- Visit Of The Wreck -
Appendices: The Last Battle (1) ...
© Photograph: Jürgen de Haas
Fuerteventura, February ´08 - The Last Battle of the Bow ...
Inspired by our new story Trips and Treasures about the SS AUSTRALIS and seven pilgrimages to the ship´s gravesite we visited the wreck again: We travelled to Playa de Garcey three times in only one week.
We observed the wreck in most diverse weather situations and made quite a lot of measurements to find out whether the tip of the bow has moved in the meantime. We had a phone call with a money-greedy "Majorero", who once plundered the wreck - enough action for a short week ...
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Oh, this time there were again some wreck overflights - one may hardly believe it, but it was a kite, which carried a mini camera called FlyCamOne 2 this time!
And as usual there will be some reports about our visit as soon as possible. And a hint for our faithful fans: There will be another short film about the visit, for a first impression you have to look at YouTube!
1. Appendix, July ´08: Nearly nothing changed ...
Our reader Jürgen Seibertz sent us a picture of the wreck which is dated from 28-06-08.
The very tip of the bow is still there, which now measures about 60 feet (less than 10% of the ship's original length of 723 feet). That is still all that currently remains visible.
As Bill Lee wrote in our "Autopsy" by Sea it is now more or less like a grim 'grave marker' ...
2. Appendix, October ´08: Waiting for the winter ...
Many readers ask what happened to the wreck in the meantime.
There are still nearly no changes but in spite of that we now publish two pictures which are dated from end of october. We received a mail and the pictures from our reader Oliver Schrey who is a diver as well. But as he wrote he would never do that in the near of the wreck ...
The pics show the very tip of the bow as before and they prove that
surfers still like the ship ...
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; "... waiting for the winter ..?") |
3. Appendix, February ´09: The "Green Glow" and Surfer´s Paradise ...
Once again we are on our way to the Playa de Garcey to visit the remains of the American Star.
This morning we arrive before eight o´clock, only half an hour after sunrise. The first sunlight and algae on the wreck gives it something like a "Green Glow" and we look around what is still there to see ...
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The hand wheel of the anchor windlass brake is still at it´s place and we remember the picture which Bill Lee sent us after our visit of 2008. He gave the following explanations:
"What is visible above the anchor ... is one of the capstans (marked as C in the image - taken in 1940 at NNS - note spare anchor). The hand wheel is part of one of the anchor windlass brakes (marked as HW). I suspect both of these objects, as they appear in your photos, are on what remains of the starboard side of the bow; the port side is either submerged ... or 'gone'."
The situation is nearly the same as it was in 2008 but the deck of the remaining piece of bow is now by far more perforated by the waves than one year ago.
We still find a lot of "relics" of the ship so that we have to update our "relics-page" sooner or later ...
The rusty remainders of the containers on the cliff across the ship were removed since our last visit. Once you could trace them back to the Greek Nicolas - called "El Greco" who obtained the wreck from the Ministry of Defence since he wanted to make the bow floatable again after scrapping the stern ...
; "The usual view from the hill ...") |
; "The \"Green Glow\" is amazing us this morning ...") |
; "Hand wheel and a perforated deck ...") |
; "Rusty remainders of the containers are removed") |
; "... personal finds ...") |
; "Surfer´s paradise now ...") |
The atmosphere of the Playa de Garcey seems a little bit changed these days since the wreck has disappeared more or less. Perhaps one reason might be the amount of surfers who enjoy the bay in the meantime - about noon the waves are crowded by a lot of men dressed in neoprene ...
4. Appendix, July ´09: The Remains still withstand the Waves ...
Only few changes these days: We received an e-mail of Andreas Fasching, who visited the remains at the 23rd of June about 08:30 a.m. He recognized some pieces we already found during our visit in 2008. Last year we received the following comments of Bill Lee concerning these remains:
The three larger pieces of debris visible in this photo appear to be (left to right): (1) a fairly large electric motor, perhaps one that drove the port-side capstan (it was positioned vertically, directly beneath the capstans show above, and below the weather deck in what was called the Capstan Motor Room), (2) an air tank (probably located in or near workshops there were located below the weather deck, just aft of the breakwater that appears behind the anchor windless gear and spare anchor in the above picture), and (3) a piece of the hull, at what is called the 'turn of the bilge', but upside down.
Interesting to see, too, that the "STAR" of American Star is now readable again ...
; "Electric motor and air tank ..?") |
; "The STAR of American Star is readable again ...") |
5. Appendix, February ´10: The Agony continues ...
The last battle of the bow of the American Star still continues: The front part is broken away and the anchor is lost. Compared to the year before parts of the deck are broken away as well and the hand wheel of one of the anchor windlass brakes is still visible (see pictures below) ...
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6. Appendix, April ´10: The "Autopsy" seems to be finished
Once again Bill Lee continued his story about the "Autopsy" by Sea with the 5. appendix - and it´s nearly finished ...
7. Appendix, February ´11: Low Tide ...
Once again we visit the wreck: This time it is a "real" low tide and we find out that the anchor is still there. Also still visible is the hand wheel we have watched so many times before - very strange! The remains have only changed a little bit but what we see this morning is a large field of debris ...
; "Low Tide: A large field of debris is visible") |
; "The `real´ face of the Playa de Garcey ...") |
Once again we start one of our kites with the "fly cam" - this time nearly nothing is left on the picture ...
8. Appendix, February ´12: Few changes ...
Only few changes from last year to this year: We had low tide again and could watch that the hand wheel has disappeared in the meantime. The anchor is still visible. Other parts of the bow which are still left are marked in the pictures below ...
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; "The hand wheel has disappeared ...") |
; "\"Star\" of \"American Star\" still readable ...") |
; "... and the same field of debris as before ...") |
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