Submerged Volvos in Halifax Harbor? (2023 Update)

The P1800s would have bought it, but the Scotch should have aged nicely. Except it probably wouldn't be in casks -- still a thought.

In article , But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!??? Those pictures were

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Actually, I think they cut it into five or six sections. The technique is rather simple, just on a large scale.

For something the size of the Tricolor, use an abrasive cable (flexible steel with carbide bits bonded to it, for example) about 1500' (457m) long and about 2" (50mm) in diameter for a vessel in 1600' (487m) of water.

Position one barge on each side of the vessel where the cut is to be made, each barge having a large, powerful winch on board. Each winch needs enough cable to reach to the bottom where the vessel lies. The abrasive cable is attached to one winch and lowered until the downward end is at the bottom beside the vessel.

The other winch lowers its' cable to the bottom, where it is passed under the vessel (a tunnel can be dug with a pressure hose) and attached to the free end of the abrasive cable. The first winch then pays out cable as the second draws in, getting the abrasive cable pulled under the vessel. Once it's through, the barges tighten the cables, then alternate pulling and paying cable, keeping the tension on.

Eventually, the abrasive cable grinds through the hull, decking, bulkheads, piping, cargo, and anything else in the way.

Then, someone with a big crane on a big barge gets to hoist up a few hundred tons of scrap...

Gary

The engines driving the winches are probably diesels, which will be pretty noisy.

Underwater, there'd be a long scraping sound, a pause, another long scraping sound, pause, scrape, pause, scrape, etc.

Might be an occasional clanging sound when a large piece of metal comes loose and bounces around.

Gary

IIRC, there was a load of wine and champaigne that sunk during WWI in the hcannel that they hauled up.

The pressure had forced seawater into the wine bottles, but the champaigne was as good as new as its pressure counteracted the depth.

So the Scotch would be bad as well.

Funny, I have actually dived that wreck! It's called the Zenobia and its full of Volvo and Scania trucks, that where headed for Africa. It was a strange feeling to swim around inside that boat I tell you /Patrik

Yeah, this is the sound that I expect could end up being heard a great distance. Diesel noise too, of course.

The Tricolor was in shallow water; you could see the hull under perhaps

30 feet of water. This at least made it easy for the divers to work down there. If the wreck were in deep water or outside of the shipping lane, perhaps they would have left it there.

Just out of interest the wreck has been hit by at least a couple of ships already.

Cheers, Peter.

"Rick Auricchio" wrote in message news:250220040833164386% snipped-for-privacy@cfcl.com... : Gary Heston wrote: : : > Underwater, there'd be a long scraping sound, a pause, another long : > scraping sound, pause, scrape, pause, scrape, etc. : : Yeah, this is the sound that I expect could end up being heard a great : distance. Diesel noise too, of course. : : The Tricolor was in shallow water; you could see the hull under perhaps : 30 feet of water. This at least made it easy for the divers to work : down there. If the wreck were in deep water or outside of the shipping : lane, perhaps they would have left it there. : : -- : - rick

Rick Auricchio Acoustic Legacy Studios snipped-for-privacy@cfcl.com: I acknowledge the existence of a higher power, and have therefore installed: surge suppressors.

Three or four, as a matter of fact. Two hits within about a month of the sinking (despite being marked with a light), and another a few months later. I'm pretty sure there was a fourth hit too.

The ship that sank the Tricolor had apparently changed course to avoid hitting another ship...

It was mentioned on another web site whose URL I now forget.

We were told that years ago a shipment of Volvos came to Halifax, but when it came to inspection, there was a certain specification that the Volvos did not have therefore they could not be imported. As it would’ve been too expensive for the Volvos to be shipped home they were dumped in the bottom of the harbor.