Steam yacht Anona, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University.

Anona was a steam yacht built in 1904 by George Lawley and Sons of Boston, Massachusetts for Mr. Theodore DeLong Buhl, a wealthy Detroit Industrialist and son-in-law of Hiram Walker, the founder of the Canadian Club Whiskey Distillery.  The vessel was propeller driven with one deck, two masts, a billet head, and an elliptic stern.  Anona was a 146-ton vessel, 117.3 feet long, 17.5 feet wide at the beam and a 10.2 feet depth of hold.  At the time of the Anona' s loss in the Gulf of Mexico in 1944 she was owned by the PanAmerican Banana Producers Association and was carrying potatoes to the West Indies. 

In May 2002, BP Exploration contracted C&C Technologies to perform a site-specific archaeological study of an unidentified shipwreck in the Viosca Knoll Area of the Gulf of Mexico.  Originally located during a 1995 survey, the wreck had been tentatively identified as a modern supply boat.  The 2002 survey was conducted with the goal of better identifying the wreck using C&C‘s HUGIN 3000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV).  The data collected with the HUGIN 3000 suggested the vessel was historic rather than modern in origin.  Following the survey by C&C, BP sponsored a visual inspection of the vessel with an ROV.  Based on the data, as well as the historical record, the wreck was identified as the steam yacht Anona.

A sidescan image of Anona, courtesy BP Exploration and C&C Technologies

 The wreck of Anona lies in approximately 4,130 feet of water and is in a good state of preservation.  It is covered with biologic growth and sediments accumulated over portions of the vessel, which obscure some structural details.  The ship is upright on the seafloor with a small list to starboard.  A bowsprit support extends out from the stem, but the wooden bowsprit intself has long since deteriorated.  In the forecastle area just aft of the bowsprit deck bracket is a steam-powered windlass.  On either side of the windlass, near the gunwales, are single davits that may have acted as catheads to assist in securing the anchors, two of which are visible on either side the windlass.  An intricate botanical carving or stamp work made of metal is present on both sides of the vessel near the point of the bow.  Small pieces of debris, including rigging, are scattered on the seafloor near the vessel.