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Home > Headliners > IUB students and faculty forced to abandon ship last month | |
| IU Bloomington faculty and students were involved in sinking an old Navy ship off the coast of Florida to create the world’s largest artificial reef. But while the ship, the Speigel Grove, certainly was scheduled for its new underwater incarnation on May 17, the vessel went down four hours early, creating an “abandon ship” situation.
Charles Beeker, director of the underwater science program at the IU School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and Bill Jones, an associate professor at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, had been directing eight students in diving instruction and environmental research in preparation for sinking the Spiegel Grove at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary near Key Largo. Everyone escaped the early sinking unharmed. Beeker has returned to Florida and is now working with the salvage company to right the ship. Plans call for the ship to be situated some 130 feet down, with the top of the superstructure about 40 feet below the surface. The Spiegel Grove is a 510-foot long landing ship transport craft named after the Ohio estate of Rutherford Hayes, the 19th president of the United States. It was decommissioned in 1989. | |
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Publication date: June 21, 2002
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