Maritime Salvage Law (2/3)

Sample Shipwreck Arrest Papers

shipwreck SS Carolina
S.S. Carolina

Warrant of Arrest for the Wreck of the S.S. Carolina

IN the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR the DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY CAMDEN DIVISION JOHN B. CHATTERTON, Plaintiff, vs. The WRECKED AND ABANDONED VESSEL, known as the S.S. CAROLINA, which sank in 1918, her engines, tackle, appurtenances, and cargo located within one nautical mile of a point at coordinates 39d 0' 00" North Latitude and 73d 18' 00" West Longitude in rem, Defendant. WARRANT OF ARREST IN REM the PRESIDENT OF the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO: the MARSHAL OF the UNITED STATES FOR the DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

GREETINGS:

WHEREAS, on the 2 day of November, 1995, the Plaintiff, JOHN B. CHATTERTON, a private citizen and New Jersey domicile, filed a Complaint in rem against the Defendant the WRECKED AND ABANDONED VESSEL, known as the S.S. CAROLINA, which sank in 1918, her engines, tackle, appurtenances, and cargo located within one nautical mile of a point at coordinates 39d 00' 00" North Latitude and 73d 28' 00" West Longitude, now therefore, you are commanded to take into your possession the portions of said vessel which have now been brought up by the Plaintiff and brought within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court.

YOU ARE HEREBY further commanded forthwith to cite and admonish the salvage from the Defendant vessel to be and appear before the District Court at the Clerk's office thereof, in said District within ten (10) days after service, and then and there, to interpose in writing a claim, and therewith or thereafter a responsive pleading to the Complaint filed herein within twenty (20) days following such claim or thirty (30) days after the service whichever is less, a copy of which Complaint you shall serve upon the salvage from the Defendant vessel with this Writ directing the in rem Defendant to serve a copy of its claim and of its responsive pleading upon the Plaintiffs attorney. And how you shall have executed this Writ, make known to the Court with your Certificate of Execution thereof written.

WITNESS THIS HONORABLE:

[Signed]
JUDGE OF SAID COURT CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
Dated: November 5, , 1995

[Signed]
DEPUTY CLERK

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT,
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
Dated: Nov. 5 , 1995

Appointment of Custodian

IN the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR the DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY CAMDEN DIVISION JOHN B. CHATTERTON, Plaintiff,

vs.

The WRECKED AND ABANDONED VESSEL, known as the S.S. CAROLINA, which sank in 1918, her engines, tackle, appurtenances, and cargo located within one nautical mile of a point at coordinates 39d 0' 00" North Latitude and 73d 18' 00" West Longitude Defendant.

APPOINTMENT OF CUSTODIAN

By virtue of a Warrant of Arrest in rem, issued out of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Camden Division, in the above-captioned action, I have levied upon items salvaged from the Defendant vessel in Camden, New Jersey and now have the same in my possession, and I hereby appoint JOHN B. CHATTERTON, a private citizen and domicile of New Jersey, as Custodian of same to safely keep, and to allow no one to remove, molest, or in any manner interfere with the same, save upon the Order of the United States Marshal of this District. However, in lieu of written authority, the custodian can confirm this release by contacting the United States Marshal's Civil Desk at Camden, New Jersey.

DATE APPOINTED: 11-2-95

[Signed]
UNITED STATES MARSHALL

DATE RELIEVED:

[Signed]
DEPUTY MARSHALL

A Letter from John Chatterton to Fellow Divers (excerpt)

December 18, 1995

Fellow Diver,

As you are probably already aware, I have recently gone to Federal Court in Camden, NJ, to secure salvage rights to the wreck of the SS Carolina. I have been appointed Substitute Custodian of the wreck and have been authorized by the court to place it under arrest.

I went through all this trouble for two reasons:

  1. If I bring something of value up from the wreck, I want to be able to retain ownership. My concern is, of course, insurance companies not other divers.
  2. I wish to work on several extended projects without interference.

It is not my intention to restrict your access to the wreck, so long as my salvage projects and my access to the wreck are not interfered with. I have no interest in taking anything from your goodie bag, and I expect the same courtesy from you. Most of us have dived by this code all along, anyway.

At present, I am working on two, and only two, projects. First, the brass letters on the fantail spelling out "CAROLINA, NEW YORK". I have already removed the letters C, A, R, & N. Second, and more importantly, I have located what I believe is the Pursers Office and the safe. As time goes on, I will probably get involved in other extended projects, and I am certain that I will be bringing up other artifacts. In the mean time, I am not asking you to steer clear of anything that I have not already located and laid claim to, namely the stern letters and the Purser's Office.

