New Jersey Scuba Diving

Type:

shipwreck, steamer, USA

Built:

1872, Pusey & Jones, Wilmington DE

Specs:

( 249 x 33 ft ) 1564 gross tons

Sunk:

Monday October 11, 1917
foundered in a storm, 1 casualty

GPS:

38°36.93' -74°55.82' (DNREC)

Depth:

60 ft

The New Orleans was carrying a load of sulfur from Texas to New York. The ship sank in a storm after a cooling water intake burst, resulting in flooding and loss of power. 26 of the crew were rescued by a passing vessel, one drowned. Sulfur does not react with seawater at room temperature, but it does float. Bulk cargoes were carried in wooden barrels in those days, and all the sulfur is surely long gone.

The wreck site would have the remains of the iron hull, with a primitive single-cylinder steam engine, two 12-foot diameter boilers, and a 13-foot propeller. Listed by DNREC as "old wreck" inside the #10 reef.