Underwater Wakulla

Other area wrecks to dive.

By RUSTY MILLER

The last couple of articles were about the sunken ships just off Panama City Beach so I hope you will join me for a dive trip or two to see those wrecks. In this article I would like to tell you about one of the ship wrecks that are off of PCB. It’s a bit further than most dive charters will go but it’s still within a couple hours by a fast boat and a great dive.
The wreck is probably one of the best known as it was sunk during World War II in our part of the Gulf by a German submarine. It’s a fascinating story because you wouldn’t think that there would be any German submarines this far or this close in American waters. You would be surprised that this one particular U-boat went all the way up to the mouth of the Mississippi river and was able to sink three more ships after the Mica.
Let me give you some dimensions and depth of the Mica. The HMS Empire Mica was a 465ft long British tanker used in World War II and built in 1941; it carried fuel for the Royal Air Force.
On June 29th, 1942 it was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank 21 miles due south of Florida’s Cape Sand Blas in 110 feet of water. The Coast Guard bombed the stern and bridge to reduce threat to navigation. This information is from the Florida Panhandle shipwreck trail website.
Let’s talk about this wreck and the circumstances around her demise. This comes from the USA Today network. Written by Ed Offley the News Herald.
It was midnight on Monday, June 29, 1942 off Cape San Blas in the Gulf of Mexico as the British oil tanker Empire Mica sailed East for Key West and the Florida straits. It would then head up the east coast to New York and join a convoy headed for the British Isles. She was outbound from Baytown, Texas, with a cargo of 12,000 tons of highly flammable vaporizing oil (heating oil). The Empire Mica was a new addition to the British merchant fleet; she was a seasoned veteran of the maritime struggle between the Allies and Nazi Germany. This struggle would end shortly after the Mica headed to the Florida straits. A type IXU U-boat U-67 was busily scanning the Gulf with their powerful Zeiss binoculars.
They quickly realized the shadow they kept seeing was actually a large oil tanker on a converging course. The captain called for battle stations and for the next hour and 35 minutes, U-67 shadowed the British tanker as it continued towards the waters of Apalachicola. The Empire Mica was three quarters of a nautical mile away, when he called out “Los!” (Release) and two steam driven G7a torpedoes raced out from two of the four torpedo tubes. The Mica was hit; twin blasts ripped the hull and ignited the 12,000 tons of vaporizing oil. A massive fireball engulfed the tanker and rose into the sky where it was seen by civilians on the shore from Cape San Blas to Apalachicola. Thirty-three of the crew died, and 13 survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard.
Over the years we have dove the Empire Mica but the hurricanes and tropical storms have done severe damage to the wreck and now there are just remnants left that you can still dive but the real danger is all the thousands of yards of fishing line that have gotten tangled and left causing entanglement issues if you’re not careful.
I believe that one of the huge propellers was salvaged and sits at the entrance of the restaurant Captain Anderson. I plan to return to the wreck this summer to see and give homage to her crew for her service.
Keep making bubbles and dive safe.

Russell Miller is the service tech and scuba instructor at Wakulla Diving Center in Medart. NAUI Instructor #59999