:32 -0500, the illustrious blurp
<ad...@hotmail.com> favored us with the following prose:
blurp
http://gom.nrcan.gc.ca/benthic/pdf/fader_etal_1999.pdf includes a nice
sonogram of the sea floor in the bedford basin and points out a few
scattered Volvos.
They refer to the cars as "...discarded Volvo automobiles whose roofs
have been collapsed before dumping. Known targets like these provide
calibration for trials to improve sonar resolution."
So the mystery both deepens and becomes less mysterious.
Go figure.
blurp
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:52:56 -0500, the illustrious blurp
Stephen M. Henning
1) (Bedford Basin) Highlights of the talk focused on the presence of
former islands in the basin; archaeological sites of interest; the
discovery of the Erg shipwreck - a wartime sinking in the basin with the
loss of 19 lives; the discovery of the barge that caused the 1945
magazine explosion; 32 Volvo automobiles on the bottom; and many other
fascinating aspects of the seabed.
http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/review/2002/english/BIO_2002_in_Revi
ew.asp?n=5
2) (Bedford Basin) 330 kHz sidescan sonogram from Bedford Basin,
Halifax Harbour, collected with a neutrally bouyant and decoupled
towfish, configured to minimize towfish motion. Image shows flat muddy
seabed with linear anchor drag marks. The approximately 20 rectangular
features on the seabed are discarded Volvo automobiles whose roofs have
been colapsed before dumping. Known targets like these provide
calibration for trials to improve sonar resolution.
http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/review/1996/Fader/Fader_e.html
Of unrelated interest is the 1917 Halifax Disaster and the biggest
non-nuclear explosion. It compared with 9-11 in terms of tragedy.
On December 6, 1917, two war ships, a Belgian relief ship, Imo, and a
French ship carrying munitions, the Mont Blanc, fatally collided in
Halifax Harbor. Incorrect signaling and misunderstanding between the two
ships led the Imo to strike the side of the Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc,
which was carrying 400,000 pounds of TNT, 300 rounds of ammunitions,
along with other explosive ingredients, caught fire and drifted closer
into the city of Halifax. Before the fire could be put out, the Mont
Blanc exploded creating the "biggest man-made explosion before the
nuclear age". The explosion killed over 2,000 people and injured 9,000.
The explosion caused $28 million in damage - 326 acres of the north-end
of Halifax's waterfront had been destroyed.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to rhod...@earthlink.net
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA, USA
Owned '67,'68,'71,'74,'79,'81,'87,'93,'95 & '02 Volvos.
The '67,'74,'79,'87,'95 and '02 through European Delivery.
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/volvo.html
Bigjon
I don't know about that one, but in December 2002
a ship sank and dumped a few in the English Channel....
"...About 1800 Volvo cars were on board,
350 of which were state of the art 2003 Volvo XC90s,
worth up to $50 million..."
http://www.autoworld.com/news/full_story.asp?id=2105
--
You can't have it all....
Where would you put it anyway ??
http://www.topqualityfreeware.com/phpBB/index.php
Joseph Oberlander
> I don't know about that one, but in December 2002
> a ship sank and dumped a few in the English Channel....
>
> "...About 1800 Volvo cars were on board,
> 350 of which were state of the art 2003 Volvo XC90s,
> worth up to $50 million..."
Ah - that's the one I was thinking about.
Rick Auricchio
Joseph Oberlander <josephob...@earthlink.net> wrote:
You can read about the salvage of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002:
<http://www.tricolorsalvage.com>
Here are photos of the aft section of the cut-up ship on the dock
afterward. I was particularly amazed at their ability to cut through
things like the propeller shafts.
<http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/mpg/tricolorAutos/tricol
orAutos.html>
This whole sinking business was amusing to read, since I have an XC90
on order. According to the tracking info at the shipping company, my
car was unloaded this morning in Los Angeles...
