CAPILANO I

Saturday, October 4th, 2008 Richard Jack, Geoff Couriveau, Doug Steding, Jeanna Edgerton and Brian Wiederspan dived the Capilano I, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia.

The Capilano I was a 122' long steamship built in 1892 and was owned and operated by Union Steamship Company.  At approximately 9:30pm on September 30, 1915 the Capilano struck a submerged object.  The crew, believing they simply struck a log, decided not to awaken their sleeping captain, Samuel Nelson.  

Just a few minutes later, however, the captain awoke from the blast of the ship's whistle and the quick echo returned off a nearby island.  The captain ran to the wheelhouse where he ordered her to port.  It appeared that they avoided peril.

They turned the ship toward Vanada, a small port town a couple of miles away.  Upon arrival, the captain and his crew examined the Capilano.  All seemed intact, and it was decided they'd continue on.  

At approximately 1:30am, the Capilano started listing heavily to port with a couple of feet of water in the lower hold and rising.  In desperation, the captain turned the Capilano towards Campbell River.  However, due to the rough seas and conditions, the Capilano would not make it.  At 3:00am, the crew abandoned ship.  The Capilano sank at approximately 5:30am.  

Team 1 consisted of Richard and Geoff ("Bones").  Team 2 was Jeanna, Brian and Doug.  Team 1 splashed first and shot a bag, indicating conditions were good for team 2 to enter.

After gearing up, we entered the water, did our equipment and bubble checks and descended.  On our descent, we passed team 1 who had started their deep stops.  Watching the ship come into view was incredible.  As we continued down, getting closer to the wreck, her beauty really began to show.

Depth of the Capilano was 130fsw, and the vis was easily 70'.  Doug and I scootered the wreck, while Jeanna took some video.  The wreck is in amazing shape, given the fact that she sank 93 years ago, and is absolutely gorgeous.  Life was abound on her, with glowing white plumose anemones lining all along the ship.  It literally looked like it had been draped with white Christmas tree lights.  Huge schools of yellow-eye rockfish, some of the largest I've ever seen.

We spent 30 minutes on the wreck before starting our ascent and deco.

Heading up the line, seeing the ship in her entirety was an awe-inspiring sight.  The outline glowed white, and when we hit our 70' stop, all you could see was the white outline.  No boat, no life, just a white outline, shaped like a boat, surrounded by nothing but sand in all directions.  It looked like a ghost ship, still steaming along the bottom towards its port.

Doug called deco.  Total runtime was 58 minutes.

It was an awesome dive, to say the least.  I'd wanted to dive the Capilano I for 4 or 5 years, and it was everything I had hoped for and expected.

Backgas: 21/35

Deco gas: 50%

Max depth: 133fsw

Avg depth: 125fsw