If you are first to find the bell (or whatever), and you are able to bring it to the surface, then it belongs to you, and you will receive my congratulations. If I am first to find it and bring it up, then it is mine. It is just that simple.

Sincerely,
John Chatterton

Editor's note:
Chatterton has long ago recovered all the letters and purser's safe.

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Hokusai - The Great Wave (1831)

Shipwreck Almirante
Type:
shipwreck, freighter, USA
Built:
1909, Ireland
Specs:
( 378 x 50 ft ) 3121 gross tons, 105 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Friday September 6, 1918
collision with U.S. Navy tanker Hisko - 5 casualties
Depth:
70 ft

A number of small warships are sunk in New Jersey and New York waters.

subchaser (model)

A subchaser was a small coastal patrol vessel of World War I or II. Subchasers were lightly armed and even more lightly constructed, mostly out of plywood, powered by two diesel (WWII) or three gasoline (WWI) engines. Roughly the same design was used in both wars - 110 ft long, about 100 tons. Almost a thousand were built over both World Wars, and several are lost in the waters around this area. Many private yachts and some larger fishing trawlers were converted to perform this function also, like the Tarantula and the Moonstone. Conversely, some subchasers were converted to other duties after the war, such as the Bronx Queen, pictured below in military trim. Real subchasers were designated SC-, while converted yachts were designated SP-, PY- ( patrol yacht ) or PYc ( patrol yacht - coastal. )





Lake Hydra, formerly Dutch Springs, has re-opened. However, it is strictly for certification classes, and all the land-side facilities are gone. Still, much better than nothing!


1980 - 2021: The End of an Era

Sadly, 2021 is Dutch Springs' final year of operation. The owner has retired after 40+ years of building and running the facility, and the property has been sold to a developer to become warehouses. See the link in the sidebar.

lakehydra.com

Dutch Springs contains many interesting artificial reefs for divers to explore. In fact, even the hole itself is man-made - it is an old limestone quarry.

Shipwreck U-869
Type:
shipwreck, Type IXc/40 U-boat, Kriegsmarine, Germany
Specs:
( 252 x 22 ft ) 1051 displacement tons, 48-56 crew
Built:
1944, Germany
Sunk:
February 11, 1945
sunk by destroyer escort USS Howard D. Crow - no survivors
Depth:
240 ft

John Chatterton and the Horenberg knife
John Chatterton and the Horenberg
knife, the most tangible clue to the
identity of New Jersey's mystery U-boat.

In 1991, while checking out an obscure site known for hanging up fishing lines, I dropped down the anchor line only to find a virgin German U-boat. A wreck diver's fantasy of discovering a new shipwreck somehow had become a reality, and it was every bit as good as could be imagined. While reveling in the experience, I wondered if I would have enough skill and luck to ever make it happen again. Several discoveries later, the challenge is still irresistible.





Book: The Sea's Bitter Harvest

In January 1999, four clam boats were lost in separate incidents in the span of less than three weeks. First, on January 6, the Beth Dee Bob sank in rough weather with all hands. Two days later, the Cape Fear sank under similar circumstances. On January 18, the Adriatic went down with all hands, one day after the Ellie B ran up on the rocks at Manasquan Inlet. In total, 10 lives were lost, sparking a major Coast Guard investigation into safety practices on commercial fishing vessels.

  • Coast Guard Report

Fishing vessel Susan Rose was bound from her home port of Port Judith, Rhode Island to Manasquan to begin fluke fishing off New Jersey. Instead, just before 5AM * Friday November 17, 2023, she ran aground approximately 350 yards ** south of the inlet centerline. All four crew were safely gotten off. After de-fueling and de-watering, she was successfully pulled off the beach on the second attempt, at about 2AM Sunday morning, after rolling in the rough surf for almost two days. The vessel rapidly filled with water, capsized and sank, a few hundred yards ** off the beach, in approximately 50 feet of water. Again, everyone was gotten off safely.

