Recent Edits ~ New Jersey Scuba Diving

City of Athens

Type:: shipwreck, liner, USA
Built:: 1911, New York Shipbuilding, Camden NJ USA, as Somerset
Specs:: ( 309 x 46 ft ) 3648 gross tons, 135 passengers & crew
Sunk:: Wednesday May 1, 1918
collision with French Navy cruiser La Gloire - 67 casualties
Depth:: 110 ft

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Cornelius Hargraves

Type:: shipwreck, schooner, USA
Built:: 1889, H.M. Bean, Camden ME, USA
Specs:: ( 211 x 45 ft ) 1332 gross tons, 10 crew
Sunk:: Saturday October 30, 1890
collision with steamer Vizcaya - no casualties
Depth:: 80 ft

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Corvallis

The Half Way Girl — No print of the movie exists

Type:: shipwreck, freighter, USA
Built:: 1919, Peninsula Shipbuilding, Portland OR USA
Specs:: ( 267 x 49 ft ) 2992 gross tons, no crew
Sunk:: Tuesday June 16, 1925
deliberate - for film "The Half Way Girl"
Depth:: 210 ft

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Bonito

Type:: shipwreck, charter boat
Built:: 1929, Carvel Beach, MD
Specs:: ( 48 ft ) 25 GT
Sunk:: Wednesday 7/20/1960
scuttled
Depth:: 80 ft

The Bonito was sunk as a "fish haven", an artificial reef in modern parlance. I'm sure there is nothing left of the wooden hull, and anything else has long since disappeared into the sand, but it is interesting for being one of the earliest documented reefs.

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Artificial Reefs History

New Developments in Artificial Reefs

Pauline Marie reef — The *Pauline Marie* sinks slowly on the Atlantic City Reef.

By Evelyn DeWitt Myatt & Bill Figley, 1986

It's hard to imagine anything that could have looked more forlorn than the rusty old freighter whose proud seagoing days were a thing of the past. Floating idly at her berth awaiting her fate, she was a victim of nature's ravages that had left her beautiful only in the eyes of her old captain and crew. The Pauline Marie, however, was not destined to be the victim of a cutting torch that would turn her into a tangle of scrap steel. Instead, she was acquired by the New Jersey Artificial Reef Program and went down with dignity as an artificial reef in March 1985. She now provides continuing services from her watery grave in the Atlantic, some twelve miles off Atlantic City, and her appeal to marine life is undeniable. Her interior compartments now shelter fish and crustaceans; her decks now provide substrate for mussels, soft corals, and plant life; and her newfound productivity has put delicious seafood on many tables.

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Atlantic City Artificial Reef

12.2 Nautical Miles off Atlantic City, 5.00 sq miles
Depth: 55-95 ft [download]

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September 20, 2026

NJ Artificial Reef Program

September 20, 2026

Bill A1563
Session 2026 - 2027

ASSEMBLY, No. 1563
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:
Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)

Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Scharfenberger

SYNOPSIS

Requires DEP to establish artificial reef plan for commercial and recreational fishing.

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Susan Rose

Type:: artificial reef, trawler
Built:: 1977, Steiner Shipyard, Bayou La Batre AL as Margaret Rose
Specs:: ( 77 ft ) 142 gross tons
Sunk:: Thursday Feb 13, 2025 - Manasquan Artificial Reef
GPS:: NJDEP Private Fishing Hole
Depth:: 75 ft

The Susan Rose is a secret reef, sunk with no public notice or announcement. It will no doubt be used for another "period of successional development and monitoring" like the Carrabassett since 2024 and the New England Coast since 2023. Here is the NJDEP contact form if you would like to inquire about the progress of these studies:

https://dep.nj.gov/contact-form

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East Rockaway Inlet / Beach 8th Street

East Rockaway Inlet

The dive site is between 8th and 9th Streets.
Atlantic Beach bridge at right, inlet and ocean to the left (west)
In Queens borough, New York City!

East Rockaway Inlet is also known as Deb's Inlet, while New Yorkers optimistically, or perhaps ironically, call the Beach 8th Street dive site Almost Paradise. (Actually the name of a long-defunct dive shop there.) It is also referred to as Beach 9th Street. If that's not enough names for the same place, the waterway is officially called Reynold's Channel. So I suppose you could make six different entries in your logbook.

Beach 8th Street is the only part of the inlet that is accessible to divers, the rest is either private property or state park land where diving is prohibited. You can zoom, pan, and maximize the map above. The inlet is off to the left, marshland to the right, and Kennedy Airport above.

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September 19, 2026

Very Soon Artificial Reef

September 19, 2026

This Rustic Ferry is Getting Dismantled in Queens to Become an Artificial Reef

The Prudence Ferry has been abandoned for years, but will get a second life in the waters off Fire Island this summer.

The City, News Partner
Mon, Apr 20, 2026

Volunteers clean off paint and trash before the *Prudence Ferry* can be sunk into the East River, April 4, 2026. (Alex Krales/*The City*)

By Lilly Sabella, The City

Behind the gate of a waterfront restaurant, a rusted ferry wobbles on the waves of the East River. It’s become a familiar eyesore for residents of Long Island City, Queens since it was first moored to the Anable Basin in 2012 and has floated there since, a forgotten lump of metal - until now. The abandoned ferry, named Prudence, is getting a second life as an artificial reef. Each Saturday morning this spring, residents in masks and safety goggles leap from stable ground onto the ferry to remove any hazardous materials and make it fit for sea creatures to move in.

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