Our Dive Destinations

60 Foot Dives.

Chesapeake Light Tower
40 ft. deep  Navigational aid, similar in construction to an offshore oil rig. The legs of the tower support a variety of invertebrate animals, as well as a diverse population
of resident and transient fish species. Sandy bottom.

Tiger Wreck, 60 ft. deep
Tanker: 410 ft. long, Built: 1917
Sank: April 1, 1942 

USS Tiger, a 6273 gross ton cargo ship and troop transport, was built at San Francisco, California, in 1917 as the civilian freighter Tiger. After more than a year of operating under War Department charter, she was taken over by the Navy and placed in commission in December 1918. Tiger made one round-trip voyage to France with a cargo of food and Army supplies in January-March 1919. She was then converted to a transport and spent the next several months taking part in the great effort to bring U.S. military veterans home from the European war zone. USS Tiger was decommissioned in August 1919 and returned to her owner, the Standard Transportation Company of Delaware.

Resuming her commercial career, at some point during the inter-war years Tiger was converted to an oil tanker for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company of New York City. During the night of 31 March - 1 April 1942, while nearing Norfolk, Virginia, with a cargo of fuel oil shipped at Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, the ship slowed to pick up a pilot. She was seen by the German submarine U-754, which fired three torpedoes, all of which missed, then launched a fourth. The latter struck Tiger's starboard side just behind her engine room. Her machinery spaces and after cargo spaces rapidly flooded and the ship's crew and passengers (less one man killed in the explosion) abandoned ship. Despite salvage attempts, S.S. Tiger sank a day later in relatively shallow water, leaving only her upper extremities visible above the surface, and was given up as a total loss.

Santore Wreck, 60 ft. deep
Bulk Cargo Carrier, 449 ft. long
Built: 1918, Sank: June 17,.   The Santore was a 449' long cargo carrier that struck one of the mines laid by the U-701 at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. As the wreck was a hazard to navigation, the partially submerged vessel was demolished by the Coast Guard cutter Gentian. One of the large bronze propellers was salvaged by a group led by Robert Hollowell, though one still remains somewhere on the wreck site. The remains of the Santore are spread out along the bottom in 60' of water, encrusted with a variety of invertebrate life. Although extremely broken up, a wary diver may be rewarded with an artifact hidden amongst the wreck.   The Santore was returning to Chile with her holds full of coal and  the one the mine in a "clean" channel blew a hole in her portside. Little is left which distinguishes the remains as a vessel except for the boilers, masts, crow’s nest and gun mount. This is a nice dive for lobster and spearfishing!

 
4A Drydock, 60 ft. deep.
The Tug,  40-60 ft. deep

90 Foot Dives.
 

Francis E. Powell/North Powell
80 ft. deep (mid), 90 ft. deep (stern)
Tanker, 431 ft. long
Built: 1922, Sank: January 27, 1942  Torpedoed by U-130 during a World War II attempt to disrupt shipment of oil from Atreco, TX. During a towing attempt in rough seas, the tanker split into three sections, which lie in different areas. The Francis E. Powell or midsection is broken wreckage with no discernable shape. The site is home to numerous lobster and flounder. The N. Powell or stern rises 20 ft. off the bottom and extends 30 ft. out with a debris field of 150 ft.

Gulf Hustler Wreck, 70 ft. deep
A commercial fishing vessel, similar to the Doxie Girl, sitting intact and upright in 80'. The large A-frame rises up from the stern with a large majority of the wreck covered in mussels.

Surf Clam Boat  Intact and upright, this surf clam boat has equipment still onboard. The intact condition and large amount of relief provides a fun and save dive.

Brass Spike Wreck, 75 ft. deep
A unknown wooden wreck laying in 75'. Due to the lack of rigging, the vessel was most likely a converted schooner barge, a common sight along the Mid-Atlantic during the early 20th century. The wreck is contiguous with a few remaining brass spikes along the hull, hence the name. Off the port side of the stern remains the rudder debris, (as of 9/98) with one large brass gudgeon left. The site is commonly dove now, but used to be home to abundant quantities of large tautog when first visited.

Wooden Barge, 140 ft. long  Broken up with 10 ft. of relief, this wreck is aptly named for the numerous brass spikes available for scavenging. Also seen on this wreck are lobster, tautog and flounder.

Other 90  foot dives:
Ricks Wreck, 80 ft. deep.

Monroe Wreck 80 ft. deep.
On a bitter January morning, the passenger-freighter Monroe was groping northbound through a thick fog off the Virginia Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, the southbound Nantucket was stumbling along also and the two vessels collided head-on. The Nantucket penetrated the Monroe's hull, sealing her fate; as the Nantucket backed away, water was allowed to rush in an fill the crippled vessel. The Monroe quickly began listing over to starboard at a rapidly increasing angle. Many passengers were thrown into the frigid water; eventually, 41 people died or were unaccounted for. The masts of the wreck still protruded from the surface after she settled on the bottom in 85' of water. Due to this hazard to navigation, the Monroe was leveled later that year with explosives.

