The Ship Sinkers | Free Documentary

They are floating scrapyards suspended decommissioned naval vessels toxic time bombs full of PCBs asbestos lead paint oil and grease hundreds of rust in

ship

yards around the world what can be done since 1991 this team of Canadians has had an integrated approach clean

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s and sink. The meticulously timed explosive charges cut through the steel plate like a hot knife through butter. The ship sinks within minutes. From all this chaos and explosive energy comes life. Marine life when these ancient warriors become artificial reefs. Within days, the algae begin to grow creating food for the animals. other animals that in turn attract other predators increasing diversity until an entire reef ecosystem becomes artificial reefs magnets for life and magnets for divers Wellington New Zealand this is the frigate Wellington F 69 and in a week it will be on the seabed as an avid diver Marco Zeeman thought that sinking a boat to make an artificial reef would be a good idea and that idea became a passion that would occupy six years of his life.

The F 69 began its life as the boat of the British Royal Navy but sweets and saw service in the Cod War with Iceland and in the Falklands War in 1982 joined the New Zealand Navy and was renamed Wellington before it can be sunk the Wellington must be spotlessly clean 113 meters long 3100 tons the ship is huge and as is Marco The amount of work that still needs to be done before the synchronization day scheduled for November 12 is approaching, but today all the meeting planning obstacles from the previous year fade away as the F 69 is towed into Wellington Harbor for final preparation work before sinking today.

The weather is perfect, but the city has the nickname Windy Wellington due to the strong winds that sweep across Cook Strait. These winds could make sinking the F 69 a challenge. Now docked in Wellington Harbour, the final preparation work is underway, removing hatches, pipes, you name it. that could pollute the ocean, be dangerous to divers or be sold for scrap, even the name of the ship, but the work is progressing slowly and the day of the sinking with all the fanfare and anticipation is fast approaching, boy Gabriel, I guess we've been here in 28 29 days. Now, the first day I got on board the ship I couldn't believe it.

I kept walking. I figured that much of the initial design would have been done inside the boat during preparation and I walked on. There was not a single bulkhead nor was a wall removed or anything like that and it was almost a panic station. Roy Gabriel has sunk more ships than some navies. A retired explosives expert from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is one of the consultants' partners. artificial reef canadians and is here to provide his experienced guidance, it had been a month now of 12 hours a day seven days a week trying to get this to the point where it is now the brute force job of junk removal continues to be crazy we have to get this tank out here you see it will open clean it and clean it and that takes too long artificial reefs attract life and attract divers and divers bring in tourist dollars this is the old USS Spiegel Grove right next door of Key Largo in the Florida Keys.

She is now a major diving attraction, but she had problems. She started it and is a good example of the potential risks when thousands of tonnes of steel sink after clearing the 155 metres. Beetle Grove was towed into her position and anchored with 5,400 tons for final preparations, but on May 17, 2002, one day before she was due to sing. something and no one knows exactly what went wrong the ship began to sink not only was it sinking but it began to capsize ending up upside down a danger to navigation and certainly not an artificial reef finally after a lot of blood, sweat, tears and money, the Rescuers trapped it on the bottom, but today to starboard, with a little push from Hurricane Dennis in 2005, it is upright and becoming a thriving reef popular with divers while Roy Gabriel is working in Wellington in New Zealand, its partners West Roots and J Strength are checking out what could be the next project a Canadian destroyer escort has been involved in in which their team has been involved in the sinking of some 19 ships, with the Wellington being number 20 .They have learned what it takes to do a controlled sinking of the ship.

Jay Strait explains that sinking the ship is much more. Instead of just adding explosives and running like hell, what you really have to do is be very careful to calculate how stable you will keep that ship during this sinking operation. The key points to keep in mind are the center of gravity and the center of buoyancy. of the boat when the boat is clear, the center of buoyancy is low on the boat and the center of gravity is high on the boat when the boat begins to flood the center of buoyancy moves up while the center of gravity moves down down, but if the boat is flooding unevenly or if air is trapped inside, then the center of buoyancy will shift and the boat may begin to list to one side.

