Benthic Canada

Project Benthic Part 3 - A Trip to the Maritimes
by John Nunes (November 1, 2005)

There are a total of four destroyer escorts in Nova Scotia. Visiting these was a no-brainer for Project Benthic. For Alithea, a Maritimer, this would also be a trip home. For me, born and raised in Africa, Nova Scotia was an exotic destination.

Gatineau and Terra Nova, both Restigouche class, are tied up in Halifax. We tried, but weren't allowed to step foot on the naval base there, so we had to film both of them from a distance from under the MacDonald Bridge.

Number three in Nova Scotia is the St. Laurent class Fraser, tied up in Bridgewater. Alithea and I arranged to spend the night on her, courtesy of her curator, Rick Welsford. Fraser was used as a testbed for the Royal Canadian Navy during her many years of service. She has many firsts, including carrying the first bear claw, a device used to safely guide helicopters in flight onto the deck, a towed sonar device, special antennae previously used on aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure, and Fraser even served as Canada's first unisex warship. Oh yes, she also carried nuclear-tipped torpedoes.

General arrangements on Fraser were a little different from what we had become accustomed to on the other ships. For example, with the helicopter landing pad and a dedicated computer room to control the towed sonar, the mortar well was covered over. Even so, Fraser added a refreshing new perspective to our understanding of the layout of these ships: we were able to walk up and down her decks with video camera, stop and linger in officer's quarters, boiler and engine rooms, radio room. Fraser became our textbook.

Every piece of equipment, every dial was still there. Phones scattered throughout the ship, directions and instructions still posted on walls, grub manifests, personal belongings including shoes, a fully-stocked infirmary - we felt like we had stumbled on a deserted ship. Rick told us stories of former crewmembers dropping off boxes of items, whose contents are now to be found in every room.

We grabbed fried chicken, coleslaw and beer for dinner that night and ate in the main cafetaria on deck three. I'm not a fried chicken guy, but that night it just seemed appropriate. On decommissioning, Fraser's sailors had signed their names on the walls in the cafetaria. Even though it was just the two of us onboard, we felt surrounded by so many memories and life experiences. There was another presence there that night. Perhaps reading about ancient mariner's curses and superstitions in the wardroom earlier in the evening helped.

After dinner we explored the different rooms and their contents up and down Burma Road late into the night, with camera in tow. We slept in the Captain's Room. It was difficult leaving Fraser in the morning.

HMCS Saguenay (Photo: Sandy McClearn)

Spending so much time on Fraser prepared us for a series of dives on the fourth destroyer escort in Nova Scotia, Saguenay, another St. Laurent class. Saguenay was sunk in 1994 as an artificial reef and lies in less than 100 feet of water, or 16 fathoms as they like to call it in the Maritimes.

When prepared for sinking, holes were cut on her starboard so on sinking she would come to rest on her starboard side. After she sank and the mud settled, Saguenay sat perfectly upright. This posed a problem because her superstructure now stood in water shallower than 30 feet, which was a hazard for passing marine traffic. Plans were hatched to knock off the tower and mark the wreck with a special purpose buoy to warn mariners. But winter storms ended up shifting Saguenay, which now lies on her starboard side - as originally intended - with superstructure intact.

Alithea and I had were diving off Bill Flower's boat, which was suited for open ocean. This meant we had to perform back rolls into water seven feet below. We were using steel double cylinders, mine 112 cubic feet and Alithea's 98 cubic feet. Let's just say we fell fast and hard. As if that wasn't hard enough, the boat had a near vertical six foot ladder we had to clammer up after the dive... If anyone says women are not cut out to do technical diving, Alithea proved that theory wrong. Bill, his shocked assistant and I can testify to that.

The wreck itself is a little worse for wear, having been ravaged by the area's conditions. After a decade, parts of her tower are strewn along the bottom, and the helicopter bay, made entirely out of aluminium to keep the weight down, is coming apart. The first area we visited was the helicopter bay, admiring its vastness. It is a novelty for us, with none of the destroyers on the west coast we've dived having such a thing. Also different was the stern. We were accustomed to gracefully backward slopping rears; here we found a series of winches and arms and other equipment that were used to operate the sonar device.

Only three people were involved in the clean-up operation of Saguenay. In an effort to get her ready for sinking without sacrificing diver safety, the decision was made to weld hatches shut, and bar and chain any opening to stop penetration into all but a few places. My heart sank when I peered through openings barred shut; on these dives penetrations would be restricted to the bridge, helicopter bay and other wide open areas with mutliple entry and exit points. There are points where it seemed one could pass a single cylinder through an opening and swim in, but that wasn't an option for us with our big doubles.

We had heard of an opening into deck three on Saguenay's starboard side about midships into the CPO's and PO's cafetaria. We found the sloped muddy bottom quite close to the hull. I inched in closer and closer to the point where I could no longer move forward between the hull and the mud and started digging. Just then, in the haze of disturbed mud, I saw an opening, made small and inaccessible by a decade's worth of accumulated mud. I continued digging in vain. We would not fit through this hole. I closed my eyes and imagined the wonders awaiting us on the other side of this mud.

Unlike the other artificial reefs that have given up their secrets to all who dare enter, Saguenay keeps hers tight. In time, saltwater and current will remove rusting chain and padlock. Until then, Saguenay remains mystery.

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