Papoose is a boat accessible salt water dive site, located in Morehead City, NC. This dive site has an average rating of 4.06 out of 5 from 33 scuba divers. The maximum depth is 111-120ft/34-37m.
The Papoose lies 30 miles southeast of Morehead City. Expect a two-hour boat ride to the site. Sand Tiger sharks sometimes frequent the wreck in large numbers and are not dangerous. Many divers find their teeth along the hull. Schools of tiny bait fish, some tropicals, and larger game fish inhabit the area. The Papoose is popular with photographers.
Name: PAPOOSE
previous name:
Silvanus (1927)
Type: Tanker
Built: 1921 by Southwestern Shipbuilding Company, San Pedro, CA
Owner: Petroleum Navigation Company, Houston TX
Home Port: Houston, TX
Size (ft.): 412-0 x 53-4 x 25-8
Gross Tonnage: 5939 tons
Propulsion: Single screw reciprocating steam engine/speed 10 knts
Date Sunk: torpedoed 3/18 and sunk 3/19/1942
Cause: Torpedoed by U-124
LocationCape Lookout, NC
GPS: N34° 08.633’/W76° 39.154’
Papoose (
Moore)
SHIP HISTORY: (
Sources: Moore, Hickam, Gentile)The night of March 18, 1942 was not the first time that the tanker
Papoose was involved in death and destruction. Sixteen years earlier, as a Dutch tanker, under the name
Silvanus, she was traveling the Mississippi River when she rammed the tanker
Thomas H. Wheeler. The collision and resulting fire killed 26 men. The
Silvanus was declared a total loss and the hull was auctioned off to the highest bidder. She was purchased by the Petroleum Navigation Corporation and towed to Beaumont, TX where she was completely rebuilt and overhauled. On 3/31/1927, she was re-launched as the
Papoose and spent the next 15 years carrying petroleum products from Texas to the east coast of the United States.
Tanker
Thomas H. Wheeler was rammed by the
Silvanus in 1926 (
30)
On the night of March 18, 1942, the
Papoose was traveling southward, alone and unarmed, as she rounded Cape Lookout. Captain Roger Zalnick was following the recommendations from US Naval Routing Center and traveling as close to shore as possible. He wasn’t on a zig-zag course as he wanted to pass thru "torpedo junction" as quickly as possible, but he was traveling blacked-out. The
Papoose was enroute from Providence, RI to Port Arthur, TX, traveling "in ballast" (empty), to pick up a load of fuel oil.
The first torpedo struck at 2135 on the port side of the ship at stern end below the poop deck. The explosion pentrated the fuel tanks and ruptured the engine room bulkheads. Two crew members were killed in the explosion. Engines stopped and water rose to the cylinder heads in aproximately 4 minutes. The
Papoose slowly glided to a stop as the Captain ordered lifeboats lowered. The crew were #1 and #3 lifeboats for only a few minutes when the phosphorescent stream of a second torpoedo passed near the lifeboats and hit the drifting tanker on the starboard side aft of the miships. It tore open a large hole at the water line and the tanker started to settle down at the stern, rolling to the starboard side.
DIVING NOTES:Diving Depths: 90-120 ft.
Visibility: Generally very good; range 50 to 100+ ft.
Current: Slight to strong
Summer Temperature: high 70s to lo 80s
Points of Interest: Large rudder, bow anchors.
Fish/Animal Life: The usual array of offshore NC marine life and has been a fairly consistant source of large groups/schools of sandtiger sharks. In addition to the sharks, over the years, I have spotted manta rays, jewfish and other unusual sightings here.
Description: The Papoose is a large wreck which sits on the bottom intact and virtually upside down. At one time, back in the 1960’s, the wreck was sitting on its port side, but over the years the wreck has rolled, crushing the superstructure under the weight of the hull. Today it resembles a large water melon, cracked open in several places. The highest part of the wreck is in the stern rudder area which rises some 30 feet off of the bottom. The propellor was present until the mid-1970s when it was blasted off by salvagers. The hull section steps down from there in several large sections, each lower than the other, until you come to the bow. The bow point is laying in the sand with anchors still in the hawse pipes. The Papoose can be penetrated at several points. In the past it was quite eerie to see boilers and engines parts suspended above you, but when you look down, you see several of those same items laying crushed on the ocean floor. I belive these have all now fallen to the ocean bottom. [Diver beware!] The sharks seem to congregate at the ends of the wreck - particularly the bow - where the prevailing current, which sweeps across and over the top of the hull, creates eddy points.
http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/PAPOOSE/PAPOOSE.HTML
Web site for videos of various wreck sites in the area-
http://www.olympusdiving.com/PhotoGallery/VideoGallery/tabid/115/Default.aspx