The Constellation - Shipwreck Diving Bermuda
The Constellation was made famous as the subject of the
movie The Deep, based upon a novel by
Peter Benchley. She was a four-masted
sailing ship built in Maine in 1918.
From the time of her launching, she enjoyed a somewhat off-beat career. At one time, plans were afoot to turn her into a floating school and, with that in mind, she was completely refitted and provided with all the modern conveniences, including electricity and refrigeration. Alas, those plans came to naught. At the outbreak of the Second World War, she was converted yet again, this time as a freighter.
In 1942, she set sail from New York with a cargo of Scotch whiskey, cement, and drugs; her destination was La Guira, Venezuela. She ran into difficulties in high seas soon after leaving New York and began to take on water. Her steamdriven pumps broke down and what little the crew could do with the hand pumps was not enough. Her captain decided to head for Bermuda to make repairs.
On July 30th, 1942, in calm seas and while waiting for a pilot to guide her into port, she was taken by strong currents and driven hard onto the rocks five miles northwest of the entrance to Great Sound; she was a total loss. It’s laughable that the U.S. Navy was able to salvage only a select amount of Constellation’s cargo. Seven hundred cases of Scotch whiskey were retrieved; the cement and the drugs remained in the wreck. And it was those drugs that were the inspiration for Peter Benchley’s novel.
Today, Constellation lies where she sank all those years ago, on a sandy bottom in about 30 feet of water. She has not suffered the years underwater very well. Her remains are strewn over a wide area and her cargo of cement is easily seen – a huge pile of hardened bags on the sandy bottom. There are still quite a few pieces of cargo waiting to be found, including some of the drugs.
Bermuda - How to Get There:
For visitors arriving by air, Bermuda is served by most US airlines and by international airlines from Canada and Europe. Bermuda is also a major destination for the cruise ship industry.
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