Barnegat Dive Sites (5/5)

Barnegat Chart

 1 2 3 4 5  

Shipwreck Thurmond
The unusual submarine-like hull form of a whale-back steamer. Sea-keeping was poor, and the design was ultimately not successful, and died out.
Type:
shipwreck, "whale-back" steamer, USA
Built:
1890, AmShip Superior, Duluth MN USA, as Colgate Hoyt
Specs:
( 276 x 36 ft ) 1253 displacement tons
Sunk:
Saturday December 25, 1909
ran aground in thick fog - 10 casualties
Depth:
14 ft

Type:
shipwreck, freighter, Chile ( originally Denmark )
Name:
Tolten is a city on the central coast of Chile.
Built:
1938, Denmark, as Lotta
Specs:
( 280 x 43 ft ) 1858 gross tons, 28 crew
Sunk:
Friday March 13, 1942
torpedoed by U-404 - 27 casualties
Depth:
95 ft

Specs:
Landing Craft?
Sunk:
during World War II ?
Depth:
20 ft

This wreck is described only as a "Troop Carrier" from World War II. Given its location, I would guess that what is meant by this is most likely a landing craft; probably lost in an accident during an amphibious training exercise by the Army.


Estelle Phinney
Type:
shipwreck, schooner
Built:
1891, New London, Connecticut, USA
Specs:
( 188 x 39 ft ) 922 gross tons, 10 crew
Sunk:
Saturday December 27, 1907
collision with schooner Elizabeth Palmer, 1 casualty
Depth:
80 ft

Shipwreck Vizcaya
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, Spain
Name:
Vizcaya is a Basque province in northern Spain. The Basques are a fiercely independent seafaring people of unknown origin.
Built:
1872, England, as Santander
Specs:
( 287 x 38 ft ) 2458 gross tons, 103 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Saturday October 30, 1890
collision with schooner Cornelius Hargraves - 60 casualties
Depth:
80 ft



Barnegat Dive Sites

 1 2 3 4 5  

tides

Shore diving is very much dependant on the tide. Tidal inlets and rivers will flow with the tide, such that a river may even flow upstream for a time when the tide is incoming. Normal river currents are far too strong to swim against, and will simply sweep away a loaded diver. Many inlets have time restrictions for divers, so you will have to take the local laws and the tide tables into account to work out a good dive time.

However, there are two times when the currents drop to near zero. Those are dead high tide, and dead low tide. Of the two, dead high tide is usually better, simply because there is more water, and it is cleaner ocean water rather than silty river water. You will get about a half-hour window on either side of dead high tide during which you can either drift in the weak current or swim against it. After that, you'd better get out.

Printed from njscuba.net