Diving Winnipesaukee ~ Interesting Sites

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Dive Sites of Lake Winnipesaukee (http://aquaticspecialties.net/divesites.html)

Diamond Island - Site of the Navy's underwater laser testing sight dating back into the 1950s. SCRIPTS conducted testing to study laser transmission through water. The site is on the northwest side of the island. A railcar that ran on a track, like a coal-mining rail, was used to measure how fast the laser beams were traveling through water. The track is in about 25 feet of water with staging in deeper water. There is also a relatively newer boat sunk on the north east side of the island. The wreck is called Empty Pockets and is in very good shape. - Is this the site that was found last year?

Shore and Boat Diving on Winnipesaukee (http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/LakeWinnipesaukeeNH.html)

[Grant]

[QUOTE=Rattlesnake Gal]Dive Sites of Lake Winnipesaukee (http://aquaticspecialties.net/divesites.html)

There is also a relatively newer boat sunk on the north east side of the island. The wreck is called Empty Pockets and is in very good shape. - Is this the site that was found last year?


Nope -- while "Empty Pockets" is a relatively new find, it's been known for a few years. I've been on a few dives at the site, and done one there with the guy who originally found the cabin cruiser. Dove it with the forum's Senter Cove Guy last year (after failing to find it on a DWC charter). The transom name plate had been removed. Some say it's an "insurance job." Lies in about 54 feet of water -- not on the northern side, but on the southwest side. A very interesting dive site on that side of the island.

[glennsteely]

I am looking for info on two sites that I have heard about. What is sunk at the Witches? Is there a boat out there? Also is there a train wreck or something that slid off the side of the hill on the weirs side of Meredith bay? Please advise....Thanks.

[Grant]

There was a train derailment many years ago, and the wreck is still there. The forum poster known as Winnipesaukee Divers can give some first-hand information -- something was posted here within the past two years, as I had inquired about the wreck. Seems there's not much left -- lots and lots of rusty metal. I seem to remember that it didn't sound like much of a dive.

Re: The Witches -- No idea. Never dove there, and haven't seen it listed among the popular dive sites on the Lake. That being said, there are plenty of great sites that aren't on those lists -- just depends what you like. Give me some old bottles and some big rocks, and I'm a happy guy. :D

[glennsteely]

.....that was sunk on the witches. I had heard, from divers, that it was one of the Mounts. I have read several books about The Mounts and early boats on the lake and they make no mention of any one sinking on the witches.....anyone know anything about it?

[Grant]

Well, one of the Mounts is still floating (last time I checked Anchor cam), and the other was scuttled and scattered in the Broads. Last September ('03), Tom from DWC and some gents with side-scan sonar found a debris field, and brought up a chunk of what is believed to be the original Mount.

There probably are some wrecks around the witches, but I can't say, as I haven't had the pleasure of diving there, but whatever's there isn't the Mount.

Paging WD...paging WD...any insights?

[glennsteely]

Didnt one of the mounts burn and sink in alton bay?

[Rattlesnake Gal]

On the night of December 22, 1939, a fire broke out in the railroad station at The Weirs. It spread down the ramp to the ship, which was berthed there for the winter. Efforts were made to cut her lose, but she was stuck fast in the mud due to the low lake level. The Mount was completely destroyed as well as the boardwalk and train station. :emb:

[Grant]

Didnt one of the mounts burn and sink in alton bay?

Weirs -- during the winter. They took the remnants out and reportedly blasted them to break them up into smaller pieces, and sunk them. If you'd like to see the chunk that Tom from DWC brought up, it was on the boat dock behind the shop. Nothing recognizable, of course.