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Dive Report: Cities Service Empire Date: Saturday and Sunday Morning, June 2nd and 3rd, 2001 Boat: Unnamed Boat and Selah Captain: Alex Howard and Mike Potter By: Mike Rodriguez The Cities Service Empire was a 465 foot long tanker built in 1918. It was named after it's owner, the Cities Service Oil Company. In 1942, during World War II, the ship was en-route from Texas to Philadelphia full of oil when it was torpedoed by U-128 off Cape Canaveral, Florida. The first torpedo hit the starboard side of the ship at the stern damaging the ship's rudder and screw and rendering it unmaneuverable. The second torpedo hit the ship starboard amidships and sank it. It came to rest upright ~30 miles offshore in 240 feet of water pointing just east of due north. The CSE is historically significant in that it was one of the first ships sunk off the Florida coast during the war. The Association of Underwater Explorers (AUE) had been trying to dive this wreck for a very long time. Every attempt over the last couple of years had been thwarted by the weather. This weekend we finally managed to get there. While many people claim to have dived this wreck, the descriptions are all wrong. The only exception is that of Mark Mondano who claims to have dived the site in the late 80s. His description is also wrong, but it's close enough that I believe him; he was diving air, which might explain the discrepancies. As far as I know, our group was second only to Mondano on this wreck and since we were on mix, we remember it accurately. The team dove trimix 16/45/39 with 50% and 100% oxygen for decompression both days. The team converged on Cocoa Beach early on Saturday morning. We'd been graciously offered a ride on a private boat so we met early in the morning at a public boat ramp next to Port Canaveral to load and launch the boat. Even before 6am it was busy there as dozens of local sport fishermen launched their boat to enjoy the nice weather out on the ocean. By 7:30am we had the boat loaded and were on our way passing cruise and cargo ships and a Navy submarine hunter docked nearby. From a few miles offshore we could see various Space Shuttle facilities near the beach. The seas were about two feet with easy long-period swells. The day was mostly sunny and hot with temperatures near 90F and high humidity; everyone struggled to stay well hydrated. At the site we found surface temperatures around 80F with about 70F on the bottom. We made good time and reached the site in less than two hours. The captain set up over the wreck and it immediately painted on the bottom finder along with schools of fish. The CSE is heavily fished, and we felt lucky to be the only boat in the area. With our boat in neutral, we dropped a jugline which immediately sank in the current. We remained in neutral and the boat promptly left station. In less than three minutes we were more than .15 nautical miles due north of the waypoint; that's a 3.5+ knot current! This kind of current is, unfortunately, typical offshore Cape Canaveral and is one reason this natural wreck has only been visited by divers once before. We decided that grappling the wreck would do no good since we were not going down the line in such a current. Instead, we rigged two large floatballs totaling over 400 lbs. of lift on a long line with a clip on the end. We geared up as the captain took us due south of the ship by .15 miles giving us ~three minutes to get to the bottom. When we were in position, I took the line and the team of three splashed in; we were in sight of the sand in about 90 seconds. The current on the bottom was only about a half knot, so the line dragged us along through the water at the speed of the surface current. We held tight to the line and watched sand zip by beneath us as if we were water skiing. About three minutes after the drop I started to see curious amberjacks swim out to meet us. Shortly afterward I saw what looked like a flattened lifeboat pass by in the sand below us. I searched in all directions and found the shadow of the wreck in the distance to the north. I was at the bitter end of the line and since the surface current was dragging us along, there was no slack in the line at all. If we reached the wreck with no slack, it would be impossible to tie in, so I made myself as negative as I could and pulled down about 20 feet of line. We hit the wreck directly on the stern and I quickly wedged the rope into the ship to lock it down temporarily. Holding tension on the wedged rope, I wrapped the extra line I had dangling below me around a handy beam, then I clipped it off. I could see the tension build on the line as it stretched under the load and I waited a minute to make sure it wouldn't break free. When I was convinced it would stay put, we started exploring in about 70 feet of visibility. We were tied in right at the stern. Just forward of us was the ship's large deck gun pointing directly aft. My buddy snapped pictures as my other buddy and I sat on the gun and waved, then we swam forward into the moderate bottom current. As we pulled ourselves along, I saw dozens of loose artifacts including lots of portholes and fittings. The ship has an abundance of Oculina coral and assorted other hard and soft corals growing on it, but there is a strange absence of fish. There were a few smallish jacks swimming around in schools, a few small groupers, and smaller tropicals, but not much else. This may