History of the Cedar Pride
Article by Peter Collings
Launched in 1964 at the S.A. Juliana Constructora in Gijon, Spain as the " Mone Dos " this 74 metre long general cargo vessel of 1,161 tons served the Naviera Anzar
Shipping Company of Bilboa, until 1969 when she became the " Puerto De Pasajes " ,
with a further name change in 1978 to the " San Bruno " . She was then purchased by
the Lebanese Cedar Pride shipping company, taking on the company name~ her 4th
and last.
In July of 1982 she arrived at the Jordanian port of Aqaba, and on the 2nd August while at anchor and in ballast a fire spread rapidly through her engine room and accommodation area's. Two of the crew lost their lives.
The damage from the ensuing blaze left the ship as a total constructive loss, although her hull was still intact and she was still afloat. For the next three years she remained a floating hulk, no one accepting the responsibility for her mooring and harbour fees.
The King of Jordan himself, a keen diver, took an interest in the vessel and a plan was hatched to sink the ship, in the hope it would become a part of the reef, and a habitat for the rich marine life living in this quiet little backwater of the Red Sea.
With the waters around Jordan plummeting away in depths beyond the sports divers reach, there were no natural wrecks for divers to explore. The Cedar Pride was to change that.
The ship itself was prepared by the port, pumping off oil, removing any hazards and so on, they did a very good job indeed, so divers would not have any problems in the future.
Next a suitable site had to be found ,now this posed a bit of a problem, as their was no text book available on how to sink a ship in the Red Sea or any other sea, on a coral reef causing as little damage to the reef as possible, with the ship in one piece and in the upright position, horizontal to the shore, with a dive ceiling of 20 to 30 meters from the resting area,
During my research for this feature I was able to interview James Fylan who was given the task of sinking the ship.
" A meeting was called at my office at the Royal Palace, and was attended by the Captain of the Royal Yachts and the Jordanian coast guard commander, after a lot of deliberation we finally came up with a feasible plan that would work, provided sods law, gravity, or any other law would not intervene in the likely outcome.
Finding the site was not to big of a problem, coral their was plenty of, but a piece or stag of coral big enough and strong enough to stop a fully grown ship sliding off into the abyss was, as every Red Sea diver knows the Aqaba gulf is like a valley, I couldn't help wondering how did Moses do that Red Sea trick of his, it would be very handy if he was a site consultant now. After about a week I selected 3 sites, which I figured would hold the ship in place, but bearing in mind that any one of them could snap under the weight and loose the ship for ever, it had been decided that the impact point on the sea floor, was to be somewhere between 10m to 20m in the sand above the coral stag, now in theory what should happen is when the keel of the ship hits the sand the sheer weight of it should embed itself, to what depth was anybody's guess.
The next phase was the sand should start to give on the slope pushing ahead of it a large mound of sand on the port side of the ship acting as a brake as it approached the stag of coral reducing the impact on it ,and coming to rest.
H.R.H.Prince Abdullah was the patron for this project, and arrived about a week before the sinking, to survey and pick one of the sites, as a very keen diver HRH was very aware of what lay ahead and its requirements, so we suited up and visited the sites it took a while and some discussion after the dive to decide on the site I now know it was worth it.
The date set for the sinking, midday 16th November 1985 ,and just by chance this was my birthday, I figured not a lot of people have ships sunk on their birthday."
Now phase one began to get the ship over the site, with the two tugs a lot of pulling and dragging ensued until everybody was happy.
The Royal command was given for all systems go, I think every body had a vision of the ship being blown out of the water, what followed was 3 very muffled thuds and a few bubbles at the preset time, now all we had to do was wait, and wait we did.
About twenty minutes passed and things did not look good the ship had not moved one inch, so the lads were sent to have a look-see and report back. The report was very good everything going to plan, its very reluctant to sink for the second time so give the lady a chance.
In July of 1982 she arrived at the Jordanian port of Aqaba, and on the 2nd August while at anchor and in ballast a fire spread rapidly through her engine room and accommodation area's. Two of the crew lost their lives.
The damage from the ensuing blaze left the ship as a total constructive loss, although her hull was still intact and she was still afloat. For the next three years she remained a floating hulk, no one accepting the responsibility for her mooring and harbour fees.
The King of Jordan himself, a keen diver, took an interest in the vessel and a plan was hatched to sink the ship, in the hope it would become a part of the reef, and a habitat for the rich marine life living in this quiet little backwater of the Red Sea.
With the waters around Jordan plummeting away in depths beyond the sports divers reach, there were no natural wrecks for divers to explore. The Cedar Pride was to change that.
The ship itself was prepared by the port, pumping off oil, removing any hazards and so on, they did a very good job indeed, so divers would not have any problems in the future.
Next a suitable site had to be found ,now this posed a bit of a problem, as their was no text book available on how to sink a ship in the Red Sea or any other sea, on a coral reef causing as little damage to the reef as possible, with the ship in one piece and in the upright position, horizontal to the shore, with a dive ceiling of 20 to 30 meters from the resting area,
During my research for this feature I was able to interview James Fylan who was given the task of sinking the ship.
" A meeting was called at my office at the Royal Palace, and was attended by the Captain of the Royal Yachts and the Jordanian coast guard commander, after a lot of deliberation we finally came up with a feasible plan that would work, provided sods law, gravity, or any other law would not intervene in the likely outcome.
Finding the site was not to big of a problem, coral their was plenty of, but a piece or stag of coral big enough and strong enough to stop a fully grown ship sliding off into the abyss was, as every Red Sea diver knows the Aqaba gulf is like a valley, I couldn't help wondering how did Moses do that Red Sea trick of his, it would be very handy if he was a site consultant now. After about a week I selected 3 sites, which I figured would hold the ship in place, but bearing in mind that any one of them could snap under the weight and loose the ship for ever, it had been decided that the impact point on the sea floor, was to be somewhere between 10m to 20m in the sand above the coral stag, now in theory what should happen is when the keel of the ship hits the sand the sheer weight of it should embed itself, to what depth was anybody's guess.
The next phase was the sand should start to give on the slope pushing ahead of it a large mound of sand on the port side of the ship acting as a brake as it approached the stag of coral reducing the impact on it ,and coming to rest.
H.R.H.Prince Abdullah was the patron for this project, and arrived about a week before the sinking, to survey and pick one of the sites, as a very keen diver HRH was very aware of what lay ahead and its requirements, so we suited up and visited the sites it took a while and some discussion after the dive to decide on the site I now know it was worth it.
The date set for the sinking, midday 16th November 1985 ,and just by chance this was my birthday, I figured not a lot of people have ships sunk on their birthday."
Now phase one began to get the ship over the site, with the two tugs a lot of pulling and dragging ensued until everybody was happy.
The Royal command was given for all systems go, I think every body had a vision of the ship being blown out of the water, what followed was 3 very muffled thuds and a few bubbles at the preset time, now all we had to do was wait, and wait we did.
About twenty minutes passed and things did not look good the ship had not moved one inch, so the lads were sent to have a look-see and report back. The report was very good everything going to plan, its very reluctant to sink for the second time so give the lady a chance.
