Bronx Queen Propeller Marine Salvage. This show was filmed back in the 1990s as part of the Dive Wreck Valley cable TV series. It depicts the Marine Salvage of the Bronx Queen Shipwrecks propeller. For additional shipwreck information check us out on the web http://www.aquaexplorers.com/bronx.htm#.VS692JTF9Q0 The first task was simply to re-visit the wreck take a good long look at the artifact and devise a plan of removal. When we descended everything seemed to be fairly simple and straight forward. My dive partner, Doctor Steve Lombardo and I, decided to unbolt the V-strut first, remove it separately, and then cut through the four inch prop shaft. This was easier said than done, and we realized our fool proof plan may have some flaws. The V-strut was secured with ten one inch diameter bolts. Each had two nuts which over the course of time had been locked on and were now permanently fixed by marine growth. After four dives, the purchase of a 1 11/16 deep socket and a lot of aching muscles, Joel Silverstein and myself were finally able to removed the nuts. The next step was to drive out each bolt. I had brought a 3/4 inch stainless shaft to drive out the two foot long bolts, but even this seemingly easy task gave us trouble. The wood around each bolt was water logged and had expanded causing an extremely tight hold on the bolts. Using a ten pound sledge hammer it took another two dives to remove all of the bolts. Keep in mind that this wreck sits in only 40 feet of water and each diver was wearing double 80 cubic foot tanks. Each dive lasted upwards of two hours, so six dives multiplied by two divers and the dive time calculates to close to 24 hours of bottom time just to unbolt the strut. On the next trip to the wreck site we planned to remove and lift the strut, but after two dives with crow bars and lift bags we failed. In a last ditch effort we attached a line from the strut up to the dive boat and pulled with the Liomar's engines, but to our surprise all that happened was that our line snapped. The strut was wedged into position with the wrecks hull planks on top and the propeller on the bottom. Jerry Moran, who owns and operates the Liomar returned a week latter and was successful. He used a hydraulic jack to pump up the wreck and then sent the strut to the surface with a five hundred pound lift bag. I phoned my friend Captain Steve Bielenda from the Research Vessel Wahoo, who in turn called Captain Don Schnell. Don lent us a set of underwater torches that would quickly cut through the shaft, but first I had to learn how to use them. In Steve Bielenda's driveway I learned. The torches are similar to arc welding. There is a striker plate that's attached by cable to the negative terminal of a 12 volt battery and a torch head that has an oxygen line attached by hose to an oxygen supply and a cable attached to the batteries positive side. The rods are about 18 inches long, are hollow and have magnesium shafts inside the external tube. The torch head has a trigger that allows the diver to turn on the flow of oxygen that is pumped through the hollow rod. In order to cut the rod must be inserted into the torch head. The rod is then struck against the striker plate, which causes an arc. Once the magnesium is ignited the torch continues to burn until the oxygen, which is controlled with a trigger, is cut off. The torch burns at around 10,000 degrees. By practicing on land I was able to cut through a variety of steel and stainless steel objects. The next step was to practice in the water before returning to the wreck sight. On our next trip we took another approach to the project. Steve Lombardo unbolted the propeller shaft coupling just aft of the engine. The shaft was now only attached to the wreck at her stuffing box where the shaft comes through the hull. Steve had a friend with a tug boat and our plan was to attach a steel cable to the propeller and rip the prop free from the wreck. After a little discussion, Steve and I both decided to abort this plan. We felt that the tug would destroy the wreck and we wanted to almost surgically remove the propeller, without harming the wreck above and next to it.

• published: 15 Apr 2015
• views: 15