The first manned submersible trip to the Andrea Doria for more than 20 years has indicated that the Italian liner wreck beloved of US technical divers is in worse shape than previously thought.
The five-man crew of Cyclops I set out to capture sonar images of the wreck as well as video and photographs. US submersible-operator OceanGate had been contracted by Argus Expeditions to establish accurate baseline data so that the wreck’s deterioration could be monitored more effectively.
The Andrea Doria sank 60 years ago, east of New York and south of Nantucket, a small island off Massachussetts, on 25 July, 1956. The liner had collided with a Swedish passenger vessel, the Stockholm, resulting in 51 fatalities, 46 on the Andrea Doria.
Poor visibility, strong Atlantic currents and the 70m-plus depth have made it difficult for scuba divers to obtain an overview of the 212m-long shipwreck in the past, so it was hoped that the sonar data could identify changing landmarks and make it easier for divers to navigate around it in future. Sixteen divers are known to have died on the Andria Doria over the years.
OceanGate obtained 17 sonar scans focused on the bow of the wreck and seabed scouring around it, but rough conditions cut short the intended week-long expedition, and only three dives for a total dive-time of four hours took place.
“It appears that the wreck continues to decay, possibly at an increasing rate, although this conclusion is uncertain due to the limited exploration of the entire wreck,” stated OceanGate. Comparing its results to previous low-resolution sonar scans obtained from the surface, it said that pieces of the wreck did seem to have fallen away.
However, the report added that “we did not see any evidence that ‘the bow has nearly broken off’ of the wreck, as has been reported in several publications”.
Among the Cyclops crew was ex-astronaut Scott Parazynski, the only person to have flown in space and reached the top of Mount Everest. “I can say from experience that being at the bottom of the ocean is every bit as special,” he said. “The expedition team was hampered by difficult conditions, but that’s a reality you live with in any exploration.”
The team plans to return next year in the hope of creating a complete virtual model of the wreck and its debris field.
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18-Jun-16
