New Life After Tragedy: Exploring the Shipwreck Portland

Field producer, Ryan Shepheard, in the operations center with his console, control boards and monitors

By Anne Smrcina, Education and Outreach Coordinator, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

DAY 1 (August 25)

Getting Ready to Explore

Inflatables, diving gear, and hydrophones usually fill Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary’s marine operations center (formerly known as “The Boathouse”) on Scituate Harbor. But, today, the facility resembles a misplaced television studio, with cameras, lights, monitors, control boards, and what seems like miles of wires winding their way around the main indoor working space and the outside deck. Preparations for today’s broadcasts began over the weekend, as equipment was brought in by masked team members, all following proper social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.

Stations have been set up in the operations center. The field producer, Ryan Shepheard, has his console, control boards and monitors, and the three technical experts—Dr. Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser, WHOI biologist and principal investigator, Dr. Calvin Mires, maritime archaeologist, and Ben Haskell, Deputy Superintendent of the sanctuary—stand at each of their assigned stations, one in the building and two on either side of the deck. Meanwhile, the ops team of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operators and technical gurus on Catapult, a research vessel for Marine Imaging Technologies, is more than 20 miles out to sea, on station over the wreck of the Portland.

Revisiting the Portland

Portland was a night boat—a passenger steamship that brought travelers from Boston to Portland, Maine (and vice versa) on overnight trips in luxurious accommodations. It set off on a regular run on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov 26) in 1898, and never arrived at its destination. The vessel ran into the teeth of a ferocious storm, a storm of the century that was eventually named after the unlucky ship. Discovered in 1989 and confirmed in 2002, the wreck sits in over 400 feet of water.

The depth of the wreck makes it difficult to easily explore. Side scan sonar and ROVs equipped with video cameras offer the best solution for documenting its condition. Over the years, sanctuary staff have seen considerable change, including increased numbers of fishing nets draped over the hull and sections that appear to have collapsed to the seafloor (whether by natural or human causes).

Mini-ROV Taz explores the Portland

Mini-ROV Taz explores the Portland

Mini-ROV Taz explores the Portland

Mini-ROV Taz explores the Portland

As the ROV and its mini-companion ROV (nicknamed Taz) explore the Portland, we see curious fish—including pollock and Acadian redfish—swimming by. Marine snow rains down throughout the dive and krill dart through the beams of Pixel’s lights. Live video footage from the wreck was only possible for a short time during the 2:30pm show, but during the interim period between that program and the 6:30 broadcast the ROV team was able to pilot Taz into the hold for a brief period and take the mini ROV on a tour of some of the more accessible artifacts, including the serving station in what was the Ladies Salon.

Wind and sea conditions worsened during the afternoon (as always seems to happen during at-sea excursions), and the ROV team could not do a live penetration of the ship during the latter program. However, footage shot during the afternoon will be inspected overnight, and team members hope to have highlights available to tomorrow’s program before we investigate the mystery coal schooner.

Educating through live interactions

Students and members of the public had opportunities during today’s programs (an 11:30 show dedicated to school programs, and 2:30pm and 6:30 pm programs open to general audiences) to ask questions, which ranged from “Have you seen invasive species on the wreck?” (the answer from Kirstin is “Not at this time”) to “What was one of the more memorable items that you have viewed on the wreck?” (to which Calvin replied the steam tables and plates that remind of us the human tragedy of this story).

A question was raised about whether shipwrecks on the seafloor can be considered hot spots for biodiversity. For Kirstin, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” These three-dimensional structures are not supposed to be where they are, so the communities that grow there are filled with hardy species that have been able to find and make use of this new habitat.

Dr. Calvin Mires, maritime archaeologist, during the live broadcast

Dr. Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser, biologist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and lead scientist for the project, during the live broadcast

Preserving marine heritage in the sanctuary

So what does the Portland mean to the sanctuary, and what does the sanctuary mean to the Portland? For the sanctuary, the Portland is an iconic shipwreck that is bringing awareness of the sanctuary to the public while also raising awareness of shipwrecks as time capsules of our maritime history. For the Portland, its location in the sanctuary affords it a greater level of attention and, hopefully, protection down the road.

The sanctuary at this time is faced with a conundrum. We do not release the location of historic shipwrecks in an effort to protect them from shipwreck hunters who may be interested in looting artifacts from these sites. But, by not releasing coordinates, we are finding that many of our wrecks are covered with fishing nets. The sanctuary is now working with the fishing community, with our headquarters office, and maritime archaeologists to resolve this issue and develop a system where we might better protect these sites well into the future.

Coming Up Next

Wednesday, August 26, we head to the mystery coal carrier, if conditions allow. Earlier investigations of the wreck this past summer have provided us with some tantalizing clues. If the inclement weather persists, however, and the Catapult is blown out, we will still focus on the mystery wreck but examine taped footage from the summer (which has never before been broadcast to the public). Watch our broadcasts tomorrow at 2:30 and 6:30 pm EDT to find out more about this ship, and look for another blog for Day 2.

Ways to watch:

NMEA Social MediaWeAreNMEA, Stellwagen Bank, Ocean at Home