1999 Andrea Doria Photos I

These are pictures from the 1999 Seeker expedition to the Andrea Doria, approximately 107 miles in the North Atlantic off Montauk, New York, which took place on July 5 - 7, 1999.

When we arrived on site, we found that the Seeker's mooring buoy (tied in near Gimbel's Hole) had become entangled with one left by a boat from Massachusetts, tied into the stern gull wing in the extreme aft portion of the ship. We ended up spending the entire time in the stern. The weather was marginal, with heavy seas for much of the time out there. The currents were roaring during most of the time as well, making for very physical and athletic dives.

Shortly after sunrise, Will MacBeth jumps in to secure a line into the mooring buoy, attached to the stern gull wing. Dean Repola looks on. Image from video by Christina Young.
	Petie Wohleben waits for the okay signal from Bill Cleary and Mike Pizzio, to splash right after Will MacBeth. Image from video by Christina Young.
Mike Stanley assists Christina Young prior to jumping in for a Doria dive.
	The tie-in point on the stern gull wing. On the background image of this page you can see what (and where) the gull wing was like on the ship before it sank (in the stern, near the 3rd Class area of the ship). As you can also see, it was rather dark with limited visibility. Image from video by Christina Young.
This is the stern railing, completely covered with large anemones. Anemones flourish in this environment of cold, nutrient-rich water, and can also make identifying specific objects on the wreck a lot tougher! Image from video by Christina Young.
	This is a promenade deck window, covered with anemones and completely in place and intact. There are many of them, as they can be a difficult salvage job unless they are loose or fallen. Most of the ones in the stern haven't been touched for this reason. Over time, as the wreck decays further, they will become much easier to recover. Image from video by Christina Young.
This is a non-descript piece of wreckage in the stern area. This rubble is covered by a decomposing piece of cloth. I included it here to show the interesting colors of some of the anemones. Image from video by Christina Young.
	Kevin Lymn explores the remains of the Andrea Doria. Image from video by Christina Young.
Another view of the stern gull wing, with diver on the wreck below. The object hanging off the mooring line is a strobe. Image from video by Christina Young.