Divers left to right: Paul Blanchette, Don Morse, Bob Foster, Slav Mlch and Dave Faye.

First Dives to the Titanic of New England

Being the first to dive a shipwreck, especially one with an historical past, is the dream of most wreck divers on the east coast. And the Steamship Portland, lost for almost 100 years after being swallowed up in the “perfect storm” of 1898, called out to us like a beacon just off our coastline.

On the evening of November 26th, 1898, Captain Hollis Blanchard left the safety of Boston Harbor attempting his scheduled night run to Portland, Maine ahead of an approaching storm with 192 passengers and crew returning to family and friends after spending Thanksgiving in Boston. The Portland represented a luxurious way to travel between Boston and Portland; an elegant paddlewheel steamship almost 300ft. in length with over 160 staterooms and a grand central dining room. After several sightings along the north shore of Massachusetts, in ever-worsening conditions that night, the Portland was never seen again. Debris from the upper decks and almost 40 bodies washed onto the outer shores of Cape Cod days later to tell the tale of its loss. The huge storm that also claimed close to 150 additional vessels was later referred to as the Portland Gale.

The Portland’s remains were finally located in 1989 in the northern section of what is now Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in 460 feet of water, and the identity was confirmed using an ROV in 2002. Pictures from the ROV clearly showed the remains of the once-beautiful paddlewheels and the huge walking beam still standing erect in the center of the wreck. After viewing these photos, a small group of us trained together for almost 2 years with the goal of someday being able to dive this storied local shipwreck.

In August of this year, Slav Mlch, Dave Faye, Don Morse joined us as the first divers to see the wreck in person and experience the tragic loss first hand. The ornately decorated upper decks of the wreck are now gone, either lost when the ship went down or destroyed by fishing nets during the ensuing years. But personal effects are strewn everywhere, reminding us wherever we look of the loss of so many. Near the center of the ship, serving dishes spill from shelves beneath copper-covered warming trays. Mugs, pitchers and bottles sparkle in our lights where they rise up from the silt covering the upper deck. At the stern, sinks and toiletry items cover the deck where the staterooms once stood, and off the stern near the rudder the bottom is covered with china as far as our lights can reach. The Portland, now protected under Sanctuary rules, will remain untouched for others to experience what has been referred to as the Titanic of New England.

Our equipment for these challenging dives was obviously chosen carefully for performance under the very demanding conditions: extreme depth, and cold dark waters. Even so, we lost several lights and even a pressure gauge during our dives. But our drysuits performed flawlessly and we’d like to thank the folks at DUI for helping to make these dives possible with a solid product. Many divers in our area prefer DUI for warmth and durability. Within our group, 4 of 5 used DUI suits of various types including CF200’s and CLX450’s and each diver has customized their configuration to personal preferences. Paul and Don like the added warmth of dry gloves while Dave and I prefer wet gloves to minimize the possibility of leaks when handling rough lines, which could be catastrophic with the 3.5 hour decompression times required for these dives in cold water.

So thanks again to Faith, Susan and the rest of the DUI crew for making our drysuits the least of our planning concerns.

Bob Foster and Paul Blanchette

More info can be found at http://www.bostondeepwrecks.com/wrecks/Portland.html