City of Kingston?

[joshua smith]

We may never know for sure- if this one can be positively identified, I will be amazed. But divers from the Maritime Documentation Society have tentatively made the first dives on the wreck of the City of Kingston:

LINK

From a text by Gordon Newel:

The City of Kingston sank on April 24, 1899 after colliding with the steamship Glenogle. The Kingston was cut clear in two just aft of the boilers and sank in a few minutes. Her wooden upperworks broke loose and remained afloat, with the result that not a single life was lost, although most of the passengers and many of the crew had been asleep just before the collision. Many of the Kingston's fittings were recovered from the floating wreckage of the upperworks, the ship's bell serving for many years as a dinner bell at the Foss boathouse in Tacoma. The gilt eagle which once crowned the pilot house is now at the Museum of History and Industry, Seattle.

We were told that she was in 260 fsw, but our hook landed on the wreck in 290'. We worked our way "uphill" all the way to the bow, which was at 250' , turned the dive and descended back to the shotline. Viz was pretty decent.....until we hit the wreck. River and bottom silt reduced viz to about 5'. All the upper (wood) decks are gone, but the iron hull seemed largely intact, with hatches and covers clearly visible. It was a fairly sporty dive, given the depth and viz. But at least current wasn't much of an issue.

We were diving in two teams- team one was Dan Warter and Dave Hancock. Team 2 was Ron Akeson, Paul Hangarter, and myself. Dan and Dave saw some large cleats and anchor chain that my team missed....I'm anxious to see the video, which always seems to show more than the eye picks up. I'll post links when it's available.

Many thanks to Rick Meyers and Bandito charters for some first class captaining!

 

[Clare]

Excellent post