Valerie E

Type:
shipwreck, clam dredge
Built:
1968, Kennedy Brown, Palatka FL
Specs:
( 71 ft ) 116 gross tons, 3 crew
Sunk:
Thursday January 16, 1992; winter storm - no survivors
Depth:
75 ft

The Valerie E sank in the same storm as the John Marvin, off Atlantic City. Although the Valerie E sank off Long Island, her home port was Belford NJ.

Valerie E

CDROM

The Valerie E was a 71 ft clam dredge that was reported overdue at 12:30 PM on January 16, 1992. At the time she had three crewmen aboard. The Coast Guard located the sunken wreck the next day, but unfortunately in the frigid winter waters, there was little hope for the crew. They were never recovered and are presumed lost.

Shipwreck Valerie E

The wreck now sits on her port side in 75 feet of water. When we first visited this wreck in the spring of 1992 she was in near perfect condition. At that time her bronze propeller was still shiny. After a powerful Nor'easter in the fall of the same year, the wreck was moved about 200 feet inshore. Apparently, the storm was so powerful that the wreck actually bounced across the bottom because one of the propeller blades bent forward 90 degrees. In 1995 the Valerie E's 600 pound, four-foot diameter bronze propeller was successfully salvaged.

Excerpted from Wreck Valley CDROM by Dan Berg

Shipwreck Valerie E
side-scan sonar image

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storage box

The standard means of moving and storing dive gear is the dive bag. All of the major manufacturers make dive gear bags. These are often quite fancy, with embroidered logos, pockets inside and out, "ergonomic" handles, and even wheels. Most of these bags are very nice but really too small to hold a cold-water dive kit, and very heavy to carry around when full. These bags are also expensive, a bother to clean, and a lot less waterproof than they claim. Here's is a convenient alternative that is much cheaper:

Go to K-Mart Home Depot and spend $5 on a Rubbermaid tote box, about the size of a milk crate. This will not be big enough to hold all items - you'll have to pack your fins and BC separately - but it will hold everything else, is small enough to fit almost anywhere, and also avoids making a single excessively heavy load. The tote also will not lose small items like a milk crate will. I eventually drilled drain holes in the bottom. I now use my fancy dive bag only to carry my drysuit and its accessories. This type of tote box is the preferred container on every area dive boat I have been on.