Northern Wrecks

Kopco Star
Gruman Guardian
TBM Avenger
Spirit of America
SM-1 Humble
Gosford

Ventura County Wrecks

To learn more about Southern California wrecks & wreck diving, please visit the California Wreck Divers (CWD) website along with another excellent resource, the book “Shipwrecks of Southern California” by Bonnie J. Cardone and Patrick Smith. The book is no longer in print but available through Amazon.

Ventura County Coastal Wrecks

The wrecks we visit are mainly 50’-60’ fishing boats, 30’-40’ sailboats, and some other assorted ones along with the La Jannelle pieces. The wrecks we visit are not known or dove by many and there is not much known about most of the wrecks we visit. Most are offshore, in sand and are hulls with debris around them with no penetration. We are always looking for more, depths range from 50’-100’ and visibility can be 10’-40’. Experienced divers with good buoyancy skills, possible currents and surface signal device recommended.

Kopco Star

The KopcoStar was built at Terminal Island (San Pedro) in 1952 and measured 51.6’ long, 27.3 in beam, 4.8 in depthand powered by 4 diesel engines with a rating of 900hp. It was owned by the Kopco Star Co. of Los Angeles and was a kelpcutter that operated out of the Kopco kelp processing facility in Pt. Hueneme (Ventura County) harvesting kelp from Pt. Hueneme to Pt. Conception.

Kelp harvesting was a very important commercial industry withharvesting of kelp along much of the California coast. Harvesting was permitted under leases granted by the State Fish and Game Commission, with regulations established by the Commission. The type of kelp Kopco harvested was the Giant Brown Algae to be used mainly in stock and fertilizer.

With only the top four feet allowed to be harvested, the Kopco Star would leave at midnight to be at her destination when the tides where most advantages until one night in question when she had taken one heavy load of kelp and sunk. Read more about the Kopco Star and the newspaper article on her sinking.

Diving the Kopco Star can be anywhere from awesome to down right challenging and for the most part it’s all in the dive planning. The best time to dive the KopcoStar is at slack tide in the fall on a day with the least tidal change.

The Kopco Star sits on a sandy bottom in a westerly direction at a depth of 85’ wit an average visibility of about 10’-20’. Measuring about 25×60, it is a very picturesque dive. The bow area is where the kelp would have come up and over into the ship and it stands about 10’ high and is home to many fish and scallops. The stern is home to 4 diesel engines and props, an adult wolf eel and more fish; it stands about 6’-8’ high. There is a slight list to port with the starboard side about 3’-4’ high. Read more about diving the Kopco Star.

View 2 videos of the Kopco Star-
The Expedition

and the dive

Guardian Plane Wreck, Santa Cruz

The Guardian is a WWII Navy Grumman Guardian AF-2W. This plane was on a mission in March of 1954 searching for a missing jet. It had engine trouble and was ditched in the water with no problems. It is outside of a harbor near Gull Island, Santa Cruz Island at a depth of 50’-60’. The plane sits upright on a sandy bottom and has become an artificial reef with kelp and fish around it and the visibility is from 10’-30’. This can be a very fun dive if the weather is on our side.

To read more about the Grumman Guardian and learn more about wreck diving, please visit the California Wreck Divers (CWD) website.

Anacapa, TBM Avenger Plane Wreck

The Avenger is a WWII Navy torpedo bomber that was on a training mission in the early 50’s along with4 other planes. It hit another plane in the formation and they both crashed. The one that we dive went down on the front side of east Anacapa and had no loss of life. The other plane went down on the back side of Anacapa with loss of life and has never been found. The TBM sits in about 120’ in sand about 40’ from a nice reef and can have visibility of 20’-60’. After all the years you can still tell it’s a plane. It has attracted fish around it and is an excellent deep dive.

View TBM Avenger video

To read more about the TBM Avenger and learn more about wreck diving, please visit the California Wreck Divers (CWD) website.

The Spirit of Amercia (formerly identifed as the Peacock), Northeast Santa Cruz Island

The Spirit of Amercia (if that is what her real name is) had a lot of mystery around her. It was known that the wreck was a WWII Minesweeper that sunk in the 70’s. The Spirit of Amerciasits upright on a sandy bottom at about 65’deep outside the Scorpion Anchorage, Santa Cruz Island. Visibility here can be 15’-40’. With the hull and its structure to explore the Spirit of Amercia is a very good dive. It is in a protected area and there are lots of fish and the biggest Spanish Shawls on her.

To read more about the Spirit of America and learn more about wreck diving, please visit the California Wreck Divers (CWD) website.

Santa Barbara County Wrecks

North Santa Barbara/Gavoita CoastlineHumble SM-1

The SM-1 was originally as a U.S. Navy Medium Landing Ship (LSM-251) near the end of World War II. It was originally 204’ ft long and was driven by twin diesels. At the end of the war it was sold to Western Oil and Refining Co. It was renamed the Humble SM-1 in 1958 and made into an oil drilling barge with several modifications. The SM-1 worked offshore between Ventura and Point Conception. She now was a barge and towed to the drilling sites. In 1962 there was a big squall, creating large seas. The large seas caused the SM-1 to drag anchor (6 of them were used) and eventually she capsized, sinking in 75’ of water. She was then salvaged and is now a great dive site. The SM-1 now lies upside down about 2-3 miles offshore between Gavotia and Coho Anchorage. The SM-1 is an advanced dive and can be penatrated, but only by divers withproper training. The SM-1 has kelp and schools of fish along withsome great wreckage to look at. You MUST be careful diving the SM-1 as there is lots of jagged metal and other hazards such as current and the lure of seeing what is inside. There are plenty of holes to see inside and there is a large debris field on the starboard side. The SM-1 can be great for pictures and just plain sightseeing withvisibility being 10’-50’ and an average of 20’ ft. Truth Aquatics runs trips out to the SM-1 and Gosford about 3-4 times a year. It is nice 4 hours ride up the coast. You can check there schedule at Truth Aquatics.

View underwater images of the SM1-side scan zoomed, multi-beam zoomed and hybird—Thank you Jonathan Hanks

To read more about the SM1-Humble and learn more about wreck diving, please visit the California Wreck Divers (CWD) website.

The Gosford

The Gosford was a four masted cargo sailing ship. She was well built in 1891 in Greenock, Scotland and was 281’ long and 42’ wide. In 1893, the Gosfordwas carrying a load of coal and while a long way offshore the coal had started to burn, not a good thing. The captain changed her course to the nearest land. The fire kept burning for 5 days as the crew kept trying to put it out, but with no luck. She was towed the last 35 miles to Coho, Anchorage where on November 24, 1893 she sank in 35’-40’ of water. She now sits in 35’-40’ of water on a sandy bottom with lots of fish and kelp growing all around her and is now an excellent artificial reef. There is still much to see of the Gosford after all the years that have gone by including lots of photo opportunities not only of the Gosford, but also all the marine life that calls her home, some times you can spot the wolf eels in a hole on the starboard bow. The Gosford makes for a perfect shallow dive after diving the SM-1 and she is only about a 10 minutes away from the SM-1.