be due to the heavy fishing that takes place on this wreck. I continued forward for about 50 feet and found the engine room. The large engine sits exposed with myriad pipes, valves, gauges, and fittings strewn about. I dropped into the engine room for a quick look before exiting and dropping to the sand off the port side of the ship. I swam aft along the sand and at the stern I saw that the single large screw is missing two blades. The rudder is completely missing though parts of it appear to be laying in the sand nearby. We'd planned a short bottom time so I headed back up to the line as my buddies converged there. I unhooked the line being careful not to get snagged by it as several hundred pounds of drag literally flung us off the wreck at over three knots. Everyone held onto the end of the line watching the ship scoot by underneath us, then I fouled the snap and we started up for decompression. A while later we were back on the boat talking about the spectacular dive, reviewing the photos and looking forward to our return the following morning. After an early dinner and a good night's rest, the team was underway again by 9am. One of the divers from the previous day drove the boat and we were joined by an additional AUE diver who didn't get a chance to dive the day before. The conditions which had been pretty good the day before were even better for this dive. The seas were well under two feet and as we got farther offshore, they settled down to less than one foot. At the site we found warm, flat water; overnight the current had dropped to only about 1.5 knots. The day before I was alarmed to hear the captain say that the two large floatballs on our line with over 400 pounds of buoyancy had gone underwater when we snagged the wreck. Fortunately, that wasn't likely to happen again with the lighter current on this dive. We planned to do a free descent with the line as we'd done the day before. The team of three divers geared up and prepared for the drop. The captain took us up-current and I grabbed the line and dropped into the water. We reached the bottom quickly and by two minutes into the dive, I had tied in on the starboard side of the wreck forward of the engine room. The temperature was 63F on the bottom; much chillier than the day before. The current was about a half knot on the bottom but angled slightly west of due north. Right after I tied in, my buddy excitedly pointed at a large porthole sitting unattached on the wreckage right next to my foot. The look in his eyes was that of a kid in a candy store. He quickly swam forward as I followed in the 70 foot visibility. We passed over a large missing chunk of the ship where the fatal torpedo hit. The ship is almost severed in half at that point; the entire starboard side of the ship is missing along a 50 foot length; the port side is still partly intact, but the torpedo blew out much of the hull on that side too. Numerous artifacts litter the wreckage and the sand along that part of the ship. I was looking around below the main deck in this destroyed area when my buddy again excitedly signaled me. I swam over quickly to what once was the bridge to see what all the excitement was about. I could hear exclamations of astonishment as my buddy pointed out the ship's telegraph, then a few feet away, my buddy flipped out again when he saw the ship's helm, then he saw the binnacle stand and the ship's compass, then, as if he wasn't quite exited enough, there laying in the wreckage was the ship's second telegraph. My buddy was in need of a sedative at this point and I wondered if a little narcotic air wouldn't do him good. I grinned at him and continued forward to the bow, then turned and slowly swam back aft passing my buddy again as he prepared to recover a "gift" for the captain of the boat who, despite wanting to go diving, had been kind enough to drive the boat for us instead. My other buddy snapped up pictures for the web site the whole time. I continued aft and finally reached the engine room where I turned the dive the previous day. I swam the rest of the way aft to the deck gun, then sat on the gun and looked forward enjoying the view of this historic ship. As our time ran out, I started forward and rallied with the team at the line. Everyone confirmed the thumbs-up and I unhooked us while my buddy helpfully took off the tension on the line. We held onto the line drifting north just above and to port of the ship as we studied the deck and hull. The inner structure of the ship is visible in many areas where the hull plating damaged by the torpedo has fallen off. My buddy, still exited, constantly shook the line to get my attention while he pointed at various parts of the ship and shouted unintelligibly into his regulator. Finally we drifted out of sight of the ship and we started up the line after fouling the clip. A few amberjack followed us up a short distance, then returned to the ship. With decompression over, we boarded the boat and admired the porthole we recovered for the captain, then started back home. The Cities Service Empire is truly one of Florida's best wrecks. Despite many claims to the contrary, I know we were the second group of divers to have ever been there and as soon as the weather cooperates again, AUE will be back! -Mike Rodriguez <mikey@mi*.ne*> http://www.mikey.net/scuba Pn(x) = (1/(2^n)n!)[d/dx]^n(x^2 - 1)^n -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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