Texel ~ New Jersey Scuba Diving

Texel

Type:: shipwreck, tanker, USA
Name:: Texel is the easternmost of the Frisian islands off the coast of Holland, which are similar to our own barrier islands.
Built:: 1913, Denmark
Specs:: ( 331 x 48 ft ) 3220 gross tons, 36 crew
Sunk:: Sunday June 2, 1918
bombed by U-151 - no casualties
Depth:: 230 ft

U-151's path from Isabel B Wiley to Carolina

Today, the Texel lies in 230 ft of water. She sits on a sandy bottom with almost no relief. She appears to have landed upright but has collapsed into the sand. Hull plates have fallen off around her like an eroding jig-saw puzzle. Her midsection and superstructure are gone, and her bow unrecognizable. The stern is marked by the propeller shaft, which hangs above the surrounding hull plates. She is a deep dive and should be dived by only the most experienced.

Black Sunday, Deep Sea Dive Sites, Dive Sites, Tankers, World War I,

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Deep Sea (pan right for more)

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Black Sunday

U-151's path from Isabel B Wiley to Carolina

The U-151 was the first German U-boat to operate in U.S. territory in World War I. The U-151 is not actually sunk in these waters ( it was sunk deep off Virginia after the war, ) but it did "contribute" the following six shipwrecks, all on the same day, Sunday, June 2, 1918:

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Air Fills

The proper way to fill a scuba cylinder is very slowly so that the heat generated by the filling process can be bled away as it happens, and the tank does not become overheated. That's a great theory, but in real life, nobody does it that way. Most tanks are "hot-filled", that is to say, that they are filled too fast to prevent them from heating up during the process. If they are filled directly off a compressor, then they will receive a very hot fill. You would be surprised how warm the surface of a tank can get. This is not much of a safety issue, though, as it is well within the thermal limits of the material, either aluminum or steel.

The real issue here is that eventually ( after a few hours ) the tank will cool down, and as it does, the air inside will contract, and the pressure will drop. This typically results in about a 10% loss of pressure. At this point, you could top it off to the rated pressure again and have a truly full tank. Most of the time that's not an option. Therefore, if the shop hot-fills your tank to 3000, you will end up with 2700. To get 3000, you need to fill the tank to about 3300. While this is verboten, it is well within the 5/3 overpressure of the hydro test, and realistically there is no danger. The slight overpressure may wear out your o-rings a little faster, but o-rings are cheap - get a dozen of them at the hardware store for a buck.

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