UPDATE: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

pcolaboy

Hero Member
Sep 5, 2006
916
14
Pensacola, Fl
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer XS
Found two 'new' wrecks yesterday quite by accident. The water was pretty choppy and murky so they aren't nearly as clear as they could be. I request your feedback and interpretation of these images which are located in the Gallery section.

The images are unaltered other than the blackout I placed over the coordinates ;D. Once you are within my gallery, focus on the images referring to "PR" and "TP" wrecks. Those initials are derived from their approximate locations since no history on these exists.

Here is the link to my gallery.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=65

Thanks in advance,

Pcolaboy

UPDATE 1/18/07
My partner and I dove on both the "PR" and "TP" wrecks last Saturday. Conditions sucked REALLY bad but we took a shot anyway. We had a fairly sluggish incoming tide and on top of that a strong opposing wind from the east - bay was churned up nice.

First dive was on the "PR" in 21 feet of water with temp at the surface 58 deg. Vis on the way down was 3-4 feet and about 18"-0 on the bottom. The bottom in this area consists of extremely fine, black, silty mud over sand. Needless to say the slightest touch on the bottom sent a plume of this silt into the water column that literally blocked all sunlight. We still managed to feel our way around like a sixteen year old kid on his first date :o. There was so much wreckage down there but seeing it was impossible. We called the dive after 10 minutes mainly due to concern over hung shrimp nets and not being able to see them.

Second dive was on the "TP" wreck in 13 feet of water on the opposite side of the bay. Vis on the surface was much better and we had about 6-8 feet vis on the bottom. That was until the first touch of the bottom. The bottom here was actually worse than that on the other side of the bay. With no noticeable tide current, the silt just hung in the water column. Of course we felt around a bit and did find some significant structure here as well. After only a few moments...vis was down to zero again due to the silt and lack of tidal movement. We did however, manage to bring up what appears to be the iron door of a boiler, stove, or maybe even a hot-shot oven. I will post some pics when my partner sends them to me. This door has two circular hinge "hoops" on one end of the door that I imagine some sort of pin ran through and secured it to the boiler, stove, etc. This door weighs nearly 20 lbs.

Will keep updated.

Pcolaboy
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

You're just going to have to dive on them. That really works good.
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Great pics, pcola. The TP wreck looks like a swell in the sand with the shadows going all the way around it. Like Steve says, dive it and let us know :)
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Don't know anything about interpreting those images, but they are truly amazing scans. Guess that sidescan unit has really been a joy for you after operating "blind"? Monty
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Pcola,
Get a copy of "Sound underwater images" by John Perry Fish. It's one of the better books on side scan. Its aimed toward a towed fish setups, but it has a good deal of material on record interpretation.

Brad
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Scott,

This one is very interesting. It appears to be about 10-12' in length and has a hatch or something on one side. Could be a small boiler maybe? You also had some linear debris which could be mast or other structure. Definitely something there but hard to say.

normal_pr_east_west_106.JPG


This next one definitely could be of a shipwreck. The only thing that throws me is the grey mode. With the Humminbird, the grey mode is actually inverse so the highlights are dark and the shadows light. And the inverse mode actually works properly and the shadows with it are dark as they should be. I have reversed the image so we can see the shadows as they are represented.

normal_tp_nne_ssw_70.JPG

tp-wreck-inverse.jpg

Wow! Now we can see the outline better and what may appear to be a mast sticking up from the sand. I can also see what may be ribs sticking up as well in the outline of the ship. This is a definitely an interesting target.

Let us know when you dive these sites and what you find.

Robert in SC
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Thanks for the replies. I most certainly "ground-truth" everything eventually. It's really a matter of prioritizing which wrecks to dive on this time of year due to water temp, tides, weather, etc. Right now the surface temp as you can see is around 59 and not much warmer at depth. I have MANY items to dive on, just trying to sort them out for the next "dive window". This weekend we have extreme fog in addition to a falling tide against 17 knot winds - it's been this way for the last several weeks and is driving me crazy.

RGECY, the "PR" wreck area has only about 2-3 inches of sand covering the worst mud you've ever seen. We suspect that this wreck, like many found near it in the past, is most likely sunken in the mud a bit. The "TP" wreck is in an area that is many, many feet thick in sand and most wrecks within 200 years of age in this area are easily exposed by fanning sand. My grandfather used to pull shrimp nets in his youth and alerted me to this area since they would get snagged on it. He actually free dived on this spot back in the 70's and there was only one object he referred to as a pile surrounded by oyster beds. Apparently the several hurricanes in the last 3 years has done a good job of moving some sand.

Hope to have some dive reports in a week or so. Thanks again for the great input.

Pcolaboy
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

You might want to take a look at this website. I found it in
Sea Technology magazine.

I don't have a copy of the CD's but they do look interesting.

http://www.blacklaserlearning.com

Dinkydick

Let me know if you buy one.
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Another decent book is:

Side Scan Sonar Record Interpretation
Author: Charles Mazel
Publisher: Klein Associates, Inc.


http://www.sound-acoustic-books.com/
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

stevemc said:
You're just going to have to dive on them. That really works good.

WOW...I would have never guessed that!!! ::)
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

I guess I should probably clarify what I mean by, "help on interpretation".

I'm mainly wanting to get opinions with extra sets of eyes because perception is definitely key. Having a full-time career, wife, and two small children means that my diving opportunities are limited during the winter. Therefore, if the general concensus among your valued opinions is that these are merely wrecks of fairly modern vessels, I will save my limited dive time for some of the more interesting wrecks that I will most assuredly find later.

Hope this clears up the reason I'm not diving on them immediately. Thanks again for all your fantastic feedback gentlemen.

Pcolaboy
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

Scott,

No explanation needed. I knew what you wanted!

The scans are very good. The one I reversed lookes pretty ineteresting with the possible broken mast lying there.
I hope I can make it down in the spring time to possibly dive some of these sites with you.

Good Luck and keep em coming!

Robert in SC
 

Re: New Side-scans...need help on interpretation

RGecy said:
.....I hope I can make it down in the spring time to possibly dive some of these sites with you.

Good Luck and keep em coming!

Robert in SC

Sounds like a plan!
 

Scott,

Haven't heard from you lately. Any new scans or finds to report for us here? Hows the water temp and vis. in your area? ::) ::)

Looking forward to diving with you if we get the chance! ;) ;) ;)

Robert
 

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