Rick Stanley and Steve Lewis were inducted as Fellows at the Annual College of Fellows Dinner for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in Ottawa on November 18, 2105. Stanley and Lewis and RCGS Medalist Jill Heinerth are applying to carry the flag of the society for upcoming exploration and documentation work of the Bell Island Mines and shipwrecks.
On July 7, 2015 Jill Heinerth had the opportunity to assist in the documentation of the recovery and delivery to provincial conservators of the sextant from the WWII shipwreck SS Rose Castle. The Rose Castle was sunk on November 2nd, 1942 by a German U-Boat that was attempting to disrupt the supply of high grade iron ore coming from Bell Island, Newfoundland, Canada. The event also marks the only time a torpedo struck land in what is now Canadian soil. 28 crew were lost, but many were saved by citizens of the island. The sextant was discovered by diver Luc Michel…
Where Whales Went to Die We went diving in a graveyard of whales in Dildo, Newfoundland. Thankfully the practice of whaling has long passed in the these waters, but I was struck with the sadness of such a place. Whale carcasses were stripped of all their useful parts and then discarded in this bay. The backbones lead the dive through ribbons of solemnity and when you arrive at a great skull, you are stopped by the magnificent size. I’m hopeful we will swim with these great creatures on our expedition and celebrate them in their majestic life.
I was diving on the wreck of the Rosecastle this morning with Cas Dobbin and used my new Santi heated gloves for the first time. It was glorious. I can’t imagine how I worked without them. We had an hour on the wreck which sites in 150 feet of water. The temperature is 1°C on the bottom and I was comfortable for the duration of the dive. The under gloves are great insulators even without the heat. They sit inside my Kubi dry gloves and mate to the suit with a metal ring that is sealed with an O-ring. A small…
Few Canadians are aware of the time when WWII came to the shores of Newfoundland. During the Second World War, mines on Bell Island, Newfoundland supplied iron ore to Cape Breton’s steel mills, accounting for one third of Canada’s steel production. Germany knew that if they interrupted this flow of ore, even temporarily, Canada’s war output could be seriously affected. On the night of September 4th, 1942, a German U-Boat followed the ore carrier Evelyn B into its anchorage. The next morning and under the guns of the Bell Island Battery, the U-Boat sank two ships: SS Saganaga and SS…