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[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Here's a picture from the Tighar site showing a very similar shape as to the one with the black squiggly stuff wrapped around it.

Jeff, Is this from the Electra - or a look-a-like?  Source?

It's from the Electra and, it can be found on the Tighar website AE search, click on the silver cd section and the nessie hypothesis

[Chris Owens]

My uninformed opinion (amateur scuba diver) is that it's extremely unlikely that the black squiggly stuff or any of the rope dates from 1937.  After that length of time, even if a surface resisted the attachment of marine growth, I would expect it to have silt covering it.

[Alfred Hendrickson]

Not sure how to post pics here. But here goes . . . I took this picture myself:

Great quality picture Alfred! Do you know which plane it's from?

Jeff

That picture is of the few remaining bits of C/N 1024, an L10A that crashed in Idaho back in 1935. It was featured in TIGHAR's dado search about 7 seven years ago. To date, this is the closest thing to an Electra L10 that I have seen with my own eyes!

[Tom Swearengen]

there is alot of similarities between the 2 pics Alfred-----
Tom

[Erik]

That black suiggly stuff is annoying me! In the paras we all used to carry a roll of black insulating tape to wrap around stuff that rattled a lot, mainly on night patrols. Is there any evidence of a roll of black insulating tape being aboard the Electra? Any photographs that may show a roll of black insulating tape inside the Electra, Richie? You have posted loads of photos recently, any sign of a roll of black insulating tape in them?
Its composition gives it a good chance of survival underwater. Apparently there's a huge raft of plastic junk floating around in the pacific.

Jeff

Me too.  What are the chances that the "black squiggly" stuff is coagulated oil from the oleo gear strut?  Being trapped for 70 years under high pressure, and then all of a sudden one day snapping a hydraulic fitting,  blam it all oozes out, leaving the unusual pattern we see in the video.  What would oil do after 70 years under pressure like that - thicken like grease?  Crazy thinking...

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Theres something even stranger in another part of the ROV video. Sorry to bore you all
I'll post it up sometime tomorrow.
Jeff

[Tom Swearengen]

not so crazy Erik---- stranger things are happening.
Tom

[Tom Swearengen]

come on Jeff---I need to sleep tonite!
Tom

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Ok, this still fom the ROV video is a bit further up slope of the reef shelf. It is a sheet of that 'alloy' material again similar to the curved/concave bit on the reef shelf. It has the same oddly 'serrated' edge to it again, with some symetrical positioning of holes? rivets? black lines, and is very thin. The yellow line goes around the outline of the 'alloy' sheet and, it appears to be 'square', 'panel' shaped?. The red lines go around unusual objects lying near or, on top of it.
One has a metal ring at the end of it, one looks like part of a set of goggles, two appear to be metallic parts and the rest, who knows. Again, like Marty says there have been a lot of visitors to the island over the years and, we don't know for sure if another plane ditched near the island, maybe during WW2?
So again. It's speculation but, there is something on this reef.

[Chris Johnson]

If the black substance was a hardened extruded substance would it not be subject to the effects of currents and have moved on? It looks more like whatever it is is caught on the peice of coral that it is on.

BTW its not a bad idea, when I was young we often got balls of 'Tar' washed ashore that were infact old deposits of oil from a wreck that was breaking up down the coast. Wo forbid if you got it on you.

[Tom Swearengen]

Jeff---where is this last still in relation to the one with the other targets? I inveted the pic (have the numbers at the top ) to better recognize the location. I assume that inverted, the last still would be 'left' of the other objects.
tom

[Tom Swearengen]

Jeff---with the numbers at the bottom, the rust looking colors to the right of your red outlined objects. Can you see that in a better still?
Tom

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Jeff---where is this last still in relation to the one with the other targets? I inveted the pic (have the numbers at the top ) to better recognize the location. I assume that inverted, the last still would be 'left' of the other objects.
tom

It's uphill a yard or two from the reef shelf with the first lot of objects on it. To the right of.
Jeff
Which bit of the new still did you want to look at  Tom?

[Tom Swearengen]

in the new still, numbers on bottom, to the right of the upper 2 red outlined targets. 

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

If the black substance was a hardened extruded substance would it not be subject to the effects of currents and have moved on? It looks more like whatever it is is caught on the peice of coral that it is on.

BTW its not a bad idea, when I was young we often got balls of 'Tar' washed ashore that were infact old deposits of oil from a wreck that was breaking up down the coast. Wo forbid if you got it on you.

Yes, I think you are right about what might be the logical case, Chris - and I see this 'fluid' thing as a very long shot.

I've seen tar balls on the Gulf coast near here (years prior to BP's 'event', in fact) - and that would be what I would expect of such stuff over time.

One key would be how such old fluid might behave: would it be a near-solid with firm consistency that might be fairly tough and 'rope like'?  Would it tend to just dissipate into smaller 'tar balls'? 
Other questions come to mind:
Why is there no silt evident (judging by the 'blackness' of it)?  Did it just happen (what a whopping coincidence that would be) and therefore no silt?  Is it still there?

I don't know these things.  I intend to learn more about how such material behaves over time, and what consistency and appearances would be reasonable if one found such a thing (old fluid being extruded in water).  It could be an explanation - or the thing could turn out to be nothing more than a rope dropped by a passing boat a few weeks before TIGHAR arrived with the ROV. 

Funny thing is, I all but 'dismissed' the squiggly at first while I tried to sort out the 'thing it was wrapped around', and as that took shape, well... - funny what 'suggestion' does to us, for sure.

I think I'll try to reach a friend or two in the materials and processes end of my business...

LTM -

.

Jeff

The lack of silt and residue on the black squiggly thing would suggest it is very flexible and is able to waft about in the currents thus throwing off anything that settles on it. All the other stuff down there is motionless therefore covered in coral residue and silt IMO. Is there any sea weed that's that colour? Would sea weed be capable of living in a hollow cylinder with just the residue of mineral oil to live on? There doesn't appear to be much else down there that could support plant life.
 
One other thing. Does anyone know if there is longer footage of the ROV video? Would be interesting to run through it even if it took weeks to do so.
Jeff