An expedition this June will assess the condition of West Kootenay’s deadliest shipwreck and try to preserve a field of artifacts nearby.
The Underwater Archeological Society of B.C. is planning to use side-scan sonar and a remotely operated underwater vehicle to survey the S.S. City of Ainsworth, which sank near Crawford Bay in 1898, taking nine lives.
The provincially designated underwater heritage site has only been visited a handful of times since it was located in 1990 in more than 100 m of water.
Bill Meekel, director of the society’s southern interior branch, says they originally planned to go over the Easter long weekend, but the trip has been postponed because they only had four of the six members needed.
They are also working around the schedule of their instrumentation expert.
“The plan is to use the side-scan to relocate the vessel,” Meekel says. “Unfortunately the coordinates we have are based on an old GPS standard that doesn’t work anymore. It indicates the vessel is up on shore.”
The remote vehicle, meanwhile, “will let us determine the status of and re-document the wreck.”
Meekel says they will also be examining a field of artifacts in shallow water, which “are at quite high risk.”
“There are a couple of cases of pickles, of all things. I dove in that section last fall and it’s really amazing to see these jars in the condition they’re in. It’s a direct connection to 100 years ago and the loss of this vessel, and the nine people that died. It’s a very moving experience.”
However, the 30-odd jars have started to roll down a steep slope.
“Because the artifacts are only in about [12 meters] of water, it wouldn’t take a whole lot of wave action in the water to put those pickles in a precarious position,” Meekel says.
They plan to re-examine the debris field, look for additional jars, and remap the site. Meekel also wants to put up some protection — “nothing much more than a board” — to prevent any more jars from going down slope.
“The problem is the cases they were originally in were kind of light. The wood has started to deteriorate, and these jars are quite heavy. The cases aren’t providing support for them anymore.”
Although they usually prefer to leave a site alone, Meekel feels there is a risk that ultimately all of the jars will disappear. He adds there has been discussion but no resolution on what should happen to them long-term.
“Whether we try to bring some of them up and put them in museums or lock up that whole area. Better support is probably the least we should do, but even that needs a permit from the archaeological branch.”
During a previous expedition last September, Meekel says their side-scan didn’t have a long enough cable, preventing them from doing a proper search for the City of Ainsworth’s wreck.
“With side-scan you need to be fairly close to the bottom. We’re looking at 100 meters of water, but the unit only had about 30 meters. You need something that lets you scan a large area effectively in a relatively short time.”
The last time the Ainsworth was seen, it was “in very good shape and was quite prominent off the bottom. We shouldn’t have any problem once we have the [remote vehicle] 10 meters or so off the bottom of the lake.”
At that point they will begin documenting the vessel’s current condition and getting video of both sides.
“Hopefully we can look into some of the doors and openings if things haven’t deteriorated too much,” he says. Although the wood isn’t damaged by marine organisms, the nails and bolts holding it together corrode.
“I understand the wheelhouse is already gone. It’s kind of collapsed. But some of this is probably related to storm damage. It was beaten up pretty badly on the way down.”
Meekel says this year’s expedition, which will be based off the Kaslo shipyard vessel Candide, won’t actually involve diving on the wreck — a difficult, technical feat only accomplished once by Bart Bjorkman in 1997.
“To dive on it is a very major expedition, with back-up divers and mixed gases,” Meekel says. “It’s amazing they did it successfully in the ‘90s. It was quite an achievement at that time.”
He says they want to get to the site before runoff reduces visibility too greatly and increased boat traffic hinders the side-scan process. Only highly trained and experienced society members will be involved in the expedition.
The Ainsworth, built in 1891 by residents of its namesake community, is commemorated by a sign at Gray Creek and a pair of plaques in shallow water.
On November 29, 1898, the boat foundered in a storm, and washed up on rocks in Crawford Bay. A few days later, as a tug tried to pull it back to its home wharf, it sank and wasn’t seen again for close to a century.
Diving into the past
Although recently retired from Teck’s Highland Valley copper mine near Kamloops, Bill Meekel used to live in Trail.
The southern interior director for the Underwater Archaeological Society of BC regrets that back then he didn’t have as much interest in the history of this part of the province.
With the notable exception of Bonnington’s John Pollack, most members of the branch are largely based in the Vernon and Kamloops areas.
Meekel says at least two others want to know more about Kootenay sites and see them for themselves.
“It’s an ongoing thing we do, as often as we can, to assess the condition of protected sites,” he says, adding they want to “stay in touch” with marine artifacts because they’re a significant part of B.C.’s history.
“Not too many people, unfortunately, can see them, but they are important sites. Going to a museum gives you a hint, but to really see these pieces of transportation history is quite amazing.
“It’s a step back in history you can’t do anywhere else in any other way.”