Benthic Canada

Project Benthic Part 4 - A Study in Contrasts
by John Nunes (August 1, 2006)

Second time lucky for Alithea and I diving Nipigon, near Rimouski, Quebec. We had hoped to get a few dives on her last year during our expedition on Empress of Ireland. The two ships are so close to each other you can see the Empress memorial buoy on a good day when tied up above Nipigon. Unfortunately we had an uphill and ultimately fruitless task of convincing the other expedition members to foresake a dive or two on Empress to check out some artificial reef for recreational divers.

This year's Expedition Empress would prove to be different. The other expedition members had read up on Project Benthic and actually encouraged us to dive Nipigon and even take underwater video footage to document the experience.

HMCS Nipigon

Nipigon was the first purpose built Canadian destroyer to carry helicopters. She served the Canadian Navy with distinction, which included the rescue of fishing vessel Lady Marjorie's crew near Halifax in 1985 after abandonment due to fire. As the burning hulk was considered a navigational hazard, Nipigon sank her with her forward gun. Two years later she would come to the aid of another burning vessel, this time the tugboat Gulf Gale, off the coast of Puerto Rico. Her helicopter was used to rescue the tug's crew. Nipigon had her own encounter with fire two decades before while on exercises in the Atlantic Ocean. A fire broke out, with one sailor killed and others suffering serious burns. Not exactly what you would call all-out war, but she also helped enforce Canadian interests against Spanish fishing trawlers off Newfoundland, including the boarding of one such trawler in 1995.

Nipigon was sunk by the Artificial Reef Society of Quebec in 2003. She now rests in approximately 130 feet of water in the St. Lawrence River, laying on her keel with a slight list to port.

As Nipigon is situated quite closely to Empress of Ireland, conditions here are identical as we would find out - strong current, limited visibility, little ambient light and cold water. The temperature near the surface on a summer day is six degrees celcius, which is about as cold as it ever gets on deep dives in Howe Sound, British Columbia in the worst of winter.

The only buoy set for this year's diving season led down to the starboard side of the helicopter hangar bay. We spent some time trying to make the most of filming in poor visibility by shooting diver close-ups, prominent features and markings inside the ship, as well as whatever marine life we could find. The autofocus video camera had quite the workout with all the particulants. While not abundant, there was an interesting selection of creatures that called Nipigon home, including krill and boreal red shrimp, toad crabs, rock cod and white lined nudibranchs.

Apparently we were the first to dive Nipigon this year, which perhaps explained the strange behaviour of all the life down there; they seemed surprised to see us bubbleblowers, either bolting away from us at high speed in the opposite direction or backing themselves slowly into corners and under ledges. Even the nudibranchs seemed to be effecting swift escapes by their sloth-like standards. This provided comical footage.

I was amazed at how well this ship was cleaned up prior to becoming an artificial reef. Not only with all the obligatory cutouts on the hull and superstructure, but quite a number of center bulkheads had been removed completely to make sections of the deck more open plan. Large holes were cut in the deck floors as well, so moving between decks was simple. Even so, going down the stairs still in situ was much more fun.

Of course with all of these openings it is easy for silt to accumulate with the passing of time and currents. Mountains and heaps of the stuff. I half expected we would reach a brown wall with no way around. At one point I tried putting my hand into the silt to measure its consistency. It had none. My hand disappeared into it effortlessly and instantly sent a silt cloud billowing up. There would be no penetration into the engine room either. That's right, all dirt. So many areas below deck three have been made completely inaccessible and even as we approached the bow, Burma Road had so much dirt accumulated that the only clearance available was about three vertical feet or less, which proved to be quite fun negotiating. Conditions here are far more treacherous than the other Canadian destroyers turned artificial reefs, but that makes these dives assume greater significance.

On the outside of the ship we were always under the influence of current, which we could use to our advantage by gliding along the rounded hull with a hand out ready to arrest being swept off as well as to avoid the prolific numbers of sea urchins and their sharp barbs. We visited the area where the forward gun turret once resided and then swung up to the bridge. Unlike the other classes of destroyers, this Annapolis class bridge (or more accurately, compass room) is significantly smaller and has no side entry hatches. Entry onto the bridge is via an overhead cutout or from within the superstructure. Other than a few glass windows and window winders still intact, all equipment had been removed from the bridge.

Of course a trip to Nipigon would be incomplete without inspecting the helicopter hangar bay. We entered it from a hatch in the superstructure and amused ourselves with the many large sacks of road salt piled up there, no doubt the remains of what was used to de-ice the decks during winter. Other than that, it's pretty much just a big, dark and empty cavern.

After being unable to dive Nipigon last year, we were quite thrilled to have the opportunity for a few dives on her this time around. My lasting impression of her is the striking contrast of being such a well-prepared artificial reef for recreational divers, yet sunk in waters generally more conducive to technical diving. Herein lies Nipigon's flaw: technical divers would rather dive Empress of Ireland than visit this artificial reef - that certainly has been our experience in previous years. Yet the typical recreational diver would find Nipigon to be a taxing dive, and certainly not recreational in nature. Perhaps this is why Alithea and I were the first to dive her this year. Except of course for the kind soul who put in the mooring buoy.

A pity because at the rate Nipigon is being overrun by silt, this purposely sunk ship will completely disappear into the river bottom within a few short years, while the tragedy known as Empress of Ireland continues its battle with the St. Lawrence River more than 90 years later.

Project Benthic - Part [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]