New Jersey Scuba Diving

Mohawk (1/4)

Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Not to be confused with the R.C. Mohawk or the other S.S. Mohawk.
Type:
shipwreck, liner, USA, Clyde-Mallory Lines ( sailing under Ward Lines )
Name:
A tribe of Iroquoian Indians of the eastern New York area.
Three identical sisters were named Cherokee, Seminole, and Algonquin
Built:
1926, Newport News VA USA ( Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. )
Specs:
( 387 x 54 ft ) 5897 gross tons, 163 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Thursday January 25, 1935
collision with Norwegian freighter Talisman - 45 casualties
Depth:
80 ft max

The Mohawk was given its name after a previous ship of the same name belonging to the same company burned and sank in Delaware Bay in 1925. Another Mohawk is sunk outside the mouth of New York harbor. Thus there are plenty of Mohawk wrecks in our area. This does not seem to be a lucky name.

Neither was the parent shipping company, Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Lines, very lucky; the previous year, in an incident that is far more well-known than the sinking of the Mohawk, the Morro Castle caught fire and grounded in the surf off Asbury Park, a total loss. ( The hulk was eventually towed to a Baltimore wrecker's yard. ) Then, just weeks before the Mohawk was lost, the company's Havana grounded on a reef, and the Mohawk was transferred to fill in for the damaged vessel on the New York - Havana - Vera Cruz (Mexico) run. Coincidentally, the Clyde Line also owned the Delaware, sunk nearby some 37 years earlier.

Shipwreck SS Mohawk
Making speed at sea - Mohawk cruised at 16 knots

An Underwater "Tour" of the Mohawk:

Shipwreck SS Mohawk side-scan
Side-scan sonar image. The stern is at the left. The bow lies roughly to the north. Each vertical line indicates 20 meters.
Clyde-Mallory Lines Miami-Havana sailing schedule, Winter 1932-33
Passenger deck plans, showing cabin layout. Enlarge

Getting Around on the Mohawk:

The port or east side of the wreck forms a wall in the bow and stern that can be followed relatively easily. Amidships, everything was destroyed by demolitions, but the remaining boiler makes a good landmark. If lost, swim west with your compass, and you should find the wall of the hull. Dive boats will typically anchor either in the bow (north) or the stern (south) of the wreck and will announce which, so once you find the wall, you should be able to find your way home. The east or starboard side of the wreck is low scattered hull plates, disorganized, and much more difficult to navigate.

The port side of the hull near the bow. The lower part still stands, while the upper part has collapsed.
Fallen hull ribs near the bow.
A large winch and machinery, perhaps for the anchors.
Empty rivet holes on hull plates now lying scattered across the bottom. The curved opening at lower-left looks like it might once have held a porthole.
Rear axle, differential, leaf spring, rubber tire and wheel from a truck, near the bow. The cast iron differential casing has rotted away, but the steel spline gears remain.
An old flathead-six truck engine, with one of the front wheels just behind. You can make out the intake runner, minus carburetor.
Amidships, the front (north) side of the half-buried boiler. There is a second boiler in front of this one, collapsed.
Amidships, the front (north) side of the half-buried boiler. There is a second boiler in front of this one, collapsed.
The back (south) side of the remaining boiler, showing caps for fire tubes. The front side of the boiler is solid. Note the large crack in the corner.
Looking forward at the main reduction gears, just behind the boiler.

These huge gears converted the high-speed of the steam turbines to the much lower speed of the propellers. From the geometry of the exposed portion, I estimate that they are approximately twelve feet in diameter, with about two feet exposed. That places the prop shaft about four feet below the sand, and the bottom of the hull more than 10 feet down. These gears would be connected to the propeller shaft, and surrounded by a casing and smaller drive gears. See marine engines for details of such an installation.
Close-up, with some of the marine growth wiped away to show the diagonal teeth.
Moving aft (south) from the boiler along a crumpled framework. This reminds me of an overhead monorail, and is easily big enough to swim under.
More car parts, near the stern.
The aft port side of the wreck is collapsed inward. This is plainly evident in the side-scan image above.
Some kind of heavy machinery.
The Mohawk is mostly just an incomprehensible jumble.

It takes a lot of diving to learn your way around this mess. I've been diving it and studying it about once a week all season (2004), and it's starting to make sense. For the casual diver without such experience, a wreck reel is strongly advised. If nothing else, you can use it as an upline once you realize that not using it from the start was a mistake.
A scene at the extreme stern end of the wreck. For scale, the 'pipe' in the scene is actually a deck support, and is over a foot in diameter.
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Exposure Suits

Almost all diving activities, whether in the tropics or in colder waters, will require some sort of exposure suit. For local conditions, this means either a full heavy wetsuit or a drysuit. For the tropics, there are thinner wetsuits and fabric skins, but these are never warm enough for use around here. Water temperatures in the north Atlantic vary from just above freezing at depth during the coldest part of the year to the mid-seventies at the surface during the warmest. Typically, you can expect high-fifties to low-sixties at depth even over the summer.

More: Exposure Suits ...

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I make no claim as to the accuracy, validity, or appropriateness of any information found in this website. I will not be responsible for the consequences of any action that is based upon information found here. Scuba diving is an adventure sport, and as always, you alone are responsible for your own safety and well being.

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