Magazine Article - Eco

The Local Diving
Specialists
December 2012
Presents
dIscoVEr
san dIEgo’s
WrEck allEY
MagniFiCenT
mIssIssIppI
diving
love diving?
philippines!
ExplorE thE Jug
long Island’s WrEck
Fun and FantastIc
pompano BEach, Fl
hEaVEnlY & spEctacular
Hood Canal, Wa
VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 12
$5.95 US/CAN
NORTHEAST
Article by the Eco-Photo Explorers
Michael Salvarezza
Christopher P. Weaver
W
reck divers enjoy exploring the
remains of sunken ships for a
variety of reasons. Some enjoy
the thrill of recovering artifacts, others
marvel at the plethora of marine life that
often inhabit these artificial environments,
and still others crave the adrenaline rush of
diving deeper and penetrating further inside
the ghostly remains of a once proud vessel.
But almost all wreck divers are enamored of
studying the history of the particular wreck
they are visiting, poring over old articles and
stories trying to unlock the mysteries of the
past. It is this connection with history that
makes shipwreck diving such a rewarding
and colorful sport.
The seafloor in the waters off New York
and New Jersey is littered with the
remains of hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of shipwrecks. Although there are some
very famous shipwrecks here, many are
mundane vessels with forgotten histories.
Some remain unidentified to this day.
F i n d
M o r e
o n l i n e
a T :
w w w . d i v e n e w s n e t w o r k . c o m
DiVE SiTES :: US DiVE SiTES :: NOrTHEaST
John C. Fitzpatrick:
Exploring the “Jug Wreck”
▲Photo Courtesy Chris Weaver & Mike Salvarezza, Eco-Photo Explorers
18
▲Photo Courtesy Chris Weaver & Mike Salvarezza, Eco-Photo Explorers
NEW YOrk :: LONg iSLaND WrECkS
T o
s H a r e ?
T e l l
u s
Eleven years later on Friday April 3, 1903,
after having been converted to a barge, the
John C. Fitzpatrick was being towed by the
tugboat Sweepstakes from Philadelphia to
New Bedford, MA loaded with 2400 tons of
bituminous coal when her boiler blew up.
She sank almost immediately, taking her
crew of five with her including George Davis,
the barge’s Captain from Philadelphia and
s o M e T H i n g
Built in 1892, the John C. Fitzpatrick was a
four-masted wooden schooner measuring
242 feet in length with a 39-foot beam and
a 16-foot draft. She displaced 1,277 gross
tons.
H a v e
This artifact proved to be the key to solving
the riddle of the “Jug Wreck”.
NORTHEAST
▲Photo C
o
Salvarezza urtesy Chris Weaver
, Eco-Photo
& Mike
Explorers
For many years, northeast divers explored
an unidentified shipwreck
off the southern shores
of Long Island near
Shinnecock Inlet—it was
commonly unknown as the
“Jug Wreck”. A low lying
pile of wreckage sitting in
130 FSW, the identification
of the wreck site eluded
divers until Ron Barnes, of
the Aquarians Dive Club,
surfaced with the ship’s bronze
windlass cover during a dive
in the late 1980s. Emblazoned
on the artifact were the words:
Fitzpatrick American
“John C. Fitzpatrick,
Ship Windlass Co. Providence
RI, 1892. F.W. Wheeler & Co.
Shipbuilder, West Bay City, Michigan.”
n o W
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19
e d i t o r @ d i v e n e w s n e t w o r k . c o m
▲Photo Courtesy Chris Weaver & Mike Salvarezza, Eco-Photo Explorers
John Nelson of New London, Connecticut.
Interestingly, the John C. Fitzpatrick was
involved in another tragedy a year earlier.
On March 17, 1902 while being towed by the
same tugboat from Newport News, VA to
Boston, MA along with the barge Wadena,
the barges struck Shovelful Shoal, off the
southern end of Monomoy Island, Cape
Cod. Several days later, with worsening
weather approaching, the few sailors
remaining on the barges signaled distress to
the nearby Life Saving Station on Monomoy
Island. What followed was a tragic attempt
at rescue that resulted in the deaths of twelve
men, five crewmembers of the two barges
and seven crewmembers of the Life Saving
Station. This incident is often referred to
as one of the worst Life Saving disasters off
Cape Cod.
Today, the wreckage of the John C.
Fitzpatrick lies in 130-140 FSW about 10
miles southeast of the Shinnecock Inlet. The
wreck is low lying and scattered across a
wide swath of ocean floor. For divers who are
experienced to visit these depths, the wreck
is an ideal hunting ground for large lobsters.
Divers will also find Red Hake, Atlantic
Cod, Flounder and Fluke along with Black
Sea Bass and occasional pelagics that make
o n l i n e
M o r e
F i n d
▲Photo Courtesy Chris Weaver & Mike Salvarezza, Eco-Photo Explorers
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H a v e
Wreck divers love to touch history. When
diving on the John C. Fitzpatrick, divers
are visiting the remains of a four-masted
schooner that ended its life as a coal-carrying
barge. She took the lives of several men with
her in her watery demise. Shipwrecks with
this type of tragic history are fascinating,
sobering
but
ultimately
rewarding
experiences. It’s what northeast wreck diving
is all about. ■
special thanks to our sponsors
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their way through these waters. Although
penetration on this wreck is not possible due
to the broken up nature of her wreckage, the
use of wreck reels are encouraged to help
with navigation on a site that can be a little
confusing.
Discover Diving
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s o M e T H i n g
Dive Master Services
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National Aquatic Service
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T o
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www.oceanbluedivers.com
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promotion of
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organization
local diving and is
staffed completely
by volunteers.
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914-589-1368
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Serving the Long Island
and Greater New York
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QC Scuba
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u s
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718-885-1588
T e l l
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Pan Aqua Diving
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