Captain Bill / Veronica M

Type:
artificial reef, tugboat, McAllister Towing (Boston)
Built:
1950, Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY as Hazleton
Specs:
( 110 x 27 ft ) 199 gross tons
Sponsor:
Herb & Veronica Segars
Dedication:
Veronica Segars
Sunk:
Wednesday November 10, 2004 - Axel Carlson Artificial Reef
GPS:
40°03.104' -73°59.283'
Depth:
75 ft
"Hazelton on the East River"
Doing tugboat stuff as Marie Casho
Captain Bill reef
Marie Moran
Captain Bill reef
Captain Bill

HAZLETON

Built in 1950, by Jakobson Shipyard Incorporated of Oyster Bay, New York (hull #328) as the Hazleton for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 1963, she was acquired by the Moran Towing Company of New York, New York, where she was renamed as the Marie Moran.

In 1984, the tug was acquired by the R.J. Casho Marine Towing Company of Wilmington, Delaware, where she was renamed as the Marie Casho. In 1986, she was acquired by Captain Arthur Fournier of the Penobscot Bay Towing Company of Belfast, Maine, where the tug was renamed as the Captain Bill.

In 2004, the tug was reefed off of Bayhead, New Jersey as part of an artificial reef program, where the tug was renamed as the Veronica M. Named for the wife of a longtime local diver and underwater photographer Herb Segars.

Powered by a single Cleveland 16-278A diesel engine, 1,600 horsepower.

Paul Strubeck, Captain Brian Fournier
tugboatinformation.com

Captain Bill reef
Captain Bill reef
Captain Bill reef
Captain Bill reef

The sinking took 4-1/2 hours and 40 seconds. The block of the 1750 hp diesel engine is still inside, as well as the 120" bronze propeller. This tug is one of the largest ever sunk as a reef in New Jersey. Compared to others in the area, it is massive.

Captain Bill reef
side-scan sonar image
Captain Bill reef
Pilot house shaggy with hydroids one year later
Herb Segars Photography

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Type:
shipwreck, barge
Sunk:
March 2004
foundered under tow
Depth:
60 ft

This medium-sized crane barge sank under tow in March 2004. The barge is upside-down, but propped up at a 30-degree angle by the crane, rising 30 feet off the bottom at the highest point. The crane is a large rotating affair that is permanently mounted on the barge. It is not the crumpled arm of the crane that supports the hull, but the central cab, so the wreck is stable, and it is safe to explore the cavernous dark space below. The bottom is coarse sand and pea gravel. Eventually, the wreck will crush flat, but that will probably take several years, and until then this is a fun and interesting site. Big eels, Sea Bass, and even one or two lobsters can be found here.

Printed from njscuba.net