Review by:
Michael Parker /
parker@u.washington.edu
Notice
Unfortunately, the old adage "you snooze, you lose" holds true here.
If you haven't dove this site already, it's
too late. According to reports, on Saturday, September 28th, 1996,
the U.S. Navy raised this wreck from the lake
and therefore there isn't a dive site here any longer.
10-10-96 UPDATE
According to the Eric's SCUBA page Boeing field informant John N. Otakie
(john.n.otakie@boeing.com):
KIRO news at 10 had a fairly long report last night on the
PBM salvage. It turns out that the Navy has been unable to
get the plane un-stuck from the bottom, and has finally decided
to give up.
Dive site again!
The Navy did bring up a few pieces which they are going to
keep. The report also said that they would make the plane
"safe for sport divers" before they left (whatever that means).
Description
The Martin PBM Mariner was an old seaplane (flying boat) about the size of
a 737. There are only two known PBM's in existence. One is in museum
down in Pensacola, and one is upside down in 70' of water at the
bottom of Lake Washington. There's about 10' of mud and silt coating
most of the wreck, so don't expect to see the wings.
N 47° 30.319' W 122° 12.840'
(Contributed by: Daniel James Harper daniehar@pogo.wv.tek.com)
Parker's Comments
You are a better person than I am if you can burn a tank of gas on this
dive site. Basically, because the plane is upside down and partialy
sunk, the exposed hull is about as large as a 737. You should be able to
peek in the old gun mounts, and cargo doors, see some of the props, and
pontoons. Trust me, when I say that you'll be hard pressed to spend lots
of time looking at this plane. It sounds really cool, but was a major
disappointment. Yawn. I give this site one Thumb Down on the
Parker Scale _only_ because it really is not too impressive.
Eric's Comments
I thought this was really really neat, but it does only take 15 minutes
to see pretty much everything.
Here's a list of everything to see on this wreck:
Flying boat
Hull
Open cargo doors
Prop sticking out of silt
If you go north 50' from the prop, you'll find one wing pontoon.
If you go north or south from the tail, you can find the tail sections
There's an oxygen bottle
Silt
Crayfish if you're lucky
If I was to do it again, I'd set up my gear different so I could take
just my pony bottle and penetrate it.
That's about it. I give it one Thumb Up on the Eric scale. A
must-do once dive, but doubtful if I'll do it again.
Return to PBM-5 Site
Copyright-Michael Parker.
Michael Parker - parker@u.washington.edu
Last modified: March 31, 1998
