Day Eighty Six
Along with the S.S Kyle shipwreck we found yesterday, we went on the hunt for more ships rumored to be close to Conception Bay. All our sources had no specific location of the wrecks other than mentioning they can be found along highway 60 towards Conception Harbor. After a forty five minute drive we were about to call the search off when the highway began to move away from the coast. We turned around and began to head back when we finally spotted the ships. We were able to drive right up to them for a few photos and a little exploring with the drone.
There are three ships located beside each other in the harbour. The shipwreck you can see is the S.S Charcot, which was built in Norway in 1923. Directly behind it underwater are two more shipwrecks, the S.S Southern Foam and the S.S Sukha, which were built in northeast England in 1926 and 1929. All three were whaling ships that harpooned thousands of whales over four decades.
During WWII, the Southern Foam and Sukha served in the Royal Navy, patrolling the Atlantic as minesweepers. After the war all three returned to whaling until the collapse of the industry in 1959. Throughout the 1960’s the ships stayed berthed in Conception Harbour awaiting their fate. In 1970 the Charcot broke free of its mooring and ended up on the rocks. As for the Southern Foam and Sukha their history is a little sketchy, some say they also broke free, and some say they were deliberately scuttled behind the Charcot.
After our shipwreck hunt, we headed back to St. John’s to visit the Crows Nest Officers Club along Water Street. Between 1942 and 1945 the Seagoing Officer's Club, as it was known then, became famous around the North Atlantic as a place for naval men to go and relax from the horrors of the war. The club also served as a way for young men to leave a memento of themselves before heading out to sea, making the club truly into a time capsule and museum.
Soon after the club opened, handwritten messages were being left on the wall, floors or wherever the men could find space. Eventually, Captain Mainguy, who was in charge of the club, gave each vessel four sq. ft. of wall space to decorate anyway they wanted. Many of the crewmen decorated the wall space with the crests of their vessels, crests that remain in the club today.
