Diosa del Mar
Diosa del Mar under sail in 1979
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Uncas |
Owner | Vanderbilt family |
Builder | A.C. Brown and Sons, Tottenville, NY |
Launched | 1898 |
Renamed | Uncas, Wal Gar, Bonnie Doone, and finally Diosa del Mar |
Honors and awards | 1979 Serena Cup: fastest schooner in the Newport to Ensenada Race |
Fate | Sunk at Catalina Island , July 30, 1990 |
Notes | Burned and rebuilt in 1927 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Schooner |
Tons burthen | 30 tons |
Length | 66 ft 6 in (20.27 m) |
Draft | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
Propulsion | Sterling gas engine (1916), GM Diesel engine (1925), 6-cylinder Chrysler engine (1951) |
Sail plan | Sail area 3,321 square ft. (308.5 m2) |
The Diosa del Mar (Spanish: Goddess of the Sea) was a wooden
Overview
The two-masted wooden schooner was designed by A. Cary Smith and built in 1898 by the firm of A.C. Brown and Sons of Tottenville, New York. It was originally christened Uncas after the famous chief of the Mohegan tribe. Through various owners, the name was subsequently changed to Wal Gar, Bonnie Doone, and finally Diosa del Mar. In Lloyd's Register of American Yachts it appears as Bonnie Doone until finally disappearing from the registry in 1959 under the ownership of a Dr. Irving E. Laby in Los Angeles, California.[citation needed]
The yacht was originally built as a staysail craft for the children of the wealthy Vanderbilt clan. As originally built she weighed 30 tons, was 66 feet 6 inches (20.27 m) long, had a total sail area of 3,321 square feet (308.5 m2), and a draft of 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m). The Diosa was perfectly capable of deep ocean travel. Following the installation in 1916 of a Sterling gas engine, the vessel's capabilities were quite advanced. By 1925 she sported a full keel (modified from her original keel with auxiliary centerboard) and a GM Diesel engine.[citation needed]
According to Lloyd's, the Diosa was burned and rebuilt in 1927. By 1951 she had been refitted with a six-cylinder Chrysler engine and was operating out of Newport Beach, California.[citation needed]
In 1979 she won the Serena Cup as the fastest schooner in the Newport to
The yacht's demise came about near the end of the 10th annual Firemen's Race in 1990 off the coast of southern California. A small powerboat failed to spot the racing Diosa. The powerboat hove out of the Isthmus of Catalina, cutting in front of the doomed ship. Rather than risk injury or death to the driver and passengers on the smaller craft, Diosa's owner and captain Eddie Weinberg steered hard to
The salvaged stern and mast from the Diosa Del Mar was on display at the
Spot Where the Diosa del Mar Sank (Ship Rock)
Diosa del Mar is located at 33°27′46″N 118°29′31″W / 33.462770°N 118.491925°W. Ship Rock is located 3 miles east of the
Numerous people over the years, since the sinking of the Diosa Del Mar in 1990, had attempted to raise and salvage the keel of the boat. It took two attempts by the Huseman brothers, and about 17 trips to Catalina to move masts and debris in preparation to raise the keel off the rocks and reef, and towed to
The Huseman brother's first trip to
On the first attempt to raise the keel, Gordon Frappier towed a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) by 8-foot-diameter (2.4 m) empty gas tank from the California mainland over to the wreck site next to Ship Rock, three miles from the
The second time they attempted to raise the keel, the same tank was used and the tide was not used for leverage. Ed Huseman positioned the tank over the keel and flooded the tank with water to submerge the tank, and then attached the tank to the keel. The next process was to blow out the water in the tank with the attached keel, and then the two would float to the surface. Ed Huseman figured out that hooking ten air tanks together, containing 72 cubic feet (2.0 m3) of air and attaching a garden hose from the air tanks to the tank's top valve, the air at the top would force the water out through the bottom of the tank. Ed Huseman's ingenious idea worked very well. The air blew the water out of a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) x 8-foot-diameter (2.4 m) tank in about 30 minutes. The keel and the tank floated up to about 4 feet (1.2 m) off the reef, however there were rocks about 5 ft high (1.5 m) that blocked the exit movement of the keel. They tried to pull the tank and keel out one way, but the towboat, a Cal 39 sail boat with a Perkins 4108 50-hp diesel engine, skippered by Dan Cohen, was too far away to tell Cohen that the keel was still stuck in the rocks, and the tow rope snapped into two pieces.[citation needed]
After being in the water for over nine hours that day, the four divers almost gave up. One of the divers, Steve Stiener, said they could move the keel, and they were able to push the tank with just flipper power. The divers all felt that the tank and keel were going to hit more rocks, however the keel and tank moved out of the rock and reef area, went through a bed of seaweed and into dark deep water, and floated to the water's surface. After the broken tow rope was repaired, Cohen started towing the tank and keel out of the rock and the reef area. The exhausted diving crew, after being in the water for two days, and the sailboats left
Gallery
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Stern and mast at the Isthmus on Catalina Island, California.
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Ship Rock is located 3 miles east of the Isthmus on Catalina Island, California.
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Tank with attached keel on the water's surface. Eric Stocker checking the tank.
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Tank and keel in tow - Catalina Isthmus in the background.
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Tank and keel at Long Beach Harbor, California. Don Huseman on the dock and Eric Stocker on the tank.
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Keel on land.
Further reading
- Carlton, Jim (August 1, 1990). "Schooner's Sinking Launches Investigation : Accident: The 1898 craft Diosa del Mar was in a firefighters' race when it struck a reef and broke up off Catalina with 13 aboard". Los Angeles Times.
- Robb, Gregory J. "Shipwrecks off the coast of California". Archived from the original on October 8, 2007.
- Lloyd's Register of American Yachts.
still listed in 1917 as Uncas; from 1925 through 1959 as Bonnie Doone
References
- ^ Carlton J (August 1, 1990). Coast Guard Investigates 1898 Schooner's Sinking.
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ignored (help) - ^ "Diosa Del Mar". California Wreck Divers.