There is a crucial 30 seconds in which the centers of buoyancy and gravity intersect when the boat is most vulnerable. If the center of buoyancy and the center of gravity intersect more than 30 centimeters apart the boat will likely capsize on its side. As the F 69 has hundreds of compartments that could trap an air pocket creating unwanted buoyancy and instability if the sinking is to go as planned, it is important not to overlook a single one, so project manager Norma green, all androi check and double check that the diving adventure, a wreck is getting inside the boat and that means cutting enough access holes for divers to get inside. and taking out these holes also helps to flood the boat in the sinking process and throughout the boat to allow the air inside the boat to escape as the water comes in.

Once you have reviewed the plans to properly ventilate the boat, everything will be It boils down to looking inward. every place an air pocket could accumulate and then mark it with a can of spray paint, then the cutting torches can go to work creating events, the muscle behind the sinking of the ship are high-tech explosives, this is a sample of the flexible linear copper that will be used to explosively sink the frigate Wellington its RDX explosives on the inside with a khakhra firing around the outside is designed and built specifically to cut steel the shape of the explosive charge controls the shock wave that is produced creating a narrow and intense cone of energy that can cut an inch of steel plate what we have here is the front site or business side of the explosive charge.

This is the portion that will face the inside of the ship and this is where it will actually physically cut a three foot square hole or a 39 square inch hole in the side of the ship. The explosion first pushes the steel out and then the water opens up. passed. Marko's man has less than a week left before sinking day and there is still a lot to do, one of our biggest challenges at Ship Size is all the hydraulic oil we have to deal with, there is a lot and every drop must be removed before sinking. Cleaning up spilled oil is not a high-tech job.

Spread sawdust on the oily area and pick it up. then throw it in a waste container and then come back and do it again. On board every ship there are miles and miles of cable, so what we have to do on board these ships is remove every piece of cable. What will happen? These supports will begin to deteriorate. faster than the rest of the boat and these will start to fall apart and subsequently the cable will fall and become an obstacle for divers, so it is okay to leave it like this it will not be a problem, but the main group is a cable.

The cables that run through the gutters have to go up, it's not just the safety of the divers that is an issue, the insulation on these cables could possibly contain toxic PCBs and that is something that simply cannot go into the ocean. The wiring throughout the boat is removed, it has a lot of copper in it, for example, that piece would be worth every three or four dollars and you have tons, literally tons. One of the ways they fund these artificial reef projects, like the Wellington, is through pure scrap value, they will scrap the ship and use that money to prepare the rest of the ship, a ship like this will cost over two hundred and fifty a thousand dollars worth of scrap bones and what you see is the guys out here processing that scrap now that it's coming out of the program.

It's a safe bet that no one was thinking about the value of scrap metal when HMCS Saskatchewan, a Canadian destroyer escort, was launched in 1963. A disclaimer in British Columbia. These elegant and fast ships were considered the Cadillacs of the fleet that is now located just 110 kilometers north of where it was. launched, the Saskatchewan offers another kind of Cadillac experience like an impressive wreck dive a short distance from the night British Columbia forges a straight is a homecoming of sorts he and his partners helped a sunken in 1997 with the society of British Columbia artificial reefs marine animals like these and enemies have flourished colonizing the 110-meter-long township 2600.

