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On 27 Dec 2005 08:57:44 -0800, wrote:

Did they raise the vessel and discover the bottom torn away (as though
from hitting a submerged container, or something), or are those photos
of some previous work that was done before they got underway? If the
previous repair failed or they actually lost that much of the bottom,
it's amazing they had three minutes to call for help and abandon ship.

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There was one shot that implied that they towed it back in with
flotation barrels, probably the same way they raised it.

It looked to me like a wooden boat that had lost a major section of
planking. My guess is that the plywood visible in one picture was a
temporary patch to allow pumping. I've never been in the salvage
business but my understanding is that the usual technique is to raise
the boat until the decks are awash, apply a patch, and pump it dry
enough that it can be towed. We were out at Cuttyhunk Island south of
Cape Cod one summer when SeaTow and the USCG brought in a 42 ft
Silverton that way. The boat had dinged a rock and one or both shaft
struts had been pushed up through the bottom.