--
- rick http://www.cfcl.com/~rick/
Rick Auricchio Acoustic Legacy Studios ri...@cfcl.com
I acknowledge the existence of a higher power, and have therefore installed
surge suppressors.
Gary Heston
Rick Auricchio <ri...@cfcl.com> wrote:
[ ... ]
>Here are photos of the aft section of the cut-up ship on the dock
>afterward. I was particularly amazed at their ability to cut through
>things like the propeller shafts.
><http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/mpg/tricolorAutos/tricol
>orAutos.html>
[ ... ]
It's easy, with an abrasive cable. They're used to slice chunks off
of mountains without explosives. Given enough time and abrasive, I
doubt there's anything that can withstand them.
Gary
--
Gary Heston ghe...@hiwaay.net
Contrary to popular opinion, _not_ everyone loves Raymond.
Stephen M. Henning
> You can read about the salvage of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002:
This has nothing to do with Halifax Harbor, it says:
"The ŚTRICOLORą is a 1987 built Norwegian flagged vehicle carrier,
which, in the early hours of 14 December 2002, was struck by ŚKaribaą, a
1982 built Bahamian flagged container ship in the French Exclusive
Economic Zone some 20 miles north of the French coast in the English
channel."
The last time I looked, the English Channel and French Coast weren't in
Halifax Harbor.
<<FNP>>
But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!??? Those pictures were
something!!!
On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 01:54:01 -0000, ghe...@hiwaay.net (Gary Heston)
wrote:
Sharon Klein
"<<FNP>>" <f...@op.net> wrote in message
news:g25i309ecfvfr4mtr...@4ax.com...
Stephen M. Henning
> But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!??? Those pictures were
> something!!!
They did the same thing with the nuclear submarine that sank off the
coast of Finland and Norway a few years ago when I was vacationing
there. Submarines are made of much heavier metal and much more
substantial than a freighter.
Rick Auricchio
> Rick Auricchio <ri...@cfcl.com> wrote:
>
> > You can read about the salvage of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002:
>
> This has nothing to do with Halifax Harbor, it says:
> The last time I looked, the English Channel and French Coast weren't in
> Halifax Harbor.
I realize that. It's just that somewhere in the preceding posts,
somebody began mentioning stuff that seemed like it was part of the
Tricolor story. That's why I provided the links, to help clarify
things.
Rick Auricchio
> > But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!???
>
> They did the same thing with the nuclear submarine that sank off the
> coast of Finland and Norway a few years ago when I was vacationing
> there.
Steve, were you able to see any of the action? (Yeah, I know, it was
underwater.)
I'm wondering if it was really noisy.
Stephen M. Henning
> Steve, were you able to see any of the action? (Yeah, I know, it was
> underwater.)
No, they had a real tight security zone because it was a nuclear sub
presumably with weapons on board.
george stady
blurp wrote:
there is also a legend of a load of early p1800s and scotch whiskey that
went down in the channel in the early sixties. unconfirmed, just thought
id add that
Bev A. Kupf
george stady (gst...@shaw.ca) wrote:
> there is also a legend of a load of early p1800s and scotch whiskey that
> went down in the channel in the early sixties.
The P1800s would have bought it, but the Scotch should have aged nicely.
Except it probably wouldn't be in casks -- still a thought.
--
Bev A. Kupf
"The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne" -- Chaucer
Tintin turns 75 <http://www.tintin.com>
Gary Heston
>But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!??? Those pictures were
>something!!!
[ ... ]
Actually, I think they cut it into five or six sections. The technique
is rather simple, just on a large scale.
For something the size of the Tricolor, use an abrasive cable (flexible
steel with carbide bits bonded to it, for example) about 1500' (457m)
long and about 2" (50mm) in diameter for a vessel in 1600' (487m) of water.
Position one barge on each side of the vessel where the cut is to be
made, each barge having a large, powerful winch on board. Each winch
needs enough cable to reach to the bottom where the vessel lies. The
abrasive cable is attached to one winch and lowered until the downward
end is at the bottom beside the vessel.