Ian Hall, a local dive operator, has seen the impact of a wreck that caused this to be captured or sunk in 1997 and almost immediately increased the number of tourists coming to the island to dive. Nanaimo boosted estimates by the City of Nanaimo Economic Development Commission through a rudimentary study that dive tourism means three and a half to four million dollars to the local economy each year. What is it about shipwrecks and divers? Is it marine life or is it technology? The challenge, whatever the reason they exert a fort, we drove from Toronto took just a couple of days and is to let you know over 3000 kilometers so you know where we're hungry when you drive that far just to dive into some wreckage. pristine shipwrecks like the Spiegel Grove the Spiegel Grove is that ship that rolled upside down before sinking EG Long Florida offers divers something extra it's like revisiting a part of history sometimes you know they are almost like it means the final pieces there down is really an exciting Florida Keys are a major destination for divers and the artificial reefs are a big attraction and is where Ladd Atkins heads a group studying their environmental impact.

Guerry mace runs one of the many dive companies in Key Largo Florida Spiegel Grove has really been a great For us on the official reef it creates a lot of excitement and adventure for new divers. Divers who want to see something new in the Florida Keys. Divers may love shipwrecks, but critics question how they affect the environment. Fish populations and natural reefs. Spiegel Grove is. part of a long-term study on the impact of artificial reefs Ladd Atkins is special projects manager for the reef environmental education foundation Spiegel Grove is in a unique position, it is in a sandy bottom area away from the reef but somewhat near. say within a quarter mile of nearby natural reef areas and I think the intention was to place it far enough away that even if it moved a little it wouldn't damage the natural reef, but also close enough that there could be interaction between the marine life in the natural reef system and on the wreck itself and I think we're seeing a lot of it wyndi Wellington is living up to its nickname with just three days left until the day of the sinking on Saturday the weather forecast is strong of gale winds for three days and counting and I hope these winds this morning are an indication that the front is arriving now and will not arrive Saturday morning, but we wouldn't sail today, it would be any home to believe more today, that's better .

There's a lot of work to be done, the lubricating oils are gone in the engine room, but there's still 37 years' worth of buildup of dirt and grime to clean up, so bring in the oversized pressure washer and blow away all the loose material. towards the bilges. or a truck with a vacuum pump can absorb it large pressure washers large vacuum cleaners it is necessary to remove the last remains that remain in the cracks and crevices 150 meters of rope floats an electric cable the fire line is hoisted on board day no synchronized will connect the explosives on the ship to the equipment on the firing ship that presses the button the crew is working flat out but the deadline is fast approaching right now we're probably trying to fit a week's work into two days but We will get there, but we work a little more than between you and me, we need anotherweek for this to really be 100% ready.

I would feel a lot better than trying to sink on Saturday, but you know, there are so many things to do. There's a lot to do and you want this to be a really good reef, so I don't know, we'll make it work somehow, we'll make it all work. There are three days left until the day of the sinking. Roy Gabriel has been firing on all cylinders for a month and a second set of experienced knives would be welcome. Those eyes belong to Jay Strait, one of Roy's partners who just arrived from Canada and has some concerns.

Seeing this, this material is too light to withstand the type of hits it will take. The ship is sinking and what I fear is that it will come directly out of this mouth and hang here in the divers' space or it will deteriorate relatively quickly. I'm going to ask you to get a crew here to hit these things. Which is actually not difficult to do, the kickboxer can probably do it and at least give us a chance to properly ventilate the place. They have removed tons of material from the ship and it is now floating higher in the water, making it too unstable. to tow to the site of the sinking to lower it they add ballast weight flooding some of the ship's compartments with water but the flooding is not going to be as planned we are putting water in some tanks and in one day we are losing 10 -12 tons of water, for what flows somewhere.

Finding out where the water is going and fixing it is crucial. The danger is when the boat starts to sink and if one tank is empty, that will add a lot of lift to that side if it is empty. The tank was on the starboard side and the ship developed a list to port as she sank. The empty tank will emphasize that list and could cause the boat to turn on its side it is a question of stability and safety tons of water in a compartment where it could move unexpectedly it is a danger a danger that has capsized other ships what we have to do is continue the plan take out all the tanks The upper market is full or the market is empty and then work from there we have to try to solve this problem.

