On October 14th, 2006 at 3:11 in
the afternoon this sonogram was acquired using the 100kHz towfish on
a 100 Meter range. I initially cataloged it as a target, but
not our target of interest.
A nagging voice in the back of my
head had us back out there on June 16th, 2007 re-imaging the site
with the 500kHz towfish at a slightly shorter range. Although
something of interest, I filed it away for a future site to dive on.
On September 22nd, 2007 Larry, a dive partner
and avid JRD search supporter, asked me what I wanted to do in
between dives. The nagging in the back of my head about the
target mentioned above surfaced again. I decided to do a dive
on it and see what was there. Larry and I suited up, a buoy was
dropped on the target, and Larry and I descended to the bottom.
Larry was on the bottom first and as I reached the bottom I saw him
next to the object to the left with his arms out stretched as saying "ta da",
here it is.
Video of the first object seen on
the Jennie R. Dubois
“A Shipyard in Maine”
“A Shipyard in Maine”
We believe the object is either a
hoisting engine or Adair (bilge) pump.
In this more detailed sonar
record of the wreck site, the arrow is pointing to the Hyde
Hoisting Engine/ Adair pump.
The next area we explored is a
rather long straight object.
In this video we travel along the length of
the
Looking at one end we see it has a
very "triangular" look and the wood is sheathed in steel.
“A Shipyard in Maine”
Researching the
Book "A Shipyard in Maine" it was found that coal schooners
protected their keelsons below the loading hatches by sheathing the
keelson in steel.
“A Shipyard in Maine”
As the coal was
loaded from rail cars elevated above the schooner, the steel
sheathing would protect the keelson from being slowly eroded
away by the constant pounding of the coal.
Moving farther along on the wreck
we came upon part of the main hull.
John Stanford
We knew we were on a
hull section due to the presence of ribs.
In this video we
travel along the hull section starting
at the blue arrow show in the previous sonar
image above and moving to the lower
right. This section of the wreck
is actually what would be the the side
of the vessel, laying flat on the
bottom, and we'll be traveling
along where the side of the schooner
would meet
the bottom of the schooner, or the "turn
of the bilge".
The next section we investigated was
along what would have
been the gunnel, or
chock rail, of the
schooner.
Traveling from the blue
arrow above to the upper
left.
John Stanford
On this section of
the hull we found a number of closed chock's.
John Stanford
We also saw what we believe to be
lead lined scuppers.
This composite sonar record
shows the primary wreck site of the Jennie R. Dubois, but the
question remains why does it not look like what we expected to
find. We were expecting to find a typical schooner
wreck like the one shown to the right. Also, where's the
rest of the wreck?
Sonogram courtesy of American Underwater Search and Survey, John
Perry Fish and Arne Carr
I
went back and looked at my old sonar
data in an area I'd covered close to
where we found the main wreckage to see
if I'd missed something. In the sonar
record above we see a straight line
going through the middle of the record.
Anytime you see straight lines you
should be curious. Nature
typically doesn't keep things nice and
straight. I'd annotated this on
the original sonar record as "something"
but since it didn't look like a schooner
we didn't investigate it any further.
Well it was time to take a look.
Here is a high
resolution sonar record of the straight
line shown in the previous record.
From end to end it's about 600' long and
to the left we see a large mass at the
end of the line. It's going to
take a dive to see what's there.
We jumped on the target to the left to
investigate.
John Stanford
What we found was a large stockless
anchor, still in it's hawse pipe, and .......
John Stanford
600' of anchor chain.
In this video we travel along a short section of the
anchor chain and take a look at the stockless anchor
Mystic Seaport Museum
Here we see the two anchors hanging from the bow of the JRD.
Mystic Seaport Museum
And the stockless anchor
If you
were paying attention
you you noticed that
there were two lengths
of chain. This
video shows the Stock
anchor which is approximately
thirty feet from the
stock anchor.
This video shows a curious object with a mast like
object running through it.
Mystic Seaport Museum
Looking at the Jennie R. Dubois we see
that the there are 'two" masts combined to make one, a
main mast and a top mast.
Mystic Seaport Museum
Here we see that the top mast and main mast
are held together by "Mast Trucks".
This is what we see in the above
video and it starts to put some pieces of the puzzle
together for us.
In all the research done on the sinking of
the JRD Fred Bensons account appears to be the most
accurate. Looking at the account of what happened during the
collision and putting the story together that the wreck
site's tell we start to get an idea of what probably really
happened.
The JRD was heading ENE around the southeast
corner of Block Island, the steamer Schonfels was headed
southwest. The fog was coming in and out, at times Montauk
and Block Island were in sight. The crew of the JRD saw
the Schonfels and realized a collision was possible but having
the right of way and not wanting to create confusion or break
the rules of the road by altering course they maintained their
course.
Ultimately the Schonfels strikes the JRD
just aft of the hawse pipe and forward of the bulkhead of
the anchor chain locker.
The forward section
of the bow, bow sprit, and two anchors separate from the
main hull. The bow sprit is attached to the foremast
by stays and the weight of the anchors and hull snaps the
foremast and pulls it down to the bottom.
The JRD drifts to the ENE with the wind and
tide, the anchor chain all the while coming out of the chain
locker and being deposited on the bottom. When there's
no more chain left (100 fathoms or 600 feet) the bitter end
comes out of the chain locker and goes to the bottom.
Ultimately the JRD fills with water and
sinks to the bottom herself. The anchor chain pointing
in the direction of her final resting place.
There was no large machinery found on the
main wreck site and as seen above this can be attributed to
the resourcefulness of Captain Tal Dodge of Block Island.
The above description
of the navy's effort to remove the JRD as a "menace to navigation"
explains the reason behind her disjointed condition on the bottom..
A view of Block Island while over the wreck of the
Jennie R. Dubois
Local TV news coverage.
The A-team, those who make it all happen.
From left to right Larry Lawrence, John Stanford, Mark Munro, Jack Fiora, Scott Annis, Jeff
Godfrey, Mike Fiora, Joe Mangiafico
I'd just like
to give a special thanks to Larry
for his undying support of ALL
my projects, he's been there through
it all from the very beginning.
Without his persistence and pushing
me to excel I know we wouldn't have
come as far as we have.
