Tobacco Pointe ~ New Jersey Scuba Diving

Tobacco Pointe

Type:: artificial reef, tugboat, USA
Built:: 1954, Calumet Shipyard & Drydock, Calumet IL as Sharon Lee
Specs:: ( 89 x 26 ft ) 167 gross tons
Sponsor:: thesportfishngfund.org, Ann E Clark Foundation
Sunk:: Thursday June 16, 2016 - Atlantic City Artificial Reef
GPS:: 39°14.038' -74°12.568'
Depth:: 75 ft

Built in 1954 by the Calumet Shipyard and Dry Dock Company of Chicago, Illinois ( hull #220 ) as the Sharon Lee, for the A.L. Mechling Barge Lines of Joliet, Illinois. In 1967, the tug was acquired by the Gulf Atlantic Towing Company of Lafayette, Louisiana, a subsidiary of Brusco Tug and Barge Incorporated of Longview, Washington.

In 1972, she was acquired by the Allied Transportation Company of Norfolk, Virginia, where the tug was renamed Heron. In 1994, the tug was acquired by the Providence Steamboat Company of Providence, Rhode Island. In 1994, she was acquired by Robbins Maritime Incorporated of Norfolk, Virginia, and renamed Bay Prince. In 1999, the tug was acquired by the Blaha Towing Company of Suffolk, Virginia, and renamed Tobacco Pointe.

In 2012, she went out of documentation. The tug was scrapped along the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River near Norfolk, Virginia. She was a single screw tug, rated at 1,800 horsepower.

tugboatinformation.com

Towed in tandem with the dredge barge Ohio from Norfolk Virginia, the Richard Reina served as the platform for the crew to prepare and deploy the Ohio on the Ocean City reef on the morning of June 16, 2016. Justin then towed the Richard Reina north to the Atlantic City Reef.