We have the data. Seoul didn't get injured and I went to the boiler room, so obviously I walked into an empty tank somewhere, yeah, so we'll take this cover off here and take a look at it. They found where the water was going and they have a plan to keep the balance or the way the boat is balanced the way they wanted. Problems we were having in an hour ago I think we've found some solutions and now we're just pumping some tanks back here. Let's drop the stern to the boat a little bit. One problem solved, but the tank covers back and closes the vents. with a bone of wood once again windy Wellington is living up to its nickname with just two days left until sinking day the weather is not cooperating we have a flat of zayats Wellington with diesel zipper that is basically taking out but will this ship be long enough clean enough to sink?

There are hundreds of meters of pipes carrying hydraulic oil lines that thought they were drained, but some are not, and with the ship's trim altered, some residual oil begins to leak. Bad news, with the critical environmental inspection approaching, no oil means a clean ship for as long as we are around. lower these drains we will be fine the race to prepare the ship for the day of the sinking on Saturday it is warming up there are only two days left and the environmental and safety inspection is underway there is a lot at stake if the inspectors do not give they are okay, the ship will not sinks as planned inspector patrick average we are looking for anything the scooters could break when the boat sinks anything that could pose a danger to divers and of course any contaminants the main one being any oil residue .

Not all of the cleaning work has been done on the ship and inspectors will have to return tomorrow to check it, but to stay on schedule, Roy Gabriel needs to install the explosives. We have good news, bad news. What do you think looks good? Well, it looks reasonably good. Do I have permission to start installing the exhibits tomorrow morning? Yes, thank you very much, thank you room. I don't think so, thank you very much. It has taken weeks to plan and assemble the explosives that will put this ship on the bottom now. It's time to install it, it will take 14 one meter square holes, a hole is made in the side of the ship to sink it and each of these 14 explosive charges has been built to fit exactly against the current hull and they are transported to the bottom of the send and place in place, okay, that will stay there for the Flex Linear Explosive to work effectively, it must be an exact distance from the steel when the engine room boiler room starts with these charges would jump right off the ship because there are a lot of shock waves and torques going through the ship as it fires all this wood, it basically only lets you know if the chip explodes if the payload is securely in place and the primers detonation wire is ready to connect to the system we are standing Above charges 5 and 6 here we have already placed explosives, so we close the area, no one can enter, unfortunately we have less than 30 hours left, so we have to continue here, the 14 explosive charges are placed. against the hull, just below the waterline, at key points on the ship, the charges are fired in pairs, port, starboard, they are not fired all at once, they are placed in a carefully planned sequence over several seconds, engine and boiler room loads typically spike. first followed by the others this firing sequence controls which part of the ship is flooded first and controls how the ship will sink there is not much time left the last of the scrap metal is being removed from the dock there is other explosive equipment on board the F 69 there will be a huge pyrotechnic display as part of the sinking and the pyrotechnics team are busy assembling and installing all the mortars and shells and exploding things that will add a dramatic touch to the event.

The high explosives that actually sink the ship are not set. It's a big show, they're below the waterline, so it's these fireworks that viewers will see. Well, we are ready to leave with the loads in place. The next critical job is to connect the detonating core to the explosives in the ship's hull. Wait a second. The detonating wire is a thin, flexible tube with an explosive core. John explodes at nearly 7,000 kilometers per second, accessing high-velocity food and connecting the electrically activated detonator with the high explosive cutting charges now installed. It is the last crucial link. Between pressing the button and the charges being fired, installing the detonators is the next step, first place the electrical cable that will be connected to the firing canister, check the connection and then place the detonators.

This style of detonator is programmable so you can change the timing. of when a particular explosive charge will be activated, six years of fundraising planning and more than 90,000 participants in a contest to see who will press the button to sink the ship, it is all supposed to end with an explosion on Saturday, but this is the windy Wellington and the The wind is blowing at about 40 knots. It's Saturday, November 12. We have had a 24 hour wait due to wind conditions. It is simply not acceptable to attempt to safely deploy the ship. Basically, our winds are heading between 30 and 40 knots.

