Sink week: part 4
8:00 pm
SS United States listed slightly to port. One boat on the port side shined its spotlight on a set of open bulkhead doors, the lowest opening on the ship. We all knew that was where the water would come in first.
8:30 pm
Waves splashed into the open bulkhead doors. Duncan sprang to attention and started recording video. I was ecstatic.
8:45 pm
Matt placed a microphone on me. Under Dave’s direction, he adjusted a camera to capture my face with the ship sinking in the dimly lit background. Dave asked Chuck to turn the boat around so the camera could get a better view.
A tug boat gave 3 short blasts and then backed away from the SS United States. Chuck saw it first - the ship was listing hard to port. We were on the starboard side. Water must have been pouring in the open port-side doors. Every light within a mile was trained on the sinking ship.
SS United States listed slightly to port. One boat on the port side shined its spotlight on a set of open bulkhead doors, the lowest opening on the ship. We all knew that was where the water would come in first.
Waves splashed into the open bulkhead doors. Duncan sprang to attention and started recording video. I was ecstatic.
Matt placed a microphone on me. Under Dave’s direction, he adjusted a camera to capture my face with the ship sinking in the dimly lit background. Dave asked Chuck to turn the boat around so the camera could get a better view.
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| SS United States listing to port side as she sank |
A tug boat gave 3 short blasts and then backed away from the SS United States. Chuck saw it first - the ship was listing hard to port. We were on the starboard side. Water must have been pouring in the open port-side doors. Every light within a mile was trained on the sinking ship.
8:57 pm
This was it. We could hear the water rushing into SS United States. The sea surface started to bubble and foam as air escaped from the ship.
9:00 pm
Duncan launched a drone to film from above. My “Ooh” and “Wow” reactions were recorded by the microphone on my collar.
9:01 pm
SS United States lay on her port side. All around her, the ocean boiled as massive bubbles of gas rushed out of the ship. Then the stern dipped below the surface, and a geyser shot straight into the air. The stern was gone. Water overtook the ship, and then the mid-section began to disappear. Our boat rocked on the turbulent ocean surface, as massive bubbles swelled around the ship. The water reached the bridge, and in an instant, SS United States was gone.
9:02 pm
I heard applause and cheers from another boat. Gas bubbles continued to rise to the surface of the water, smaller than before. I could smell oil. Small streaks of black floated on the surface of the ocean, the last drops of grease from an overall very clean ship. I looked up, and the world was black. Just a few lights from the nearby boats broke up the darkness. Everyone had turned their spotlights off, and the object we had been shining them at was gone anyway. I felt strangely empty. The ship that had dominated my view all day long was - gone.
9:03 pm
Dave told Duncan where to stand with the camera, and he had some interview questions for me and Chuck. I was convinced that the ship landed on her side, which meant I had to redo my entire dive plan, and my research would be much more challenging to execute. I sat next to Chuck as he steered our boat over the now-submerged vessel. The sonar mounted on the hull pinged the seafloor at 180 ft deep, just as expected. Then we got a hit at 70 ft, then one at 50 ft. The display showed hard returns - we were pinging a solid object.
Chuck pointed to the red line of
dots on his sonar display. “That’s metal,” he declared. I asked if the bubbles
still rising to the surface could cause interference, and Chuck pointed to the
bubble returns on the screen - they were blue and much smaller. There was something metallic 50 ft below the surface. She must have landed upright.
10:00 pm
We were one of the last boats on the water. I wondered where Alex was and how he was doing. We were content that SS United States landed upright, so we decided to head home.
11:00 pm
We reached the dock in Destin. I was trashed.
This was it. We could hear the water rushing into SS United States. The sea surface started to bubble and foam as air escaped from the ship.
Duncan launched a drone to film from above. My “Ooh” and “Wow” reactions were recorded by the microphone on my collar.
SS United States lay on her port side. All around her, the ocean boiled as massive bubbles of gas rushed out of the ship. Then the stern dipped below the surface, and a geyser shot straight into the air. The stern was gone. Water overtook the ship, and then the mid-section began to disappear. Our boat rocked on the turbulent ocean surface, as massive bubbles swelled around the ship. The water reached the bridge, and in an instant, SS United States was gone.
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| The sinking of the SS United States. Drone image by Duncan Clark. |
9:02 pm
I heard applause and cheers from another boat. Gas bubbles continued to rise to the surface of the water, smaller than before. I could smell oil. Small streaks of black floated on the surface of the ocean, the last drops of grease from an overall very clean ship. I looked up, and the world was black. Just a few lights from the nearby boats broke up the darkness. Everyone had turned their spotlights off, and the object we had been shining them at was gone anyway. I felt strangely empty. The ship that had dominated my view all day long was - gone.
Dave told Duncan where to stand with the camera, and he had some interview questions for me and Chuck. I was convinced that the ship landed on her side, which meant I had to redo my entire dive plan, and my research would be much more challenging to execute. I sat next to Chuck as he steered our boat over the now-submerged vessel. The sonar mounted on the hull pinged the seafloor at 180 ft deep, just as expected. Then we got a hit at 70 ft, then one at 50 ft. The display showed hard returns - we were pinging a solid object.
We were one of the last boats on the water. I wondered where Alex was and how he was doing. We were content that SS United States landed upright, so we decided to head home.
We reached the dock in Destin. I was trashed.
Friends, it was an absolutely incredible experience to be part of the sinking of the SS United States. I am grateful to my IMAX friends for their companionship and to Captain Chuck for taking us out to sea. It was a long but amazing day.
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