Submerged Volvos in Halifax Harbor? (2023 Update)

Here's a weird one: on our trip to Nova Scotia last year we spent a day in Halifax and visited the Marine Museum there. On the second floor, as part of a display covering the rich heritage of sinking ships, was a satelite map of Halifax harbor with certain submerged landmarks annotated. The most unusual of the notes was one indicating a point where there was a pile of volvos lay at the bottom of the harbor.

No one there could explain it for us and I've never been able to find an answer as to what a pile of Volvo's would be doing on the bottom of the harbor (besides rusting). My best guess is either improperly secured freight or part of a trade dispute.

Anyone know more?

blurp

Reply to
blurp
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Nope - entire ship full of them sank.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

Wow, that's too bad. You'd think they'd mark it on the map as a shipwreck rather than submerged cars. Perhaps they salvaged the ship but some cars stayed behind.

Got any more details?

blurp

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:25:27 GMT, the illustrious Joseph Oberlander favored us with the following prose:

Reply to
blurp

IIRC, the ship was a huge navagational hazzard, so it was cut up in sections and raised to the surface. About 1/4 or so of the cars didn't make it up with the pieces.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

How deep are they? Seems like someone would have tried to salvage rims and plastic parts if it's not too hard to get to.

Reply to
James Sweet

I know it was in the Bedford Basin which is a pretty high-traffic area...maybe not a safe recreational diving environment. In searching for details I came across this report of a different wreck from Cyprus:

"Since it sank one nautical mile off the Larnaca coast 19 years ago, the Swedish vessel carrying a cargo of Volvos has become a tourist attraction for pleasure divers. Several local diving schools specialise in expeditions to the wreck."

Let this be a lesson to all you freight captains: Beware the Curse of the Volvos!

blurp

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:53:32 GMT, the illustrious "James Sweet" favored us with the following prose:

Reply to
blurp

This from

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"Highlights of the talk focused on the presence of former islands in the basin; archaeological sites of interest; the discovery of the Erg shipwreck - a wartime sinking in the basin with the loss of 19 lives; the discovery of the barge that caused the 1945 magazine explosion; 32 Volvo automobiles on the bottom; and many other fascinating aspects of the seabed."

So there's 32 of them. Now I just need to figure out what year they're from and I'll start putting the expedition team together.

Who needs parts?

blurp

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:43:32 -0500, the illustrious blurp favored us with the following prose:

Reply to
blurp

A conflicting report! Page 3 of this document

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includes a nicesonogram of the sea floor in the bedford basin and points out a fewscattered Volvos.

They refer to the cars as "...discarded Volvo automobiles whose roofs have been collapsed before dumping. Known targets like these provide calibration for trials to improve sonar resolution."

So the mystery both deepens and becomes less mysterious.

Go figure.

blurp

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:52:56 -0500, the illustrious blurp favored us with the following prose:

Reply to
blurp

Some references to cars being scrapped, not ship wrecked:

1) (Bedford Basin) Highlights of the talk focused on the presence of former islands in the basin; archaeological sites of interest; the discovery of the Erg shipwreck - a wartime sinking in the basin with the loss of 19 lives; the discovery of the barge that caused the 1945 magazine explosion; 32 Volvo automobiles on the bottom; and many other fascinating aspects of the seabed.

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2) (Bedford Basin) 330 kHz sidescan sonogram from Bedford Basin, Halifax Harbour, collected with a neutrally bouyant and decoupled towfish, configured to minimize towfish motion. Image shows flat muddy seabed with linear anchor drag marks. The approximately 20 rectangular features on the seabed are discarded Volvo automobiles whose roofs have been colapsed before dumping. Known targets like these provide calibration for trials to improve sonar resolution.

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Of unrelated interest is the 1917 Halifax Disaster and the biggest non-nuclear explosion. It compared with 9-11 in terms of tragedy.

On December 6, 1917, two war ships, a Belgian relief ship, Imo, and a French ship carrying munitions, the Mont Blanc, fatally collided in Halifax Harbor. Incorrect signaling and misunderstanding between the two ships led the Imo to strike the side of the Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc, which was carrying 400,000 pounds of TNT, 300 rounds of ammunitions, along with other explosive ingredients, caught fire and drifted closer into the city of Halifax. Before the fire could be put out, the Mont Blanc exploded creating the "biggest man-made explosion before the nuclear age". The explosion killed over 2,000 people and injured 9,000. The explosion caused $28 million in damage - 326 acres of the north-end of Halifax's waterfront had been destroyed.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

blurp declared:

I don't know about that one, but in December 2002 a ship sank and dumped a few in the English Channel....

"...About 1800 Volvo cars were on board,

350 of which were state of the art 2003 Volvo XC90s, worth up to $50 million..."

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Reply to
Bigjon

Ah - that's the one I was thinking about.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

You can read about the salvage of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002:

Here are photos of the aft section of the cut-up ship on the dock afterward. I was particularly amazed at their ability to cut through things like the propeller shafts.

This whole sinking business was amusing to read, since I have an XC90 on order. According to the tracking info at the shipping company, my car was unloaded this morning in Los Angeles...

Reply to
Rick Auricchio

In article , Rick Auricchio wrote: [ ... ]

[ ... ]

It's easy, with an abrasive cable. They're used to slice chunks off of mountains without explosives. Given enough time and abrasive, I doubt there's anything that can withstand them.

Gary

Reply to
Gary Heston

1982 built Bahamian flagged container ship in the French Exclusive Economic Zone some 20 miles north of the French coast in the English channel."

The last time I looked, the English Channel and French Coast weren't in Halifax Harbor.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!??? Those pictures were something!!!

Reply to
Anonymous

They did the same thing with the nuclear submarine that sank off the coast of Finland and Norway a few years ago when I was vacationing there. Submarines are made of much heavier metal and much more substantial than a freighter.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

I realize that. It's just that somewhere in the preceding posts, somebody began mentioning stuff that seemed like it was part of the Tricolor story. That's why I provided the links, to help clarify things.

Reply to
Rick Auricchio

Steve, were you able to see any of the action? (Yeah, I know, it was underwater.)

I'm wondering if it was really noisy.

Reply to
Rick Auricchio

No, they had a real tight security zone because it was a nuclear sub presumably with weapons on board.

Reply to
Stephen M. Henning

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