Seacrest Drillship (Eastern Route), and 'Not the Seacrest' (Southern route)Re-discovered, 16/03/07, then again 22/03/08, (oops).  History of the Seacrest Drill ShipThe Seacrest Drill Ship was operated by Unocal in the Platong Gas Field, way out in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. Details of the Seacrest capsize tragedy are sketchy. Newspaper reports state that 97 crew were working aboard the 4400-tonne Unocal owned drillship in the South China Sea, around 430 kilometres south of Bangkok, when it capsized in heavy seas caused by Typhoon Gay. The ship was reported missing on Saturday, 4 November 1989 and a search helicopter located the Seacrest floating upside-down 0815 local time on Sunday, 5 November 1989. Two rescue crew were landed on the up-turned hull of the ship to check for survivors. They tapped on the hull in the hope that some crew may have survived in an airpocket inside the ship, but received no reponse. Over the following days, Thai Navy divers searched the ship and found two bodies in the hull. Newspapers reported a total of 97 crew on board the Seacrest: 64 Thais, seven Americans, four Australians, four Britons, three Canadians, two Danes, two Filipinos, one Italian, one New Zealander, eight Singaporeans and one West German. Another report states that there were 91 fatalities with 2 survivors. The drill-ship is also mentioned briefly in a US Navy document discussing Typhoon Gay, where it is noted that the eye appeared to have passed over the Seacrest, after which heavy seas caused the ship to capsize. Other reports state that the Seacrest had a derrick full of pipe when storm hit, with a high centre of gravity contributing to the accident.
Locating and Diving the wreck of the Seacrest Drill ShipWe’ve found two wrecks that match the picture above. The first one is 100 nautical miles south of her reported position, but we thought with a northerly gale raging she could have drifted there. This wreck is very shallow, 48m to the sand, 38m to the top of the wreck. She lies in clear water too, so you can see the wreck from the surface. She lies on her port side, the derrick and wheelhouse are missing but we have a few marks close by. No moon pool for the drill. Diving this wreck makes a great technical dive to warm up on before visiting the deeper wrecks in this area. The second similar wreck which we've located is probably the real Seacrest Drill Ship. She lies closer to the reported sinking, she has a derrick, and moon pool. We were told by Fred Evans (who removed the bodies from the wreck), that she was upside down and this wreck is. She lies in 72m, top of the wreck and the moon pool is at 50m. A great penetration dive where you can spend the whole dive inside the hull and pretend you’re in the Poseidon Adventure. This dive really is an adventure, the more we visit the more we find, if you enjoy long, deep and challenging wreck penetrations, you'll like this one.
© MV Trident - techthailand.com 2009 | Technical Diving and Wreck Expeditions - Thailand | Reproduction without permission forbidden
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