Delaware Artificial Reefs

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Sandy Hook    Sea Girt      Shark River   Manasquan     Axel Carlson  Barnegat Light Garden State N Garden State S Little Egg    Atlantic City Great Egg     Ocean City    Townsend      Deepwater     Delaware Bay  Wildwood      Cape May      Delaware #09  Delaware #10  #11           DelJerseyLand

Coverage of Delaware is restricted to just those sites that are in the ocean.

Delaware Artificial Reef Charts

Twin Capes
Shearwater
Shearwater
USS Radford
USS Radford
Gregory Poole
YO-93
USCG Tamaroa
two tugboats
two tugboats
Frieda Marie
American Glory
American Glory

Delaware Artificial Reef Sites

Delaware has eight permitted reefs in the Delaware Bay, and another way offshore that is undeveloped and will likely stay that way.

Site #8 has a 70' tugboat "Golden Eagle". Site #6 has a 120' barge. Site #1 has a 40' pilot boat. Other than that, the Delaware Bay reefs are all concrete rubble.



Type:
artificial reef, freighter, purse seiner
Built:
1944, JK Welding - Yonkers NY, as FS-355 (US Army)
Specs:
( 166 x 32 ft ) 542 tons
Sunk:
Thursday, Jan 21, 2021 - DelJerseyLand Artificial Reef
GPS:
38°31.340' -74°30.671'
Depth:
125 ft

John S Dempster Jr. is sister to Shearwater and Reedville, see those vessels for details, links in the sidebar. All three vessels were originally small Army transports, converted to Menhaden fishing by Omega Protein company. FS-355 was USCG-manned, and retained by USA as PVT Carl V. Sheridan (see below) until sold in 1972.

The aging Shearwater and Reedville were retired when Omega got two new modern vessels in 2017, but Dempster was kept as a reserve. Finally, almost 80 years old, the Dempster was sent to her reward as well. Another sister, Tangier Island, was reefed off Georgia in 2020. As of 2023, one old sister remains - Smuggler's Point, FS-400, launched in 1944!



Shipwreck Champion
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, USA
Built:
1859, Wilmington DE USA
Specs:
( 234 x 31 ft ) 1419 gross tons, 55 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Friday November 7, 1879
collision with sailing ship Lady Octavia - 28 casualties
Depth:
105 ft

Printed from njscuba.net