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Bianca C Scuba Cache Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

Crow T Robot: Problems with this cache have been reported for almost 2 years and neither the owner nor the local maintainer have made an effort to repair the cache. Please submit a new listing if this issue is resolved. Thank you.

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Hidden : 6/19/2014
Difficulty:
5 out of 5
Terrain:
5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


This is an Ammo Can Cache chained to the metal railing on the edge of the Swimming Pool, at a depth of 124 feet. Advanced Divers only please. There is a slate in the can to sign but remember that you will not have much bottom time. It might be nice to have a picture taken of you holding the Can if possible. There are a couple of Travel Bugs inside but pay attention to Deco Time and Air consumption as it takes 20 minutes plus to ascend safely.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO COLLECT THIS CACHE WITH OUT PROPER TRAINING OR IT JUST MIGHT BE THE LAST CACHE YOU EVER ATTEMPT TO COLLECT!

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The Bianca C was a passenger ship that sank on two occasions, the first time in France before being completed, and the second time after an explosion and fire off the island off Grenada.

Built during World War II at Construction Navales La Ciotat, a shipyard on the southern coast of France, the ship was first launched in June 1944 under the name Marechal Petain. Construction had not yet been completed, so the ship was towed to Port de Bouc, near Marseille, where she was torpedoed by the Germans in August. When the hull was raised, it was renamed La Marseillaise and towed toToulon before being returned to La Ciotat to be refitted as a cruise ship When the remodeling was completed in July 1949, she sailed to Yokohama. In 1957, the ship was given the name Arosa Sky after being sold to Panama's Arosa Line. She was refitted again and became the company's flagship. She was chartered by the exchange organization American Field Service to bring students between the U.S. and Europe. Within two years Arosa Line was forced to sell the ship to Costa Line, an Italian company also known as Linea C. After that 1959 sale, the ship was renamed the Bianca C (the second Costa C ship so named) for one of the owner's daughters, and was refurbished once again. The Bianca C's main route ran from Italy to Venezuela, including stops in the Caribbean.

On Sunday October 22, 1961, the Bianca C was ten days out of Naples and docked off Grenada when an explosion occurred in the engine room in the early hours of the morning. One crewman died immediately, and eight others were injured. As fires broke out, approximately 700 passengers and crew scrambled to abandon the ship while Grenadian fishermen and boat owners, awakened by the noise of the explosion, near the harbor of St. George's rushed to help. Survivors were taken to the capital, where makeshift hospitals were hastily established to provide shelter and food. Because Grenada did not have the equipment to quench such a large fire, a call for help was sent and was received by the British frigate HMS Londonderry at Puerto Rico. It took two days for the Londonderry to arrive, and by that time the Bianca C had begun to sink. The burning ship was in the main anchorage and would block the harbor if it sank there, so a Londonderry boarding party boarded the flaming ship to attach a towline. The anchor lines of the Bianca C were burned, and today the anchors are still at the mouth of the St. George's harbor. Meanwhile, the Londonderry moved to tow the Bianca C, but the latter ship was listing to port. Thousands of Grenadians watched from the mountains as the tow progressed for six hours, but the Bianca C. had only moved three miles (5 km) when a squall started and the towline broke. The Bianca C sank quickly into 165 feet (50 m) of water, about a mile from the popular tourist beach at Grand Anse.

In the 1970s, a Trinidadian firm salvaged the Bianca C's propellers and sold them for scrap. As the top of the ship is in only about 100 feet (30 m) of water, scuba divers can reach it and in the late 1980s and early 1990s some removed parts of the boat for souvenirs. In late 1992, the rear third of the ship was torn off and the ship began to deteriorate quickly, though at 600 feet (180 m) in length it is still the region's largest shipwreck. A bronze statue of Christ of the Abyss was given by the Costa Line to Grenada in appreciation of the country's hospitality, and the statue stands in the Carenage surrounding the harbor at St. George's.

The Times named the Bianca C as one of the top ten wreck diving sites in the world.

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There is a local cache guardian who will assist.
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Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fjvzzvat Cbby

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)