Raising of Sculpture Taking Longer Than Anticipated

Divers recovered four pieces of a submerged metal sculpture Friday, but problems forced salvage workers to delay completion of the work until today, officials said.

Artist Ross Power of Laguna Beach had hoped to raise all of the sculpture, called “No Turning Back,” Thursday, but it took workers all that day to rig a boom and to recover just one piece of the artwork.

Irma Woodward, a diving instructor who watched part of the salvage operation Thursday and Friday, estimated that the crew--employees of Sea Hunt Inc. of Key West--would not be able to finish the task until late Saturday. Woodward said she did not know the nature of the problems. Officials of the salvage company could not be reached late Friday.

The 5,000-pound stainless-steel twisted helix, part of a series called “Treasures of Atlantis,” was submerged last June near John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Power said he intended to leave it under water for a year so that it would acquire a patina suggesting ancient civilization. The artwork, which measures 14 feet high and 50 feet long, rests in a sand bowl 35 feet down. It was intact when it was submerged, Power said, but boat anchors and vandals have broken it into 10 pieces.

Once the pieces are recovered, they will be taken to Key West, where Power will weld them back together.

The sculpture is the second in Power’s “Treasures of Atlantis” series. The first, called “Permanent Wave,” is a set of seven wavy stainless-steel forms. That piece was submerged in June, 1985, and brought up last year.