New Jersey Scuba Diving

Mayor J Harold Grady

Type:: artificial reef, fireboat
Built:: 1960, Jakobson Shipyard, Oyster Bay, NY
Specs:: ( 86 x 20 ft ) 93 tons
Sunk:: Saturday June 22, 2024 - Delaware #11 Artificial Reef
GPS:: 38°40.457' -74°42.961'

The Mayor J. Harold Grady - named for Baltimore’s sitting mayor when commissioned in 1960 - was one of three Baltimore fireboats built that year by Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, L.I. and was among the most modern and well-equipped fireboats of her time, with a pumping capacity of 6,000 gallons of water per minute and top speed of 15 mph. She would later distinguish herself during Baltimore’s inner harbor fire of 1968, when flames at a lumberyard at Pier 5 spread to other businesses and even threatened the U.S.S Constellation. Grady stayed in service until 2007. DNREC bought her using federal Sport Fish Restoration funds, and she was hauled out to the reef site and sunk by Norfolk VA-based marine contractor Coleen Marine.

an old postcard

July 1990

Artificial Reef Sites, Artificial Reefs, Delaware #11 Artificial Reef, Delaware Artificial Reef Sites, Delaware Artificial Reefs,

Delaware #11 Artificial Reef

Delaware #11 Artificial Reef

15.5 Nautical Miles from Indian River Inlet, 1.52 sq miles
Depth: 70-90 ft

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Sonar

There are on the market today portable underwater direction-finding units that home in on each other by sound. These provide similar functionality to a strobe light, but with ( theoretically ) longer range, and are ( theoretically ) unaffected by water conditions and visibility. They are also very expensive, and prone to failure when a large object or wall gets between the two units. A number of times I have seen people get lost because they counted on one of these gadgets, and it didn't work.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about these devices is that their users seem to be mostly beginners who place unfounded faith in them, probably because they paid so much for it at the dive shop. They seem to hit the water in "brain-off" mode, counting on their expensive gadgets to get them home, and making little or no effort at other forms of navigation. Unfortunately, these people are probably the least able to cope with the emergency situation that arises when they find out just how reliable their little sonar toy isn't. Learn to use a wreck reel instead.

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