Submerged Volvos in Halifax Harbor?

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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
 
blurp said:
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.
Click to expand...

Nope - entire ship full of them sank.
 
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
 
blurp said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Joseph Oberlander said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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
 
This from
http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/review/2002/english/BIO_2002_in_Review.pdf

"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
 
A conflicting report! Page 3 of this document
http://gom.nrcan.gc.ca/benthic/pdf/fader_etal_1999.pdf includes a nice
sonogram of the sea floor in the bedford basin and points out a few
scattered 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
 
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.

http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/review/2002/english/BIO_2002_in_Revi
ew.asp?n=5


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.

http://www.mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/review/1996/Fader/Fader_e.html


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.
 
blurp declared:
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
Click to expand...

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..."

http://www.autoworld.com/news/full_story.asp?id=2105
 
Bigjon wrote:

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..."
Click to expand...

Ah - that's the one I was thinking about.
 
You can read about the salvage of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002:

<http://www.tricolorsalvage.com>


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.

<http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/mpg/tricolorAutos/tricol
orAutos.html>


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...
 
Rick Auricchio said:
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.
Click to expand...
<http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/mpg/tricolorAutos/tricol
orAutos.html>
Click to expand...
[ ... ]

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
 
Rick Auricchio said:
You can read about the salvage of the Tricolor, which sank in 2002:
Click to expand...

This has nothing to do with Halifax Harbor, it says:

"The ŒTRICOLOR¹ is a 1987 built Norwegian flagged vehicle carrier,
which, in the early hours of 14 December 2002, was struck by ŒKariba¹, a
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.
 
But WOW.. cutting a boat that size in half!!??? Those pictures were
something!!!


Rick Auricchio said:
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.
Click to expand...
<http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/mpg/tricolorAutos/tricol
orAutos.html>
Click to expand...
[ ... ]

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

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.
 
Stephen M. Henning said:
This has nothing to do with Halifax Harbor, it says:
Click to expand...
The last time I looked, the English Channel and French Coast weren't in
Halifax Harbor.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Stephen M. Henning said:
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.
Click to expand...

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

I'm wondering if it was really noisy.
 
Rick Auricchio said:
Steve, were you able to see any of the action? (Yeah, I know, it was
underwater.)
Click to expand...

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