Curacao diving paradise - Virtual tour of the wreck of the Mediator

Over the past two years I have taken a large number of pictures of the wreck. During September and October 2007 I have created a number of panorama's of the wreck. I have arranged these to form a kind of virtual tour of the wreck.
The visibility was reasonable during these two months but even then it is impossible to get an overview of a larger part of the ship in one photo. So what I did was taking numerous pictures from a specific spot turning the camera from left to right and sometimes also up and down to compose a large picture of an area of the ship.
The result is a number of panorama's that each cover an area of the ship that is better visible in the composite picture than it is actually under water through your own eyes.

Enjoy the virtual tour by starting with the first panorama . It will give you a good impression of the wreck in October 2007.

The tour starts hovering in front of the ship and looking toward the bow. I consider this "our Titanic" although the wreck of the Mediator is considerably older than the actual Titanic. But the view is equally impressive especially because of the low visibility in the harbour.
On portside (right side of the picture) you can clearly see the anchor chain. What also is clearly visible is that the ship is listing to starboard.
The horizontal line is a reference line toward the quay. The vertical line is a fishline that got tangled in the reference line.

front_view_of_the_bow_imagelarge

We are still in front of the ship but moved a bit to the right so that we have a better view on the hull on the portside of the bow.
The anchor chain is also visible in this picture although only the top part.
The line that is visible in the picture is another reference line that runs from the bow of the ship all to the stern of the ship. This line is (was) tagged with a sign each five meters which shows the distance from the bow.
More to the back you see that the bow ends. Apparently the hull is broken down from there on the portside. It becomes again visible closer to the stern. In one of the next pictures part of the broken down hull can be seen.

frontside_view_of_the_port_side_of_the_bow_imagelarge
Let's go to the top of the deck.

Now we are over the front deck near the bow looking from almost the middle line of the ship toward the portside. To the right is the bow. Visible are some parts on the deck. In the corner right under in the picture part of the anchor chain can be seen. The parts are reasonably well visible because the deck was recently cleaned from a layer of dust. Currently a new layer of dust settled down, but remembering this picture when you are under water you can still recognize most of the parts.

front_deck_near_bow_imagelarge

We swim further to the back of the ship over the middle line and turn around to look toward the front deck again. In this picture we see a large part of the ship. As a comparison you can see a diver in the corner right under. Diagonally you see the center line. Attached to the bow you also see the reference line toward the quay. Clearly visible is that a large part of the deck is missing and also a large part of the portside hull. Under the front deck we look into the forward hold of the ship. The starboard hull is completely intact in this view.

view_toward_front_deck_imagelarge
Now we turn around to look towards the back of the ship
Compared to the previous picture we just turned around to look toward the back of the ship. At the left side in the picture we see the intact starboard hull. Only a small part of the deck is intact and can be seen just right of the middle. A number of beams can be seen that supported the deck. The light colored part on the right side of the deck is part of the portside hull that collapsed inward.

view_from_the_front_toward_the_back_of_the_ship_imagelarge

We move a few meters further to the back of the ship and turn left to get a better view of the inside of the starboard hull. Clearly visible are the beams that supported the deck. To the right in the picture we see the breach in the starboard hull and next to that a part of the deck that was also visible in the previous picture.

starboard_hull_from_inside_imagelarge
From the same position as in the previous picture we turn a bit more to the right to get a better view of the part of the deck that is still intact. On the deck a number of objects can be recognized. The line that is visible in this picture is the center line that runs over the whole length of the ship.

closer_view_of_the_deck_imagelarge

From here we swim to the corner of this part of the deck to get a closer view at the collapsed part of the portside hull. What we see here is most probably a part of the portside hull. It has the same profile running over the side as was visible in the picture of the portside hull near the bow. Apparently this part collapsed inward. This was not caused by the collision because that happened on starboard side. Maybe it is because of ongoing corrosion or because the ship was competely stripped from the topside to get more clearance for ships near the shore.

closer_view_of_the_collapsed_part_of_the_portside_hull_imagelarge

Now we turn left and swim over the starboard side. Looking backwards we seen again the intact part of the deck. As a reference we see the center line of the ship.

We are now near the breach caused by the collision. At least that is what we think.

deck_near_breach_seen_from_outside_imagelarge
To see that more clearly we move a bit further down on the outside of the starboard hull and look toward that hull (next picture).
The ship is broken at this point. Toward the right the intact starboard hull. Toward the left the hull is continuing in a different angle and not in line with the front part.

the_starboard_breach_of_the_ship_imagelarge
Continuing on the outside of the wreck we see here the next part of the starboard hull till the point where it completely disappears. From that point on the ship is largely under the sand.

starboard_hull_behind_breach_imagelarge

Most of the ship from the point in the previous picture is under the sand but here you can see part of the wooden deck exposed with an airhole. This is on starboardside of the ship.

part_of_wooden_deck_near_midship_imagelarge

From here we continue swimming toward the back of the ship. We stay on the left side of the centerline. At a certain point turning around and looking toward the front of the ship we see this large part of the wooden deck. On the right side in this picture we see what we consider to be part of the cilinderhead of the steam engines. But that is speculation. To get a sense of size this cilinderhead is About 1.5 meters high.

large_part_of_deck_and_cilinderhead_imagelarge
Continuing toward the back along the centerline we reach the propeller around 80 meters from the bow. Most probably this was a spare propellor on the deck of the ship and not the actual propeller of the ship. It was placed by us at this location during 2007 when a large reconstruction of the quay wall went on and there was a risk that the propeller would be damaged or even gone. Before we replaced the propeller to this location it was located next to the quay wall as a reference point.

The propeller blades are about 2 meters in length. One of the blades is broken off and another one is also damaged but largely intact. Two other blades are comlete. Currently most propellers have only three blades and are made of copper or bronze. This one is made of iron.

propeller_imagelarge
A few meters further and we are at the end of the ship. Here only the portside of the hull is intact and that is what we are looking at in this last picture of this tour.

the_portside_of_the_stern_imagelarge
This completes the virtual dive tour on the wreck of the Mediator. I hope it has wet your appetite sufficiently to make an appointment for an actual tour of the ship or, even better, to give us a hand in the cleaning and conservation of this beautiful wreck.