Adventure 459: The Story of George, The Eagle, 36

George doing a little fixit work

Real  time finds George well this morning. He'd taken his morning pills and was enjoying breakfast when we arrived. I showed him the photos of the Eagle being raised, but I'm not sure how much information he processed. Nonetheless, he looked good.

On our adventures, Judy and I always give thanks for traveling mercies. We're grateful when we're allowed to traverse from Point A to Point B. We're grateful once again. The raising of the Eagle, handled masterfully by Sam and his crew, proceeded to a successful point yesterday. So in this story, Point A was a survey dive; Point B was the staging; Point C was the raising. So far, our blessings have included no extra damage to property, no injuries or deaths, and a successful securing of the boat. Stage D, the next phase, will involve cutting the mast up into pieces right where she lays next to the shore. Stage E will involve moving the boat across open water to a public dock where Sam will use another very expensive piece of equipment to lift the Eagle onto a trailer. Stage F will find the Eagle on the trailer in Sam's boat yard where she will be cut up and thrown into a very large dumpster. The final stage will be writing the check. Hopefully, the insurance will pay the full $25,000. That is yet to be determined, but the boat sank, it appears, when something very hard ( a submersed log) battered the bottom of the boat until it crushed the strut holding the prop shaft. Much like a hammer hitting a nail, the strut was pushed through the bottom of the boat. She sank in under an hour after the puncture. So, we're hoping that's something a guy buys insurance for. At any rate, I'm predicting that the entire operation will cost somewhere around forty thousand. Sam's crew works at a rate of $1300/hr. The have two over full days in so far. Yesterday, the worked twelve hours, which numbs out at $15,600 for the day. They are worth every penny. I couldn't be more happy with their performance. It was astounding to watch them solve the real world problem when the boat twisted and became caught under the dock. I mean stuff happens. The handled it professionally, and as I said, no one died, no one got hurt, nothing more was damaged, so life is good, especially today.

 On the initial raising, the boat twisted and became lodged under the dock.

 Kenny, one of the crew-a diver and an all-around man, is helping to right the boat.

 Jared, the youngest, is a highly trusted member of the crew, even though as low man he does most of the "gofer" work.

 After adjusting the air in the bags, and freeing the boat from the dock, she began to raise.

 At one point, Jake, the head diver, had to add another air bag to tip the boat.

 That's dollar bills flowing into the lake at 35,000 gallons an hour.

 At this point, Sam and Jake are inside the boat determining the cause of the leak.

 The interior was a greasy mess, The oil from the engine had coated everything in a gray slime.

 Even as a still shot, you can see the water flowing through the hole in the hull.

 More muck.

 Near the end of the day, Sam decided the safest spot for boat security would be close to the shore, so we all helped to move her to the beach.

 Sam used the bow of the jet boat to jam the Eagles keel into the rocks.

Without the pumps, the water flowed in, so by the time I left, the Eagle's bow was heading for the bottom. Rest well, old girl. You didn't deserve such an ignominious ending.