* about 90 minutes after low tide
** news reporters said half a mile, but ... well, reporters


Esso Tug No. 9
Type:
artificial reef, tugboat
Built:
1950 - Gulfport Shipbuilding Corp, Port Arthur, TX USA
Specs:
( 102 ft ) 197 gross tons
Sunk:
Tuesday November 26, 2019 - 12-Mile Artificial Reef
Depth:
125 ft
GPS:
40°37.104' -72°31.388'

ShipBuildingHistory.com is a resource that I have often used to look up many of the reefs and a few of the wrecks in this website. I recently sent in an update, and received a notice that the author had passed away. The next thing that usually happens in these cases is that the website disappears when the hosting goes unpaid, so I immediately grabbed a copy for myself.

That's when I found that the original site was almost a terabyte in size, and 95% of that was formatting. So I cleaned it up, and cleaned it up, and cleaned it up, and added some navigation structures and other niceties that you would expect. Then I posted my copy as a sub-site here:



Laita reef
Type:
artificial reef, trawler, clam dredge, USA
Built:
1948, Bath Iron Works, Maine, USA
Specs:
( 117 x 24 ft ) 195 gross tons
Sponsor:
Eirek's Dock, Fisherman Magazine
Sunk:
Thursday October 16, 1986 - Cape May Artificial Reef
GPS:
38°51.860' -74°42.965'
Depth:
65 ft



At Point Pleasant, 1981

Rockaway Belle is listed as Army tug-transport T-1, built by Simms Brothers, Dorchester MA, 1942. 'T-boats' were 65-foot, 45 ton diesel-powered, passenger-cargo boats that doubled as harbor tugs. 170 of them were constructed during WWII, and many more afterwards. From 1940 through 1951 all T-Boats were built of wood, thereafter steel. Rockaway Belle was T-1 of the T-1 class, sold as surplus in 1947.


Shipwreck SS Delaware
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, USA, Clyde Lines ( see Mohawk )
Built:
1880, Philadelphia PA USA
Specs:
( 250 x 37 ft ) 1646 gross tons, 66 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Saturday July 9, 1898
fire below decks, burned to waterline - no casualties
Depth:
75 ft

Shipwreck Iberia
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, France
Name:
Iberia is Latin for Spain or the Spanish peninsula.
Built:
1881, Scotland
Specs:
( 255 x 36 ft ) 1388 gross tons, 30 crew
Sunk:
Saturday November 10, 1888
collision with liner Umbria ( 7798 tons) - no casualties
Depth:
60 ft

Shipwreck Rusland
The Rusland, aground, with onlookers.
Type:
Adonis - shipwreck, wood-hulled bark
Rusland - shipwreck, iron-hulled steamer, England
Built:
Adonis - 1853, Germany
Rusland - 1872, Scotland, as Kenilworth
Specs:
Adonis - 550 tons, 12 crew
Rusland - ( 345 x 37 ft ) 2538 gross tons, ~200 passengers & crew
Depth:
25 ft
Sunk:
Adonis - Tuesday March 8, 1859 - ran aground in bad weather, no casualties
Rusland - Saturday March 17, 1877 - ran aground in bad weather, no casualties

Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria

If Nitrox will not take you deeper than air, what will? I touched on a couple of possibilities previously - Trimix and Heliox, but I did not explain what they are, or how they work. I'm not a "Tech" diver; I'm not interested in going deep enough to actually need such gas mixes, and I've never taken a formal class in such things. But I do have an engineering degree, curiosity, and half a brain.



Winthrop reef
Type:
artificial reef, trawler, USA
Built:
1948, Bath Iron Works, Maine, USA
Specs:
( 117 x 24 ft ) 195 gross tons
Sponsor:
Eirek's Dock, Fish America Foundation
Sunk:
Wednesday July 12, 1989 - Cape May Artificial Reef
GPS:
38°50.825' -74°43.312'
Depth:
60 ft

Shipwreck SS Carolina
Type:
shipwreck, liner, USA
Built:
1896, Newport News VA USA, as La Grande Duchesse
Specs:
( 380 x 47 ft ) 5017 gross tons, 330 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Sunday June 2, 1918
shelled by U-151 - 13 casualties
Depth:
250 ft

Type:
shipwreck, clam dredge, USA
Built:
2003, Panama City FL USA
Specs:
( 86 ft ) 196 tons, ? crew
Sunk:
Thursday July 17, 2003
cause unknown - no casualties ?
GPS:
39°59.46' -73°11.25’ (NOAA 2003)
Depth:
130 ft

Pinta

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Specialized types of cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers. ( Tankers and supertankers are also cargo ships, although they are habitually thought of as a separate category. )

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