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Post by fireball on Feb 28, 2012 8:27:32 GMT 8
Aside from the flooded areas I have also looked at some of the less visited parts: Air Intake DuctThere are two of these, running from mid height of the Sally Port through to the aft end of the engine room. While I looked through the starboard duct the Sally Port and engine room pics are from the port duct. Warning: I accessed the duct by rigging a rope from above. While the port duct has the ladder remaining due to rust its strength is unknown and a step may suddenly break - do not use it.Sally Port, showing the outline of the old external 'stairs' and the port intake: Inside the duct - not wildly exciting: Near vertical shaft down to engine room: View up from engine room - the ladder is far better preserved on the port side: Cable Junction RoomThis is accessed by short shaft just to the left as you enter the fort. I would like to say I got inside but a decision to try out a tape ladder (rather than using rope descender/ascender) turned out to be a mistake. First time use in the dark is not recommended, and I now know why cavers use aluminium ladders. View from the Sally Port - it is the first entrance on the left: Cable tunnel - you see and hear the water moving in and out: Lub Oil Tank RoomJust a small room, with a second store room at far back of engine room: Facing forward - remains of the two tanks with door to storeroom to right: The ceiling mirrors the slope of the entry passage: The storeroom - looks like someone has been assessing its rebar value:
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Post by okla on Feb 28, 2012 11:03:07 GMT 8
Hey Fireball.....Great stuff. What an eerie feeling you must have experienced down in the wet, murky, bowels of that spooky place. What am I looking at when peering thru that "porthole" Is that the Ternate/Cavite shoreline beyond waters of Manila Bay or am I imagining things. ?
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Post by fireball on Feb 28, 2012 14:17:12 GMT 8
Hi Okla,
You are imagining it (well helped by my poor description of the photo):
In the photograph what you are seeing is the the view taken from within the starboard forward engineering space (I think it was the workshop area) towards the porthole and into the aft of the two 14inch plotting rooms. Somehow within the utilitarian design of concrete built to withstand (as it did) a tremendous bombardment the circular window adds a touch of humanity or, if you will, 'home'. No doubt there were less sentimental reasons for having it.
Floating around is slightly odd and one thing is for sure if my inflatable boat had punctured / started sinking you would have seen me racing out like Popeye after a carton of spinach! With any of these dark and potentially dangerous places you need to keep your imagination under control while at the same time understanding the risks.
But, Fort Drum is quite peaceful and exploring it does not bring out the goosebumps. Exploring some of the service tunnels in nearby Fort Frank was somewhat different. The combination of being on a big island, a long way from the battery entrance, the bats, being in total darkness and down two levels from the main tunnel meant the return to sunlight was a relief.
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Post by okla on Feb 28, 2012 21:56:41 GMT 8
Hey Fireball. Thanks for steering me back on track. My over active imagination, quite often, jumps it's traces and goes astray. Keep posting your material. It is good stuff. Cheers. Postscript....I did notice you labeled the latrines with the nautical description as "heads". I believe that is quite appropriate for Fort Drum. Even though the "old gal", being concrete, is permanently "moored" in that one place for eternity, she is, for all practical purposes a "warship" and naval terminology seems to be quite appropriate.
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Post by darthdract on Feb 28, 2012 22:39:14 GMT 8
fireballThat really looks scary It feels like anytime the Something can fall in your head, Let me guess you have hard Hats?. And there are a lot of rust as well.
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Post by fireball on Feb 29, 2012 8:35:50 GMT 8
Hi Darthdract,
No, but you are right we should. I do wear a helmet in caves and mines, but not normally in buildings. The danger with Fort Drum, apart from falling debris, are head wounds from contact with rusty iron etc.
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Post by darthdract on Feb 29, 2012 16:32:43 GMT 8
fireball Do you think the 14inch shell can still go Kaboom? And about the Scrapping it really hurts to see that it still continues to deteriorate. I just can't believe the government is not interested in it. I hope some rich bushiness Man in Manila could get interested in history but I think that is very unlikely. I am wondering if the Ayala's are interested history they are wealthy People anyway.
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Post by xray on Mar 5, 2012 15:32:17 GMT 8
Outstanding effort fireball, thanks for posting
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Post by Karl Welteke on Mar 5, 2012 17:06:17 GMT 8
Fireball, you have been where no one else has been , you got Balls! Great and Thanks! Fireball and Conrad, looking forward to a more detailed report on your Ft. Frank trip.
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Post by fireball on Mar 6, 2012 18:17:21 GMT 8
Karl,
Praise indeed , thanks.
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