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View Full Version : The sinking and refloating of RS10 Christiania



TimH
11-06-2009, 05:40 PM
In the WB article they mentioned this boat "falling off of a wave" and sinking in 1600 feet of water. Here is more on that. I cant get the picture link to work though.



"Christiania" was sailing in a strong wind on her way to England. She had left the south of Norway in the evening. The wind rapidly picked up to a force 9. They carried staysail and mainsail with one reef. She was then struck by a huge wave. Lamp glasses down below were smashed. The crew in their bunks were wakened and heard water coming in. Pumping were started and a search for the leak started. However, the water rose above cabinsole and further search for the leak became impossible. Rescue helicopters came with 2 petrol pumps, but after 4 hours of pumping the water was so high inboard that the had to leave the boat. The boat sank as the last crew entered the helicopter.
She sank on 500 meter deep water. Later she was localised with a ROV and was seen to stand upright in the mud with no visible damage. It was therefore decided to have her lifted up.
When she was lifted to the surface, she was tight. Lifted on land, we could see that the garboard from the mast and forward, had come out 3/8" and that caulking was loose here.
Colin Archer building specification says that each double frame shall have double grown floors. This was not the case on "Christianias" frames from the mast and 2 more frames forward. This was probably due to that one half of the frame was oak (the other half was pine) and that the boatbuilder did not have grown oak knee big enough. There were no strap over this but in the frame and the bolts originally holding the double frame together, had rusted away many years ago. When the boat was struck by the wave, the frame was straightened and the oak half moved out like opening scissors.

See "Christiania's" page with picture from the salvage. (http://www.prosus.no/~jonnyb/rs10/index.html)
Tilbake til Jeppes åpningsside (http://home.online.no/~jeppejul/index.html)




http://www.nssr.no/binary?id=169964

JimD
11-07-2009, 08:18 AM
...the bolts originally holding the double frame together, had rusted away many years ago...

The ol' rusted fasteners trick.

TimH
11-07-2009, 10:41 AM
I thought these boats were held together with trunnels.

Bruce Hooke
11-09-2009, 11:50 AM
There was a great article in WoodenBoat Magazine a few years ago about the sinking and recovery. Not often that a sailboat has been brought up from 500m down and put back into use.

TimH
11-09-2009, 03:48 PM
http://www.frithjofwiese.com/newsinfo/pdf/Raising_Christiania.pdf

BETTY-B
11-09-2009, 04:03 PM
Killer link, Tim!

http://www.frithjofwiese.com/newsinfo/

DAN

TimH
11-09-2009, 04:16 PM
Lots of good info there.
I looked at my WB #20 and it has an article on Colin Archer, but no specifics on the construction of these boats.

Bobcat
11-09-2009, 04:23 PM
The Frithjof Wiese ! I was aboard her as a teenager in '79 in Friday Harbor. Olie Johansen had her then.

lestl
11-09-2009, 04:40 PM
Lots of good info there.
I looked at my WB #20 and it has an article on Colin Archer, but no specifics on the construction of these boats.
There is a book written by Lorna McDonald, Magic Ships : The Life Story of Colin Archer. I haven`t red it myself, but maybe it describe the construction of different vessels he made? Anyone here who has this book and can tell about it?

In Norwegian we have two different books written by Tor Borch Sannes about CA and his vessels. Those are really good, but I don`t know if they has been translated to english.

Andrew Craig-Bennett
11-10-2009, 05:22 AM
The recovery was possible because a DSV and an ROV were willing to give time for free, IIRC.