This wreck was known for a long time as the Barcardi Wreck and it sunk in a collision with the steamer Harlem on April 30, 1917. It is a tanker that sits in 185' of water on a sandy bottom. The tanker was only 4 years old when it met its demise. The wreck was originally found by a charter captain whom marked the wreck with a weighted line and a corked bottle of Bacardi Run hence the name, the Bacardi wreck. In 1987 the wreck was positively identified by Rick Jaszyn when he recovered the ships bell with S.S. Durlely Chine inscribed in it.
I have been very sick for the past 3 weeks and was not sure if I would make it out today and up until I actually splashed I was truly hesitating. I was sure glad I went for it because this the best dive I ever did in my life... We left the dock on the Independence II at 3am for the long 60 mile ride out to the wreck. We were fortunate to be greeted to 2'-3' seas the entire trip. The boat was covered from bow to stern with bodies sleeping wherever there was room for the ride out until the boat finally slowed and we were at the wreck site.
The tie-in was quick and we were anchored in right next to the boilers. I splashed into the balmy 75 degree water and soon was at about 100' where I could already see divers on the bottom. At first I thought we must be at the wrong wreck, because there is no way I could see from 100' to the bottom which is about 182'. I was wrong and quickly realized that the visibility was so outstanding that it took you a few minutes to realize that this is really NJ. Upon descent you could see the entire wreck and of course see the prominently placed boilers that rose out of the sandy bottom. I was already regretting not taking my camera in. This was the last of my trimix certification dives and I wanted to dive and relax with no camera. The next thing I noticed was that given the depth there was still plenty of ambient light and all you need your light for was to spot a lobster or artifact inside the wreckage. I initially started out following the prop shaft out into the sand and realized at first that there was not a lot of wreckage in this direction (which I later realized if I had followed it further I would have found more wreckage) so I turned around and went back to the area around the boilers. I noticed that this wreck is covered with brass pipes, valves and flanges just laying about. Even I could have brought up an artifact with little effort if I wanted another hunk of brass for my garden. I saw a plate and flipped it over and there was a lobster under it. I am not a good lobster hunter but this lobster had no where to escape to so I picked it up. It started bucking its tail and I dropped it because it startled me. I then tried to pick it up again but was not able to hold it and put it in my bag without some help so I was swimming around looking for my buddy, Geoff and found him excavating an artifact. I looked closer and my lobster and thought you know what, I bet this looks bigger on the bottom than what it would look like on the surface and I bet it is too small to keep. So I let it go and went to see if Geoff needed help with his artifact which was some sort of valve or flange. Later on the boat I thought, I bet my judgement in terms of the size of the lobster was wrong because the tail was rather large. Oh Well! I swam around some more and saw a giant red sea raven fish and some of the largest ling cod I have ever seen. The bottom temp was 48 degrees and boy was it cold. Before long it was time to wrap things up and head up. The thermocline was thankfully at 60' and felt so good especially since I had been shaking from the cold since 110'.
Once on the boat everyone talked about the parts of the wreck that they had seen and everyone was raving about the epic visibility, about 80'-100' horizontal. The bow of the wreck has collapsed and the only areas with real relief was at the boilers and the stern. There were lots of nice bugs harvested from the wreck as well a a bottle, ceramic vase and some other brass items (valves, flanges).
On dive #2 I swam out towards the bow and checked out some pieces of wreckage in the sand. During this dive I shot some video with the Gopro and hoped it was bright enough for it to pick up the great viz and features of this wreck. I will post the video once I have time to edit it.
On the way home we checked out two sets of numbers and one set looked real promising and I am sure we will be back to dive on those numbers some day in the future. After the long trip in we had enough time to unload the boat before all of the strong thunderstorms blew through. I will mark this down and the best dive I have ever been on but, it was definitely a long day with that include a lot of prep work. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to dive this wreck, a place I am sure few have gone. The next morning I got up bright and early and made the trek down to North Carolina. As I type this it is the eve of a week of Wreck Diving in North Carolina! Be Safe!!!
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