Line laid to a wreck offshore from KGH

Following up on an exploratory dive last week, local divers, many of them POW members, tonight placed a line from shore near Kingston General Hospital to a wreck that lies in 60 feet of water, just 20 minutes gentle swim away. The line starts around the 20 foot depth contour and is most easily located by entering the water somewhere near the middle of the car park close to Murney Tower and swimming eastwards along the 20 foot contour until you pick it up. It's bright yellow and leads almost directly south to the bow of the wreck.

The wreck is in very good condition; one of the more intact examples of what is certainly a sailing vessel and probably associated with use on the canal systems. It's almost a hundred feet long and about 24 feet wide. Care should be taken by visiting divers to avoid disturbing and damaging many upright features that have stood the test of time.

The wreck is well known already; it features on local charts, but it has not previously been of great interest, since it lies in the path of frequent boat traffic and didn't have any line to it from shore. For ease of reference, it may be useful (borrowing the example of the KPH wreck) to refer to it as the KGH wreck, unless and until someone can provide a precise identity.

Visibility tonight was about 40 feet on the wreck and the water temperature about 64F.

Plans for a General Meeting...

It is intended to hold a General Meeting for members in Kingston on the evening of Saturday, September 6th. The venue is still to be confirmed, but there will be a barbecue after the brief gathering, which is being arranged to allow members to provide input and feedback to our Board - and get together to share dive stories and ideas about the way ahead. There will be no charge, but those attending are asked to contact me at mike.hill@mac.com to enable planning on food quantities to be completed. Beverages will not be provided. Please bring your own favourite tipple...

Lots of good work going on...

Work to maintain and improve the moorings that give some protection to our local wrecks is often done without fuss and fanfare. But, it is an important activity and one of the cornerstones of our group's constitution. Divers from Collins Bay, actively supported by Northern Tech Diver and Seadeucer Charters, veteran POW members like Rick Neilson and folk from the Dolphin Scuba Club have all been busily contributing to mooring work recently. Their efforts are gratefully acknowledged. Check out the various websites and blogs to keep up with the work in progress.

China Wreck receives a new mooring...

Some more great work by our mooring director, Harold Vandenberg and divers out of Collins Bay has resulted in a new block being placed on the wreck of the China. This was not accomplished easily. Three trips were actually required to locate a suitable block, prepare it for movement and then, finally, shift it across the Lake to the required location. The block selected lay close to the Annie Falconer, so movement was quite a business, taking some 90 minutes of slow motoring to complete. The new block and line lie close to the stern of the China, giving divers who visit a very early view of the vessel's large prop. For those who are registered with the site, there are some excellent pictures, once again from Tom Rutledge, on the Ontario DIving Forum website. Some can also be found on Tom's Flickr page, which has a marvelous catalogue of underwater wreck photographs.