New Jersey Scuba Diving

Rockaway Belle is listed as Army tug-transport T-1, built by Simms Brothers, Dorchester MA, 1942. 'T-boats' were 65-foot, 45 ton diesel-powered, passenger-cargo boats that doubled as harbor tugs. 170 of them were constructed during WWII, and many more afterwards. From 1940 through 1951 all T-Boats were built of wood, thereafter steel. Rockaway Belle was T-1 of the T-1 class, sold as surplus in 1947.

Rockaway Belle sank some time after 1977, there is a record of her active then.

The photo above is a sister. It looks like a natural fishing boat. T-1s probably needed very little to convert them to side-trawlers, already having a sturdy-looking hull, tugboat engine and cargo boom. I can find no details or date for the sinking, but there might still be something down there, and the first person who gets to it is going to find a giant lobster.

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