New Jersey Scuba Diving

San Jose

Shipwreck San Jose

Type:: shipwreck, freighter, USA ( United Fruit Company, now Chiquita )
Built:: 1904, Ireland
Specs:: ( 330 x 44 ft ) 3358 gross tons, 35 crew
Sunk:: Saturday January 17, 1942
collision with C2-class freighter Santa Elisa - later torpedoed by U-123 - no casualties
Depth:: 100 ft

The San Jose was dynamited in the 1950s. Today she sits in 100 ft of water on a mud bottom. Her wreckage is spread over a wide area, with the main portion of the hull on its port side, pretty much intact. She can be penetrated and divers can enter long corridors with adjoining rooms. The bottom of silty mud can be disturbed very easily, dropping the normally poor visibility to zero.

Editor's Note 2018: This sounds like a very old description. I would expect the wreck has collapsed into a flattened junk pile by now.

Shipwreck San Jose

Shipwreck San Jose — The San Jose was a passenger freighter, with a small number of cabins for paying passengers, although no grand facilities as might be expected on a liner.

Shipwreck San Jose — Sailing Timetable - 1912

Shipwreck San Jose — Sailing Timetable - 1916

Santa Elisa — The Santa Elisa sinking after being torpedoed by Italian motorboats in the Meditteranean. ( At least the water is warm. ) Santa Elisa was the same class as Algol

U-123 — Type IXb U-boat U-123, decommissioned and scuttled in port August 1944. Later raised and put in service by France until 1959.

brochures courtesy of Maritime Timetable Images - www.timetableimages.com

Cape May Dive Sites, Dive Sites, Freighters, New Jersey Dive Sites, World War II,

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Dryland

from AWOIS: 1607

NM47/66 -- DANGEROUS WRECK OF DREDGE DRYLAND, 62 FT. LONG. 22 FT. WIDE REPORTED SUNK IN ABOUT 90 FT. COVERED ABOUT 55 FT.

CL1540/78 -- MAR, OPR-C622-RU/HE-78; ITEM 4; INVESTIGATION BEGAN 30 AUGUST AND WAS COMPLETED ON 18 SEPTEMBER. EFFECTIVELY CLEARED TO MIN. OF 45.5 FT., (38.5 FT. ON A 40 FT. SHOAL), WITH NO HANGS ENCOUNTERED.

FE221/78-79 -- OPR-C622-RU/HE; ITEM 4; REQUIRED CLEARANCE TO 45 FT. DUE TO POSSIBLE HAZARDS ON THE BOTTOM. 1 MILE, RADIUS CIRCLE DRAGGED TO 45 FT. EXCEPT TO 38 FT. ON 40 FT. SHOAL (SEE AWOIS NO.00752) NW OF AMBROSE LIGHT TOWER. NO HANGS ENCOUNTERED. RECOMMENDED THAT CLEARED AREA BE CHARTED WITH GREEN TINT WITH 45 FT. CLEARANCE NOTE WHERE APPROPRIATE.

H10224/86-87 -- OPR-C121-WH-86-87; WRECK FOUND DURING MAIN SCHEME HYDROGRAPHY AND SIDE-SCAN SONAR OPERATION 850M EAST OF REPORTED POSITION; SIX DIVES PERFORMED; 2-15 FT VISIBILITY; PNEUMATIC DEPTH GAUGE LEAST DEPTH OF 86 FT TAKEN ON TOP OF A 20 FT LONG DREDGE PIPE FLOAT FOUND 841.6M EAST OF AWOIS POSITION; WRECK SITE REVEALED PIPES, FLOATS, AND DREDGING EQUIPMENT. (UPDATED MSD 4/91)

More: Dryland ...