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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Sharks - Inshore

Here is an assortment of large sharks that can be found in New Jersey waters, by no means all of them. These are more likely to be found inshore in coastal waters. Sharks are seldom a danger to divers, they seem to be put off by the noise and bubbles. Nonetheless, all should be treated with caution.

In all my many inlet dives, I have seen a shark once, and that was in inoffensive Smooth Dogfish. I have been told that they are sometimes seen from up on the bridge in Belmar, but even then they would probably be out in mid-channel, and far away from strange noisy bubbling scuba divers. However, one of the most famous shark attacks of all time took place in New Jersey - the 1916 Matawan Creek attacks. See Bull Shark for details.

The only one of these that you are ever likely to encounter in local ocean diving is the relatively inoffensive Sand Tiger, not the similarly named and extremely dangerous Tiger.

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