Mohawk (3/4)

Trinkets from the Mohawk

Shipwreck SS Mohawk

The Mohawk was carrying some 1300 tons of general cargo when she sank, and even today still produces the occasional porthole and many other artifacts. If you bring some serious digging tools ( and I don't mean a scooter ) you can dig down into the lower holds of the ship, buried well below the sand, where entire crates of stores and cargo lie undisturbed, waiting to be recovered. Or, if you bring some serious luck, you can find something on the surface, like this gold pocket watch, which came up in 2002.

Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Divers with part of over 1000 dishes recovered from the Mohawk in 1996
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
2004 - there are still plenty more to be found
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
A stack of 9" dishes from the Mohawk, some of many recovered in 2004. The inset shows the manufacturer's stamp on the back. "Vitrified" refers to the shiny non-porous glaze. The Grindley company is still in business, since 1889.

These dishes were part of cargo, bound for Cuba or Mexico, and are quite ordinary and unremarkable. If they had actually belonged to the ship, they would most likely bear the Line's name and emblem - Clyde, Clyde-Mallory, or Ward ( the Mohawk changed hands several times. ) Apart from a few stains, they are perfectly usable, after 70 years buried in the shipwreck!

Shipwreck SS Mohawk
A fancy dish recovered from the Mohawk
Shipwreck SS Mohawk

Glass perfume stoppers, shot glasses, and bar dish The perfume bottles were equally ornate, but all smashed. It must have been cheap perfume anyway, since good perfume doesn't come in big bottles! The glass dippers on the bottom of each stopper were also broken off.

Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Bakelite salt shakers
The color of the plastic was incidental, since all bore traces of chrome plating which fell off soon after drying.
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Safety Razor

The brass box still contains spare blades, of the old double-edged type. The razor is Bakelite and brass: "Wardonia New Edge" - patent number 296,597, applied for 1927 by Thomas Ward and Sons of Sheffield England. It took me several frustrating weeks to find a head after finding a handle.

Shipwreck SS Mohawk
It once would have looked like this. Note the chrome. Similar shaving kits have been found on the Titanic.
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Cheap spoons
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Cheap coffee cup
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Another bottle from the Mohawk. This was more likely tossed in by a fisherman than actually sunk in the wreck, but still, you don't see these anymore.
Shipwreck SS Mohawk
You may also run across this memorial stone.
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Hermit Crab

Hermit crabs live inside empty snail shells in shallow water along beaches and in estuaries, small specimens on mudflats and large ones offshore. Some hermit crabs are entirely terrestrial, needing the water only to lay eggs. In the South Pacific, there are types that actually climb trees and very large ones that don't bother with a shell as adults.

The size of the crab determines what kind of shell, and upgrades are required as the crab grows. The Flat-Clawed Hermit Crab Pagurus arcuatus (right) is the largest in our area, and will often use Moon Snails and Whelks, but you will only find the big ones in deeper water. Small ones use Periwinkles and Oyster Drills.

Printed from njscuba.net