COUNTING DOWN TO 100
One explanation for this was that the unknown object had breached the ship’s steel hull and the rough ocean conditions had dislodged it, allowing seawater to flow in through the gash. But the inspection did not find any evidence to support the theory of an object having punctured the hull. Taking on water as they were,
Captain Samuel Nelson steered for the community of Campbell River, but the ‘Cap’ began listing
and the abandon ship call was made. Everyone aboard got safely away in the lifeboat, from which they witnessed the sinking of the
Capilano, lights blazing in the dark night. She sank in 130 feet (40m), settling upright on a sandy ledge at the edge of a reef, and divers can be thankful for that because if her sinking had been even just a few feet off this particular downward trajectory, she’d have ended up in water over 600 feet (183m) deep,
Plumose
anemones outline the SS Capilano
giving it a ghostly appearance
well beyond their reach. The vessel remained
undisturbed in this location for 57 years. It was in 1972 that a local fisherman snagged his nets on a piece of the wreckage, and the subsequent investigative dive revealed her long forgotten remains. I can imagine the thrill that diver had as the wreckage materialized before him on his discovery dive. The first image of the Capilano on the bottom is the
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