Mysterious geology off Eagle Island-help needed

[Diver1111]

Hi All,

I have been asked to help locate a fascinating anomaly in Winnipesaukee which I was familiar with but never looked closely at at the time I first read about it (2006).

It is a hole/crevice/fissure of some kind that I need to find, dive and film. I intend to send down an ROV as well.

In 2006 I bought the book, among other Winni books, “Three Centuries on Winnipesaukee” by Paul Blaisdell written in 1936 that describes this. Scan of the page in question is attached where he describes in some detail-a crack/crevice/hole of some kind. Lead-line depth checks at that time had it at about 320 feet deep.

Deepest part of the lake according to the Bizer chart is 213 between South Welch Island and the northern tip of Rattlesnake. Bizer shows no depths like this in the Eagle Island area but that is understandable.

I also have information from a diver who had or has a neighbor-Capt. Welsh-who was a Captain of the Mount Washington at one time. He told this diver of passing thru Eagle Channel towards the Weirs some time ago and once clear of the channel strayed a bit off course and noted on a fathometer a massive depth plunge to 300 feet, then it was gone as the vessel moved on. I don’t know how a fathometer works but it was good enough to use on the Mount.

The "off course" part makes sense because if this geological curiousity was routinely observed as part of her normal course this would likely be well known and it's not. My sense of where it is is much closer to Eagle than the Weirs.

I am also curious about how this thing may be shaped and plan on a side scan sonar scan/SSS of the area. It may or may not be visible on SSS, we wil see.

What I need from the boating public is any information you may have on this thing and of course, perhaps a Fish Finder image or any image for that matter, [U]of the depth and most importantly, Latitude/Longitude .

In 2006 I was diving the Connecticut River under the French King Bridge in Gill, Mass. and knew about another interesting anomaly-a hole down to at least 100 feet and really wide. Humminbird shot attached. In fact there is a 2nd hole nearby. Depths went 30 feet, 40 feet, 40 feet, 45 feet, 102 feet…. I can only imagine what’s at the bottom of it.

I have some more wrecks in Winni not yet posted but at some point I will.

Any help on this Winni thing is greatly appreciated.

[tis]

When I was little my parents were talking about divers from the government maybe from the navy, diving by Rattlesnake and when they came up they said they would never go down there again. I don't know what they saw or what was there but it sure scared them.

[ApS]

The deepest spot of Lake Wentworth was explored by divers decades ago. A visible layer of debris--maybe mostly bacteria--separated the bottom 20 feet from the water above. I speculate the bottom area is salt water, dissolved from winter road salt.

Fresh water floats atop saltwater, creating a "freshwater lens" using hydrology parlance.

If practical, this presumably-contaminated lake water could be plumbed from the deepest pocket of Lake Winnipesaukee to be sent down the Merrimack River to the ocean.

[gillygirl]

Originally Posted by tis

When I was little my parents were talking about divers from the government maybe from the navy, diving by Rattlesnake and when they came up they said they would never go down there again. I don't know what they saw or what was there but it sure scared them.

The Navy had a lab on Diamond Island, and a dock at Ames Farm for many years.

https://www.lwhs.us/gilford/diamondisland2.php