New Jersey Dive Sites (17/31)

Dive Sites - New Jersey

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Shipwreck Malta
As Queen of the South, with a steam engine
Type:
iron-hulled steamer, converted to sail
Built:
1852
Specs:
( 244 x 40 ft ) 1600 displacement tons, 24 crew
Sunk:
Saturday November 24, 1885
ran aground in bad weather - 1 casualty
Depth:
20 ft

Manasquan Inlet
Low tide, winter.
Point Pleasant on the left /south
Manasquan on the right / north
Type:
tidal river inlet with stone jetties or bulkheads on both sides
Depth:
30 ft

This inlet has a long slightly L-shaped jetty on the north side and a longer straight jetty on the south side. Both jetties are made of large stones and concrete, and the ends are built out of man-made concrete "jacks", shaped like an H with a 90-degree twist in the middle.


N.J. Shore inlet to be surveyed after large sandbar forms

By Nicolas Fernandes
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Aug. 17, 2022

Sand piling up in Manasquan Inlet

Linda Anne, a 38-foot sportfishing boat based in Manasquan, heads outbound from Manasquan Inlet on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in Manasquan. Sand has piled up along the south jetty, which some say has created hazardous navigational conditions as well as a new beach inside the inlet.
Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The Army Corps of Engineers will visit the Manasquan Inlet next week to survey a large sandbar that has formed in the waterway, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., said Wednesday.

Sands at the inlet have shifted before, but the low-tide sandbar is larger than anything seen there before, the congressman said.

"We are gravely concerned that it will pose a serious hazard to navigation," Smith said.


Manasquan Artificial Reef

2 miles off Manasquan Inlet
Depth: 67-74 ft


Manasquan River
Aerial shot of the entire Manasquan River estuary, looking southeast. The Railroad Bridge dive site is at the upper-right.

The Manasquan River is overall not as nice a place to dive as the Shark River. The currents are stronger, the water never seems as clean, and the bottom is silty wherever it is not covered with mussels. The inlet jetties can be downright dangerous, and the boat traffic in the channel there is often very heavy. Off the north jetty is the so-called "Manasquan Wreck", but this is a long swim from shore and probably best approached with a boat.


Shipwreck Manasquan Wreck
A Black Ball packet ship ( Orpheus ) leaving New York, 1835. Note the Black Ball insignia on the fore-topsail.
Type:
shipwreck, sailing ship, USA
Built:
1816, New York NY, USA
Specs:
382 tons
Sunk:
Saturday April 24, 1824
ran aground in a fog - no casualties
Depth:
30 ft

Type:
shipwreck, sailing ships
Sunk:
Sunday April 16, 1854
foundered in storm
Depth:
35 ft

The packet ship Manhattan sank with eight of her nine crew. In the same storm, the 200 ft schooner Powhattan was also lost nearby, with over 350 immigrants on board and no survivors. Neither wreck has been positively identified, although there are several candidates, including one old wooden hull buried up to the gunwales in the sand.


Type:
shipwreck, iron-hulled schooner barge ( formerly a Scottish/Italian bark )
Built:
1868, Dundee, Scotland
Specs:
693 tons
Sunk:
Saturday October 29, 1938
Depth:
60 ft

Shipwreck Maurice Tracy
Type:
shipwreck, collier, USA
Built:
1916, Ashtabula OH USA, as Nordstrand, later Sekstant
Specs:
( 253 x 43 ft ) 2468 gross tons
Sunk:
Saturday June 17, 1944
collision with freighter Jesse Billingsley - no casualties
Depth:
70 ft

McAllister Artificial Reef

Depth: 50 - 53 ft
2.8 nautical miles south of Long Beach


New Jersey Dive Sites

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Railroad Bridge
Viewed from the northwest, prior to reconstruction, winter, high tide. 7-11 store at upper right.
Type:
inland tidal river
Depth:
20 ft, mostly a lot shallower

This spot is upstream on the Manasquan River. The diving area is rather small and not very deep. Visibility tends to be poor, and this is worsened whenever an O/W training class is in session, which is often. Also, the current under the bridge becomes very strong, so slack water is essential. For a long time, a dredge barge has been anchored in the channel, but otherwise, there is no boat traffic.

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