Tuesday, July 13, 2010

HMCS Annapolis - 11/07/2010

No diving this weekend, but a diving related activity. I volunteered to work on the HMCS Annapolis to prepare it for sinking sometime later this year. It will become the latest artificial reef in the Vancouver area, and has been in the works for some time.

It was an early day, but worth it. I arrived at Horseshoe Bay and for a while, thought that the day had been canceled since there was no sign of anyone else. But, things were just running late. I soon met Doug, who was in charge of the crew going out on the ship, and the rest of the people going out. We took a fast boat ride to the ship, which was quite a distance from the mainland. Here is a google map link; use Satellite view if it's not on already:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=49.470446,-123.36123&spn=0.003354,0.010568&t=h&z=17

It's a big ship! You can easily see it in the satellite photo.

I took some pictures throughout when I had a chance. They turned out pretty well, and are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AntonNorth/ScubaHmcsAnnapolisPrepForSinkingJuly2010#

The best pictures were of the nuclear-umbrella signs. They denoted shelters where the crew could go to be safe from fallout. Duck and cover!

The work we did on board was mostly dismantling electrical panels from the walls. Doug said that about 80 tonnes of stuff had already been removed, but there was still a lot to go. Many of the bolts were hard to get off being caked in layers of old paint. A lot of the panels were large and very heavy too. It was a bit dicey sometimes, you had to be pretty careful that nothing fell on you!

It wasn't that dirty work, but there was still oil and grease everywhere. All traces of hydrocarbons would eventually have to be removed. I was bewildered to see how that every could be accomplished! It really was everywhere.

It was a great day to be out on the water, and to work on a worthy cause. I plan to get back out again to give a hand, so that when it sinks I can say that I helped!

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