The site is extensively broken up with debris spread far from the core of the hull. Portholes, their swing plates recovered, still adorn many areas of the hull. The stern rises high from the bottom. Typically during the summer, the wreck of the Monroe is visited by an abundance of summer flounder. Being offshore, most are doormat size. I was amazed by the numbers; while gigging a large flounder, I would always spook 3-4 other fish nearby.

Wooden Barge Wreck 70 ft. deep.
Artificial Reef 70 ft. deep.
Carolina Breeze Wreck 85 ft. deep.
E.B. Barge Wreck 70 ft. deep.
Anthony Anne Wreck 70 ft. deep.
Steel Barge Wreck 74 ft. deep.

130 Foot Dives.

Lillian Luckenbach Wreck, 100ft.
Freighter 448 ft. long
Built:1919, Sank: March 27, 1943  After colliding with the SS Cape Henlopen during World War II nighttime shipping confusion, the Lillian Luckenbach began to take on water on the port side where her plates were ruptured. No lives were lost, but the ship rolled onto her beam ends and sank. Sinking in a channel used by WWII convoys, she was bouyed and later demolished.

Eureka Wreck 115 ft. deep.
Traveling in a thick fog from New York to New Orleans with a cargo of general merchandise, the Eureka collided with the Benison. The Eureka was equipped with steamer's engines as well as rigged with four masts for the use of sails. The damage from the collision was too great, and soon the Eureka lay upright on the bottom with her mast exposed. The wreck was further disgraced by demolition from the USS Despatch, as she presented a hazard to navigation. Divers from the Baker Salvage Company first descended on the wreck in August, contracted to recover the cargo that still remained within the wreck. After work was completed, the wreck was abandoned.

Mike Boring was the first diver to view the Eureka since the salvage divers left the wreck in 1888. His dive boat, the Sea Hunter, was on a charter to the site believed to be the Chenango in 1990. He persuaded his charter into checking out a set of numbers he had received from a commercial fishermen. Mike anchored up to the wreck, and on his first dive recovered the brass capstan cover that identified the wreck as the Eureka. His charter was not impressed with the site, and they opted to do their second dive at the Chenango. Mike soon returned with others to begin recovering the many artifacts that abound on the wreck. The Eureka quickly became known for the copious amounts of porcelain doll heads, arms and feet, as well as toy tea sets.

The wreck lies in 115' of water, though the engine and boilers rise 20' off the bottom. The port side of the stern rises 20' off the bottom, though the steel is rusting through in several areas. Forward of this, the wreck breaks down until the large engine and boilers are encountered. The hull of the wreck has flattened outward, the edges rising only 2-3' off the bottom. Although contiguous, the wreck has become heavily sanded in over the years, thus one must dig in the sand to reveal its secrets. The general cargo areas are found just forward of the boilers, where most of the artifacts are recovered. Cabin areas and more cargo as well as the remaining portholes, may be found towards the stern. Far from shore, visibility on the site is consistently around 40'. The temperature, too, is a constant, due to the site's vicinity to deep water. Artifacts recovered include numerous types of medicine, liquor, and perfume bottles, various gauges, deadeyes, portholes, a small bell, copious amounts of various ammunition, a pewter lantern, marble doorknobs, cases of leather boots, a gold pocket watch, and an ornate capstan cover. On a trip in May of 1998, I was lucky enough to come across a complete case of Hennessey & Co. cognac, and successfully recovered 9 intact bottles, along with marble doorknobs and a porcelain dolls head. A lone porthole, glass intact, remains on the port side of the wreck (as of December 1998), even after several attempts to recover it. With some dedicated digging, divers may be handsomely rewarded.

Cuyohoga Wreck 115 ft. deep.
 

The Coast Guard Cutter Cuyahoga was rammed and sunk by the M/V Santa Cruz II, the night 20 October 1978, at he mouth of the Potomac River. Due to mutual error, the Santa Cruz II slammed into the starboard side of the cutter, damaging her so severely that the Cuyahoga sank within two minutes. Ten days later, Navy divers were able to facilitate the salvage of the cutter.

Following the investigation, the Cuyahoga was stripped and sunk as an artificial reef off the Chesapeake Bay approaches. She is intact and sits upright in ~100' of water.

(Photo courtesy of Bobby Ballance)

Trepca Wreck 115 ft. deep.

York (Norvana) Wreck 110 ft. deep