We have a requirement in our insurance not to move faster than 20 knots, but it stays pretty close to the water, as you know there's the anxiety of waiting for another day when you go, but you know we'll get there anyway, but Sam It is important. He knew it. he was going to be stressful at some point and I guess we're just there for the sake of posterity, looking good 6am. November 13th 24 hours late, the wind has died down enough and we've had a beautiful day a little bit breezy for a while now, we're going to be a crowded coast that's for sure, the boat that gave us Marino's over here It will be gone and all the marinas there will be empty and it will be a great day to look forward to. the moment of the last exit, yes, significant moment, okay, yes, we are on the way, we see all the water jet, six years, the lanes today, a final salute from the cannons on the shore, the wind seemed a little doubtful first thing in the morning and we can keep this ship upwind, that's fine for our purposes, we are at the upper end of our safety envelope with this wind, but we can proceed intentionally sinking a warship is a non-event everyday and there has been a build-up of anticipation for this, it is still early and spectators are already gathering for the exhibition.

It will take us almost two hours to reach the site of the sinking. There is time for breakfast. The site of the sinking of F 69 is in Island Bay, just around the headland from Wellington Harbour. We come to drop anchor in the naka and we will be grateful if the attempt fails while we prepare the boat. It sounds simple. Put the boat in a bow position into the wind and drop the seven-ton anchor while the tugs hold the boat in place, but once more. This anchor is not cooperating, we have been very cautious, we have put a lot of weight on it, a 7 ton anchor pulled probably another seven or eight tons of chain and you know she is very capable of ripping your fingers off very quickly.

There were problems getting the anchor into the show and now there are problems getting it off the ship. The 24 hour weather delay and now this delay is causing problems. The big tugboats that keep the ship in position have to go. They have other jobs to do. The ship is sitting in the water The way it is trimmed determines the order of the explosions that will sink the ship We changed the shooting sequence from yesterday to today We already changed it once I think I'm happy with it, but until I quote about 100 meters we missed the side of the ship.

I won't know for sure. I could change it back to binary. The problem is the behavior of the view. Come on, we had a snake. It was the shekel. Initially we had to take it out. That took us two more hours. but health is better than losing your fingers and toes, so please replace my now golden butterflies, the ship is finally anchored due to the wind and the ship's discarded tugs will still have to be hauled away its final position. to sink, but without the big tugs, we will start at the bow and start working our way to the stern, checking and rechecking everything, place the detonators in the system, it will be 28 detonators to install all of them.

The path to the stern the boat becomes more and more dangerous there are holes everywhere and to complicate things the waves are getting bigger making the boat rock the pyrotechnics crew comes on board for their last minute preparations checking the pen checking if the ship is going to sink in position and upright, everything has to go according to plan. This will be the last time we go down to see the loads. We're just going to double check to make sure that somehow over the last day none of the det cords have been shaped or cut. and if we have, we will simply add an extra piece.

The F 69 is a tanker and spectators are gathering, but the ship has a slight list to port that needs to be fixed, otherwise the ship could tip to one side. sinks, we are in the final stages of trying to get that list out of port, which is causing a lot of concern, ready to go, not quite, there is still Rory, water is being pumped from the list to port in one of the tanks to compensate and rebalance. the ship, the job of attaching the detonators to the 14 explosive charges is almost complete, okay, I'm going to go out and have a quick look to see how they're doing it, it's a very technical job Dandan, wait, they're adding tons of water to this. tape to remove the list, do that for 100% of this class, the boat is very fragile in the bow area, so what we are going to do is try to get as flat a sink as possible and, in any case, It will be a stern sink.

