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| Shipwreck explorer, Captain Bill Palmer |
Captain Bill Palmer: Indiana Jones of the Sea
by
Lisa Saunders
Need adventure in your life? Shipwreck explorer
Captain Bill Palmer of Wallingford, Conn., not only offers sport
fishing and shark cage diving from his charter vessel, but he’ll take you
down to the tangled wrecks off Watch Hill and Block Island, R.I.
An Army paratrooper during the time of the Vietnam
War, Palmer is now one of New England's leading authorities on underwater
wrecks and has videotaped dozens of submarines, U-boats, and sunken vessels
lost in East Coast waters. His expertise (and dramatic eccentricity) is
highlighted in the best-selling book Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
because it was his advice the divers sought to identify a particular submarine.
(Palmer told them to look in the electric motor room for a box of spare parts
normally carried to make repairs. Those boxes have identifying tags on them specific
to that particular boat.)
As owner operator of the charter vessel Thunderfish
out of R.I. and Mystic, Conn., Captain Palmer has been diving since the
late 1960s and knows the exact location of wrecks, including those where
there was a large loss of life, such as the Metis and the Larchmont.*
Of the Metis, sunk in 1872 off Watch Hill,
Captain Palmer said, “There’s not much left of her except for the machinery
because worms in the water eat the wood. But beneath the sand, lies her cargo.
I’ve found china, and friends of mine have found luggage tags with brass
numbers on leather. One friend found a safe with steamship tickets inside.”
Even more souls were lost on the Larchmont one
bitterly cold night in February 1907 when the steamer, bound for New York from
Providence with 200 passengers, collided with a coal-laden schooner four miles
southwest of Watch Hill Light. The vast majority of its panic stricken
passengers were doomed when thrown from their beds as the bow of the schooner
plowed deep into its hull. The few able to make to it to a lifeboat were
largely underdressed and unable to survive the freezing temperatures to the
shores of Block Island where many were found encased in ice. Palmer said you can still see
the Larchmont’s paddlewheel sticking upright, looking very much like a
Ferris wheel. He has found dishes and various ship fittings at the wreck site.
Palmer mentioned that in addition to the artifacts
he’s found on shipwrecks, he has also discovered the skeletal remains of German
sailors on the WWII submarine sunk seven miles off Block Island moments
before the end of World War II in Europe. Highlighted in his new book, The Last Battle of the Atlantic, The
Sinking of the U-853, which is packed with underwater images, he hopes the German remains will
one day be returned to their families.
Captain Palmer introduces his book, The Last
Battle of the Atlantic, on his website: “Out in the cold Atlantic Ocean off the coast
of Rhode Island, lies the remains of what was once a feared and mighty hunter.
…It's what men feared the most when they went to sea aboard their vessel back
in the World War II years. It's a German Submarine called a U-Boat. The U-853
was the last German submarine sunk in World War II. She was sunk with all hands
just minutes before World War II ended. The once mighty hunter feared by all
who put to sea, now lies in 130 feet of water off the coast of Block Island,
Rhode Island, her grave marked only by a circle on the nautical charts, DANGER
Unexploded Depth Charges, May 1945.” His book is available in area shops.
If you’re not a diver, you can still negotiate
around a wreck’s numerous hazards and squeeze through a submarine’s deck
hatches with Captain Palmer through his diving documentaries made by his production company, Thunderfish Video.
A noted story teller, Palmer enjoys giving the
history of the people behind the maritime disasters and is a regular lecturer
at venues such as the Beneath the Sea conference in N.J. Palmer also shares his advice willingly to would-be shipwreck
discoverers looking for clues on where to find wrecks. For example, one place
to start is to ask fishermen where their nets have been snagged or lost.
Captain Palmer is a licensed Coast Guard Captain
and a dive instructor specializing in advanced wreck diving. He is an associate
member of the Boston Sea Rovers and a member of the American Society of
Oceanographers. His award-winning films have aired on the Discovery Channel,
A&E, and Connecticut Public Television.
For more information about Captain Bill Palmer, his
films, book, or to reserve your adventure aboard the Thunderfish, visit:
www.thunderfishcharters.com or call (203) 269-0619.
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