WEEKEND: Divers to tell of exploring wreckage of SS Governor
Published 12:01 am Friday, March 15, 2013
SEQUIM — The Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley dives into the deep to explore the undersea wreckage of the passenger liner SS Governor in a history presentation at 10 a.m. today.
“The Wreck of the SS Governor: A Requiem,” featuring representatives of the historical shipwreck-chronicling Maritime Documentation Society, will be at the historical Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2781 Towne Road.
Admission is $5 at the door.
Maritime Documentation Society exploration divers will discuss their ongoing efforts to document the wreckage of the 417-foot Seattle-bound liner that was carrying more than 200 passengers when it was rammed by the SS West Hartland and sank near Point Wilson in April 1921.
Ship’s bell
In documenting what remains, the diving crew discovered the ship’s bell buried in silt some 240 feet below the surface in Admiralty Inlet.
Dan Warter, vice president of the society, said shipwreck diving conditions around Port Townsend have been quite tricky, likening currents in the area to “a constant underwater hurricane, with the vortex difficulty over the wreck.”
That has limited dives to the wreck of the SS Governor to about three to five days per year.
The program marks the third of four local history programs sponsored by the MAC this season at the historical Dungeness Schoolhouse.
The final program, “The Manis Mastodon Archaeological Site,” with Clare Manis Hatler, is Friday, April 19.
Visit www.macsequim.org for details.
