June 20 - 27, 2011
Location:
Admiralty Inlet,
Port Townsend, Washington
Objectives:
- Document the current condition of the shipwreck with video and sonar
- Survey the entire wreck with 2D sonar
- Create a 3D sonar map of the wreck
- KING 5
Puget Sound shipwreck could help prevent oil spill - Port Townsend Leader
Sub's away! Shipwreck mapping begins - Peninsula Daily News
Submarine makes first dive to 1921 SS Governor wreck in Admiralty Inslet - More News
Fort Worden State Park
Underwater Admiralty Sciences, Exploration, Education and Undersea Technology
DCS Films, Underwater exploration and videography
Blue Badger, Lea and Elsbeth Nichols
Jefferson County Library
NW Maritime Center
The City of Port Townsend
SS Governor
Exploring the shipwreck of a 417-foot oceanliner sunk in 1921.
The SS Governor was a 417-foot passenger liner built in 1907 in Camden, New Jersey. In the very early morning of Friday April 1, 1921, she collided with the SS West Hartland, departing Port Townsend for India. The West Hartland tore a 10-foot gash in the starboard hull of the Governor, and twenty minutes later she sank, taking eight lives with her. The deck plans list her beam at 46 feet, draft 22 feet, and a maximum speed of 25 knots. She could accommodate 96 passengers in her first class staterooms, 286 in the first class berths, and her maximum capacity was 427 passengers.
Today, the Governor rests at a depth of 240 feet in Admiralty Inlet about one mile from Port Townsend.
Diving on the Governor is considered by many to be a more challenging and difficult dive than the Andrea Doria due to the depth, currents, and the fact that she lies in the primary shipping lanes entering Puget Sound. The difficult dive conditions have left the Governor virtually unexplored over the last 90 years except for highly trained mixed gas scuba divers.
During this expedition the OceanGate team successfully performed four dives on the Governor to document the current condition of the wreck using the latest sonar technology and video equipment. The team created 11 sonar scans of the aft section of the vessel and will combine those to create a 3D model of this portion of the wreck. Multiple 2D scans of the entire wreck and several hours of video help document the existence of artifacts and provide valuable data for future dives. Information gathered during the dive help marine archeaologists document the decay of the wreck and helps marine biologists assess the habitat created by this historic wreck and artificial reef.
The team found the wreck to be in an advanced state of decay with many sections having collapsed to the sea floor. Much of the original steel hull plating has eroded or fallen away. Some of these loose pieces of the plating were viewed on the sea floor up to 30 feet from the wreck.
Although the currents in this area created a challenge for diving, the swift flowing water has washed away much of the sediment from the wreck and the sea floor to expose a rocky bottom. A benefit of this lack of sediment is much better water clarity and visibility which provides for much better viewing conditions.
For more information please call us at +1 (425) 939-8409 x3 or email us at expeditions@opentheoceans.com
