Monday. October 22,
2007
Weather: Sunny, high 70˚F/24˚C
Water Temperature: 64˚F/18˚C
Visibility: 0 to 2.5ft/0.76m
Current: 0.5 to 1 knot
We arrived at Clarksburg Sunday evening and set up
our camp at Clarksburg Marina, about 1 mile north of the shipwreck
site. Today was the first day of fieldwork. We spent the morning
preparing the boats, dive gear and underwater guideline. Then we were
off to the site.
Prepping the gear at the dock.
It was a beautiful day on the Sacramento. The sun
was shining and the temperature was in the high seventies – perfect
weather! It takes two small inflatable boats to carry all the team and
their gear.
John Foster in one of the project's
luxurious watercraft.
Once in the water, it took us a while to relocate
the shipwreck. Although we dropped in right on the shipwreck, in the
year since we located the wreck, approximately seven feet of silt has
accumulated. This is incredible deposition in only 12 months. The hull
that stood proud off the bottom last October is completely covered in
silt this year. Carefully searching in what we knew was the right area
we finally came upon the tops of several frames and followed them along
the bottom until we found the stempost protruding about two feet out of
the silt.
Although we were relieved to find the site, we had
to step back and rethink our methodology and survey strategies since
there is very little exposed hull to map.
In the afternoon we set the underwater guideline
from the stempost aft to where the shipwreck completely disappears under
the silt. The guideline is bright red and in the dark waters of the
river with less than three feet of visibility, the guide helps the
divers efficiently navigate around the shipwreck site. Anytime any part
of one of the divers equipment touched the bottom all visibility was
lost and we had to sit still and wait for the current to carry the
sediment away.
Measuring tape on the stempost.
After breaking down today’s dive gear we spent the
evening preparing for our work tomorrow. We discussed what each of saw
underwater and compiled our list of tasks to accomplish tomorrow. This
includes:
-
Compass bearing on the stempost
-
Compass bearings on the guidelines
-
Depths around the site
-
Detailed map of stempost
-
Detailed map of broken port hull fragment
Working in the RV.
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