Slightly how the ship will sink depends on the timing of the explosive charges and these times can be programmed into the system and changed up to the last minute. Check and recheck. What Jenny is ready to do is run out the trip wire, connect and press the button with the wind rising would be better to sink the ship. Stirring first he really wants to change the firing sequence of the charges once again slightly in the butt now mr. so she counters those and puts seven thousand here and then the next one and then gives us the longest one there.

I know it's not a big change, let's take a look again, so check this out in this swell. I don't want the website. to start drawing water before the starboard side, yes in a perfect world both sides will start drawing water at the same time and then it will be over when it happens. I think this is the last change. Crowds are gathering by 3 p.m. The sinking F 69 was anchored on the bow against the wind and now has to be brought to itsfinal position, but since the big tugs are no longer available, they have to rely on smaller ships, how the ships will never handle it, go fast, these small ships are pulling.

On a 3,000 ton warship against a wind now pushing 30 knots and increasing even with no wind, this job would have been a challenge for small ships, the ship moves slowly but the wind continues to increase. Look at a strain gauge on this when we detonate we're at eight nine right now we have five and six and going up we'll get out 50 meters of this we'll be lucky and your wind chamber this is not good this wasn't supposed to happen come hell or high water the little guy The ships have turned the ship and now have to resist the rising wind, but they are very close to the ship and those 14 high explosive charges cannot fight carriers with that kind of power and be so close that no Robin can. no, I certainly would have liked them to be a little further away than that, maybe they can lengthen the lines once they've stolen it for the trade.

Will these guys maybe link their totals? They're a little close, right? Now yes, but everyone will have to enter basically in the last hours. We need to leave one in each corner to hold up. Yes, once it is in position. I would like them to be a little further away, if possible, if they are a little close. to the boat the small boats are having a hard time keeping the boat in position the wind has now changed our trip line will be in a big bowl we will be lucky to get 50 meters or stern it's time to get everything and everyone gets off the boat with the wind in increase the waves get bigger approaching the opening in the side of the boat if you want to control the sinking you need to put it on the bottom soon we will be late for this it is essential that no one is left on board, okay?

Are we doing it right? ? Oh, why do I do this? because it's fun. Marco, all the best. I hope it's perfect timing, absolutely flawless, but this wind is bad, yes, that's right, Colonel Arvin. Let's go, come on guys, let's get out of here, let's get out of here, okay, go through the lock I just want to tell the thugs to shoot I hope it's perfect Marco, seriously, you have a lot of sweaty blood. and tears in it I have about a meter of

free

bars the waves are coming up to all those openings in the haul roads to tell the shooting team to push the bucket now take off the I'm calling you on the answering machine The countdown is here but they' We have to turn around the one-minute flare, yes, not the one-minute one.

Congratulations. More than 90,000 people participated in the contest to see who would press the button. Joe Smith was the winner. The engine room boiler room went well. cooperate now cooperate cooperate cooperate cooperate cooperate with me the big question is have you fixed that list of ports can you let it go can you release the line of fire attention is increasing come back come back with the ship listing to port the next few seconds will be crucial throwing water will come back with that will come back will come back will come back in the last second the F 69 levels came back I'm not sure what the timing was, but she put a little bit of It gave us a scare.

She took a pretty good pork list. The extra work we put in today putting out that list paid off. She had a little more of what we call reserve buoyancy in the stern, so she lasted longer there than she would have otherwise been able to. and that was enough for those secondary casts to be fully committed and she went down like I wanted. I got the birth or stern sink slightly. The stern sink, the bow, was the last thing that went down as it should be and that's what you can't ask. for much more no, I think it was a perfect sink and I think we will find it very, you know, directly into the water and one or two degrees, if there is something that can be a little bit of support, maybe one, two, three, the great support. which is more than acceptable, okay let's go home and get ready to have another baby, oh I need a beer that's as old as it is good, the F 69, the Wellington now in the background, could have just been scrap metal turned into razor blades , cans, but a boat.

She is much more than tons of steel, a ship like the Wellington has history embedded in her skin, so she can now live giving back to the seas she once sailed.