New Jersey Scuba Diving

Chesapeake

Chesapeake was the largest oyster dredge boat built on the Chesapeake Bay.
Type:
shipwreck, clam dredge, USA
Built:
1936, Johnson Marine Railway, Crittenden VA USA
Specs:
( 93 x 25 ft ) 113 gross tons
Sunk:
early 1980s, burned, no casualties
Depth:
She could pull four dredges at once and carry as much as 5,000 bushels of oysters.

Chesapeake was built very heavily with 6x9” oak frames and 3” thick Georgia yellow pine planking. Chesapeake worked on the Chesapeake Bay until 1979 when she was sold to a company in Cape May New Jersey to work the mackerel fishery.

The shallow round bottom and low straight bow must have been uncomfortable on the open ocean.

Photographs courtesy of Richard Miles

Photos from USCG helicopter (crew was already rescued by another boat)
The wheelhouse is gone, smoke pouring from the crew cabin in the bow.

location probable
234599
IMO 7100407

Barnegat Dive Sites, Dive Sites, New Jersey Dive Sites,

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Accessories

Here are some ideas on minor yet important details that get little consideration. These topics are especially important to gear-laden New Jersey divers; much less so to unencumbered warm water divers.

A light and a knife are the first two non-essential accessories that you should get. Actually, neither one is non-essential, and only a fool would dive around here without both. Goody bags are used to carry booty from the sea. This includes food, treasure, and a lot of rusty junk that you're going to pick up because it is there. They can also be used to carry tools down with you.

2016 Update

Knives and bags haven't changed much in twenty years, but lights sure have. That section has been re-written to reflect modern technology. Nothing else new here, except that solid brass snaps have gotten harder to find and a lot more expensive. So if you find one on the bottom, leave it there for me!

More: Accessories ...

Disclaimer:

I make no claim as to the accuracy, validity, or appropriateness of any information found in this website. I will not be responsible for the consequences of any action that is based upon information found here. Scuba diving is an adventure sport, and as always, you alone are responsible for your own safety and well being.

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