Major problems on the Tiller

Ian · #1 10-01-2009, 11:53 AM

Had a call from Port Weller Coast Guard last night. The Tiller mooring was reported 3 miles off site and right in the middle of the shipping channel going into the Welland Canal. It was only 1.4 miles from shore. The CG sent their boat out to retrieve it in 6' waves and it was still attached to the bottom. They managed to get the buoy by undoing the shackle at the bottom of the chain. They left the shackle on the line to hopefully sink it far enough to be below the freighters.

If the bottom chain or shackle had of let go, the coasties should have been able to pull it up. As there is no way that the buoy has enough buoyancy to move the block, my fear is that the system was snagged by a freighter. Apparently there has been three days of 10 foot waves at this end of the lake with some periods of 14/15 footers thrown in. Several freighters have been at anchor waiting to get into the canal and at least one had to reset after dragging to within 1/4 mile from shore. Getting snagged by an anchor or hung up on a bulbous bow are both possibilities. The buoy itself and the solar light are both in good shape but the surface tag line is shredded and only about half its length.

If the weather lets up, I hope to get out and check for damage. If the block is still there, I'll reattach a line with just a jug for winter. If the block is missing, I won't attach anything to the wreck. At this point, there is no mooring on the wreck at all.

NOTSHIP C-906-09 has been canceled and NOTSHIP C-2189-09 (buoy removed for season) has been issued. Ian

Chris C · #2 10-01-2009, 03:30 PM

lovely, hopefully it didnt get pulled through the wreck. Thanks for the update.

Chris

Jen · #3 10-01-2009, 04:21 PM

Trying to get a charter to go Sunday....or even tomorrow around 4....nothing yet. Thanks for the update Ian.

Ian · #4 10-03-2009, 05:00 PM

We went out this morning and had no luck. Barb & Jack dove a shot line on the Tiller. Vis was bad at the surface and absolute zero from about 30’ down. It wasn’t just black, it was thick sediment. The kind of stuff that the better the dive light, the worse it gets. They couldn’t even read gauges with lights when held in front of their faces. Jack knew he hit bottom when he ended up laying on top of Barb. Rather than try to survey the wreck by feel, they decided to abort.

Next we moved over to the numbers where the Coast Guard retrieved the buoy. The Niagara region police boat was already there using their side scan. They dropped the shot on the numbers and thought they saw the arch of a floating line about 60’ out on their scanner. I geared up and went down. Hit bottom at 75’ with the same Zero vis. I did a 360 off the shot anchor at a 100’ radius but had no luck. Decided that with the conditions the way they were we were just wasting our time and John’s fuel.

The Police boat was out yesterday and scanned the Tiller with their sonar. And said everything looked normal on the scan but when they tried to use their drop camera system they could see nothing. They couldn’t tell if they were on the wreck or on the bottom. While I was searching for the block and line, they were heading back to the Tiller to do another scan. They were hoping for more detail with the smoother water.

The only good thing about today was that it was the warmest Tiller dive we’ve ever had. No thermocline, same warm temp all the way to the bottom, which was just as well because Jack left his underwear in the car.

Don't know if we'll make it out again this year or not as we still have to get the buoys off Lake Erie. If anyone else makes it out, let me know. Ian

SeaRay · #5 10-10-2009, 01:43 PM

Hello Everyone: I'm a new member here. I dove the Tiller Oct. 4th, and as you know the mooring bouy was gone. We dropped a shot line and found the first 30ft very murky, below that it was pitch black, no light was passing threw that murky layer above. the vis. was crytal clear but limited to the light beam. Anyway onto the Tiller, you'll all be happy to know the Tiller was undamaged. The mooring block is gone, I'm guessing a frieghter snagged the mooring line and dragged the block off, I followed the plow mark on the bottom for a short distance but didn't see the block. It was a very close call for sure.

Ian · #6 10-10-2009, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaRay

Hello Everyone: I'm a new member here. I dove the Tiller Oct. 4th, and as you know the mooring bouy was gone. We dropped a shot line and found the first 30ft very murky, below that it was pitch black, no light was passing threw that murky layer above. the vis. was crytal clear but limited to the light beam. Anyway onto the Tiller, you'll all be happy to know the Tiller was undamaged. The mooring block is gone, I'm guessing a frieghter snagged the mooring line and dragged the block off, I followed the plow mark on the bottom for a short distance but didn't see the block. It was a very close call for sure.

Was there any sign of the tag line that went from the bock to the railing. It was attached to the railing close to the bow up by the anchor. I was afraid that section of railing might be missing if there are no reminents of the tag line attached.

SeaRay · #7 10-10-2009, 02:35 PM

Hi Ian: Yes TAG line is still attached to the railling; looks like the tag line broke about mid-way between the railling and the jugs, I'm suprised the railling held.