The other winch lowers its' cable to the bottom, where it is passed
under the vessel (a tunnel can be dug with a pressure hose) and attached
to the free end of the abrasive cable. The first winch then pays out
cable as the second draws in, getting the abrasive cable pulled under
the vessel. Once it's through, the barges tighten the cables, then
alternate pulling and paying cable, keeping the tension on.
Eventually, the abrasive cable grinds through the hull, decking,
bulkheads, piping, cargo, and anything else in the way.
Then, someone with a big crane on a big barge gets to hoist up a few
hundred tons of scrap...
Gary Heston
>> > But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!???
>> They did the same thing with the nuclear submarine that sank off the
>> coast of Finland and Norway a few years ago when I was vacationing
>> there.
>Steve, were you able to see any of the action? (Yeah, I know, it was
>underwater.)
>I'm wondering if it was really noisy.
The engines driving the winches are probably diesels, which will be
pretty noisy.
Underwater, there'd be a long scraping sound, a pause, another long
scraping sound, pause, scrape, pause, scrape, etc.
Might be an occasional clanging sound when a large piece of metal
comes loose and bounces around.
Joseph Oberlander
Bev A. Kupf wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 22:45:56 GMT,
> george stady (gst...@shaw.ca) wrote:
>
>
>>there is also a legend of a load of early p1800s and scotch whiskey that
>>went down in the channel in the early sixties.
>
>
> The P1800s would have bought it, but the Scotch should have aged nicely.
> Except it probably wouldn't be in casks -- still a thought.
IIRC, there was a load of wine and champaigne that sunk during
WWI in the hcannel that they hauled up.
The pressure had forced seawater into the wine bottles, but the
champaigne was as good as new as its pressure counteracted the
depth.
So the Scotch would be bad as well.
Patrik
> I know it was in the Bedford Basin which is a pretty high-traffic
> area...maybe not a safe recreational diving environment. In searching
> for details I came across this report of a different wreck from
> Cyprus:
>
> "Since it sank one nautical mile off the Larnaca coast 19 years ago,
> the Swedish vessel carrying a cargo of Volvos has become a tourist
> attraction for pleasure divers. Several local diving schools
> specialise in expeditions to the wreck."
>
> Let this be a lesson to all you freight captains: Beware the Curse of
> the Volvos!
>
> blurp
Funny, I have actually dived that wreck! It's called the Zenobia and
its full of Volvo and Scania trucks, that where headed for Africa.
It was a strange feeling to swim around inside that boat I tell you
/Patrik
Rick Auricchio
> Underwater, there'd be a long scraping sound, a pause, another long
> scraping sound, pause, scrape, pause, scrape, etc.
Yeah, this is the sound that I expect could end up being heard a great
distance. Diesel noise too, of course.
The Tricolor was in shallow water; you could see the hull under perhaps
30 feet of water. This at least made it easy for the divers to work
down there. If the wreck were in deep water or outside of the shipping
lane, perhaps they would have left it there.
Peter Milnes
already.
Cheers, Peter.
"Rick Auricchio" <ri...@cfcl.com> wrote in message
news:250220040833164386%ri...@cfcl.com...
Rick Auricchio
> Just out of interest the wreck has been hit by at least a couple of ships
> already.
Three or four, as a matter of fact. Two hits within about a month of
the sinking (despite being marked with a light), and another a few
months later. I'm pretty sure there was a fourth hit too.
The ship that sank the Tricolor had apparently changed course to avoid
hitting another ship...
It was mentioned on another web site whose URL I now forget.
--
- rick http://www.cfcl.com/~rick/
Rick Auricchio Macs Only: Macintosh support ri...@cfcl.com
VB
--
For full context, visit https://www.motorsforum.com/volvo/submerged-volvos-in-halifax-harbor-38731-.htm