Scallopalooza on the RP Resor August 20 2007

The RP Resor was yet another of the hapless tankers plying NJ waters in 1942, and like so many it met its fate at the hands of a u-boat. On the night of February 28th the U-578, from a distance of only 200 yards, put two torpedoes into the ship. Flames erupted into the sky and coated the water, such that out of 41 crew members only 2 escaped the inferno. The two survivors were so coated with thick congealed oil that their weight was estimated at 600 lbs each, and after much difficulty pulling them from the water the rescuers just cut their clothes off. The tanker burned for several days. An attempt was made to take it under tow, but 30 miles out its stern grounded and it was abandoned. It now lies in 130' of water, mostly debris but with a reasonably large portion of the stern still intact.

The Independence had a full boat, with five rebreathers, and many many sets of doubles. I made sure to carve myself a bunk out of all the bags down below, and slept away the two hour run time out. I did roust myself long enough to go up top and see a basking shark feeding at the surface, the first time I've seen one. It seemed to be a trip for strange creatures, as we later found a bat hiding in the pirate flag. I was a little sad on the ride home, with the flag snapping in the breeze and he nowhere to be found. No worries though, at the dock we found the crafty bugger snuggled up in someone's undies. Think about that next time you nonchalantly tug yours on!

It was my first time out to the Resor, and I was looking forward to finally experiencing it. Bill Trent had us tied into the high point in no time, and after a brief gear hiccup I headed down the line. Visibility was in the 30' range, which is unusually low for out here, but still nothing to complain about. The remaining stern section lies heeled over on its left side, with a significant amount of relief, perhaps 35'. I dropped down to the sand, and began to poke about on the deck. There is a lot of sand here, and it was a tease to think of all the artifacts I was passing obliviously over. I looked about a bit for lobsters, as the Resor is famous for them. I only really wanted a big one though, so after catching and releasing several smaller ones I decided to pursue my real quarry, scallops. Following a cable out to the sand led me to a dredge that had been lost. The majority were dead, but I was still able to pull a dozen or so out of it, as well as a bug that just demanded to go home with me. Returning to the wreck I continued on to the stern, passing the 4" deck gun as I went, then did several nice penetrations down what remains of the hallways. The passages are nearly choked with sand, so it is a bit of a challenge to squeeze in. To my surprise there were quite a few scallops inside the wreck as well. Near the tie-in I encountered another diver, and almost got to witness a Wile E. Coyote move. The tip from his spear gun was dangling on a long bungee, and had gotten caught as he swam along. Sssssttttrrreeeetttcchhh! I hollered and moved to free it, then just as quickly moved back, as I had visions of it coming loose and impaling me (there's no size limit on me and I'm always in season.) Fortunately he felt it and backtracked before having to hold up a YIPES sign. At the hour mark I ascended for a leisurely 35 minutes of deco. Bill Bedford learned the price of being a nice guy, when he moved his speargun to avoid poking me on the 20' stop, and then watched it slip away into the deep (sorry Bill, and after you had handed me your scallops and everything!) As I had feared would happen, the Hammerhead electronics flaked out on my rebreather. It was more of an aggravation than problem though, since I had a backup computer with me, another in my pocket, as well as tables. I often think how the reliability record on dive gear would appall Detroit in the 70's.

I had brought a spare head with me, so during the surface interval I popped that in and ran checks on it. Brandon and Captain Dan told me about a porthole backing plate they had seen, so my first act on dive 2 was to go look for it. To my satisfaction I found it in no time, though I also had to agree with them that it wasn't going anywhere soon. Skimming back to the stern I looked for the prop in vain (its been salvaged), then spent some time with another of the ubiquitous abandoned scallop dredges. By my count there were at least six on the wreck, most old, but two still recent enough to have live ones in them. This one in particular was pretty well filled up, and after twenty minutes of fiddling I was rewarded with about 5 dozen scallops. Eventually I lugged my mofo-heavy bag over to the line, no easy feat, then ascended for a nearly identical BT/RT as before.

The rain washed us down the whole way home, which kept me cool while I worked. Hans had had designs of his own on the dredge - wasn't he surprised to return later in the dive to find it cleaned out! He kindly gave me the four he had taken, refused to take a half dozen back instead, and even helped me clean them during the ride back. On a previous trip to the Kenosha he had even offered me two lobsters. I tell you, that guy is all right! All told I had 7 dozen scallops with which to satisfy my craving, and sate my extended family. Besides my scallops there were a few more in the cooler, plus something like 20 lobster.

Even after a long summer the Resor still produced.