2004 Hunt for the Alligator Expedition Log for Sunday, August 22, 2004

The 2004 Hunt for the Alligator expedition team receives a pre-survey briefing by the Yp-679's captain before heading out to sea. (Click on the image for a large version) (Photo: David Hall/NOAA)

The hunt officially began on Sunday 22, 2004 at 1:30 p.m., when the Office of Naval Research’s YP-679 Afloat Lab and its crew left sunny Silver Lake Harbor in Ocracoke, N.C., and headed out for “Graveyard of the Atlantic” off Cape Hatteras.M

Aboard the YP were scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies, who spent the morning preparing for a 24-hour, non-stop survey of the 2004 Alligator search area.

Mike Overfield, chief scientist for the 2004 Hunt, has developed an ambitious survey plan for the next 24 hours, which will include deploying a side-scan sonar towfish and a magnetometer to search for the Alligator among the many known and un-known shipwrecks on the ocean floor. In addition, weather permitting, Tane Casserley and Kate Thompson, both NOAA Working Divers and marine archaeologists with NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program, will be diving to observe the deployment of the instruments as the scientists perform their pre-survey tests.