Coney Island reef
Type:
artificial reef, tanker, sludge
Built:
1938, Staten Island NY USA
Specs:
( 250 x 40 ft )
Sponsor:
Crystal Oil Corporation, Marine Trades Assn. of NJ, Fisherman Magazine
Sunk:
Thursday September 10, 1987 - Sea Girt Artificial Reef
GPS:
40°06.285' -73°41.365'
Depth:
125 ft, starts at 80 ft

McAllister colors
McAllister colors

McAllister Towing is one of the oldest and largest marine towing and transportation companies in the United States. They operate a fleet of more than seventy tugboats and twelve barges along the East Coast from Portland, Maine to San Juan, Puerto Rico.


New Developments in Artificial Reefs

Pauline Marie reef
The Pauline Marie sinks slowly on the Atlantic City Reef.

By Evelyn DeWitt Myatt & Bill Figley, 1986

It's hard to imagine anything that could have looked more forlorn than the rusty old freighter whose proud seagoing days were a thing of the past. Floating idly at her berth awaiting her fate, she was a victim of nature's ravages that had left her beautiful only in the eyes of her old captain and crew. The Pauline Marie, however, was not destined to be the victim of a cutting torch that would turn her into a tangle of scrap steel. Instead, she was acquired by the New Jersey Artificial Reef Program and went down with dignity as an artificial reef in March 1985. She now provides continuing services from her watery grave in the Atlantic, some twelve miles off Atlantic City, and her appeal to marine life is undeniable. Her interior compartments now shelter fish and crustaceans; her decks now provide substrate for mussels, soft corals, and plant life; and her newfound productivity has put delicious seafood on many tables.


Or "heads", as real sailors call them.

head
Here's an object that probably doesn't deserve to be recovered - the head on the Matt Turecamo.

tanker ship drawing
Typical 1930s oil tanker

A tanker is a cargo ship designed to carry liquid cargoes, usually but not always fuel oils.


Mud Hole

With rare exceptions, scuba diving is a bottom-fixated activity. In the region covered in this website, one may encounter many different bottom types, from rocky pinnacles around Block Island to white sands off Cape May to mud and oyster beds in any estuary. This variation is far greater and more interesting than is found in the tropics. Here is some explanation of what bottom compositions are found where and why:



Dykes reef
Type:
artificial reef, schooner barge, USA
( The small smokestack in the pictures is for an electrical generator. )
Built:
1919, Baltimore MD USA
Specs:
( 306 x 35 ft ) 2072 tons, 14 crew
Sponsor:
Modern Transportation Co.
Sunk:
July 1983 - Sea Girt Artificial Reef
GPS:
40°06.964' -73°57.571'
Depth:
65 ft


Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria - New York Times
Type:
shipwreck, liner, Italy
Name:
A 16th century Genoese Admiral. This name had been previously carried by a number of Italian warships ( see page bottom )
Built:
1951, Italy
Specs:
( 700 x 90 ft ) 29083 displacement tons, 1706 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Thursday July 26, 1956
collision with freighter Stockholm ( 12000 tons) - 46 casualties
GPS:
40°29.405' -69°52.028' (AWOIS)
Depth:
240 ft ( 190 ft minimum )


Type:
shipwreck
Depth:
95 ft

The "Seawolf", as she is called, is a large steel-hulled wreck that faces in an easterly direction. Her bow rises 14 ft or so off the bottom. Most of the wreck comes off the bottom only a few feet. She has a large fishing net draped over her midships.

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