Our club does a lot of wreck diving. You'll find us scurrying about the bottom of the ocean almost every weekend. A few of our members took the opportunity to enlighten us about the wrecks we visit. Each article provides a brief history of the wreck, how it came to be at the bottom of the ocean, marine life and dive conditions.
Stolt Dagali by Justin Case It was 2am 11-26-64, early Thanksgiving morning. The Norwegian tanker Stolt Dagali, en route from Philadelphia to Newark, NJ with its cargo of solvents, vegetable oil and molasses, encounters a dense fog bank as she cruises north along the Jersey coast. At the same time, the Israeli luxury liner, Shalom, begins her cruise south from New York Harbor to the Caribbean. The Shalom was carrying 1000 passengers and crew. The Shalom passes the Ambrose lightship as she leaves NY harbor and encounters the fog as well. Soon after, the Shalom’s radar picks up another ship less than two miles of the starboard side. When the Stolt’s runing lights became visible, the 2 ships were at right angles to each other.. They attempted to turn - the collision was unavoidable. The Shalom hit the Stolt portside behind the bridge, with so much momentum and thrust that The Shalom completely sheared the tanker in two. The rear section of the Stolt sank within minutes, while the bow remained afloat. Because of the heavy seas, rain and dense fog, the first helicopter was unable to make contact with the vessel until 4 am. 19 crew members aboard the Stolt lost their lives in 55 degree water, while the Coast Guard and Navy rescued the other 25. Today, the stern section of the Stolt lies in 130 feet of water 16 miles off the New Jersey coats, southeast of the Manasquan inlet. This is one of our favorite of the may shipwrecks that exist off the coast of New Jersey. The stern, 200 feet long, rises to within 65 feet of the surface and provides opportunities for almost any level diver. Because of its location offshore, the Stolt generally has good visibility. The wreck is covered with anemones, mussels, schools of fish, bergalls, sea bass, lobster, ling and flounder. Pelagics are often seen, including mola mola, turtles, dolphin and sharks. The Stolt Dagali, with its good visibility, interesting marine life, varying depths and intact wreckage, is Jersey diving at its best. Stolt Stats One clear March night in 1942, a tanker owned by the Gulf oil company was en route to New York carrying 80,000 gallons of fuel oil. Although the tanker should have been running blackout to avoid the U-boats, Captain Toger Olsen had turned the lights on some time earlier to aid in navigation -- and forgot to turn them off. A single torpedo from Viktor Vogel’s U-588 broker the tanker in two. Initially, flames from the doomed tanker rose 96 ft in the air. Although the night was clear, the seas were rough, and a wave extinguished the burning wreckage. 18 men made it to the ship’s lifeboats. The rough seas swamped the lifeboats, and all 18 perished. The Coast Guard rescued eight men, and an additional seven men remained on the floating stern section until the Navy was able to rescue them. In March 1942, 27 ships were sunk by U-boats on the Eastern Frontier, an area that runs from New England to the Carolinas. The two pieces of the boat’s wreckage drifted apart, and today sit about 10 miles from each other. The bow section rests in 60 ft of water, eight miles from Barnegate Inlet. The bow was blown apart to avoid it becoming a navigational hazard. We generally dive the stern section, which sits in 90 ft of water. Although this section was wired dragged, again to avoid navigational hazards, pieces are intact. Those trained to do so may penetrate in some places. Visibility tends to be good, and the wreck is covered in mussels, starfish, and anemones. There is always a wide variety of local marine fauna to been seen, including black fish, ling, and bergolls. And, of course, there are lobster. Rumor has it that club members have left the dive site with lobster weighing in at between five and ten pounds. Its no wonder the Algol is among the most popular dive sites in the area. After all, it is nicknamed "The Screamin’ Demon." Distinguished Military Career The Dive Today, the Algol remains completely intact, all 459 feet of hull, and 8 decks which rise almost 100 ft. This site has something for every diver. The wreck lies in approximately 135 ft of water, with the bridge rising to about 60 ft. There are plenty of places to play since it still has it railings, ladders and cargo holds (for those properly trained for penetration.) And if you’re looking for mussels, it’s a site not to miss. (Apparently, Barn had quite a nice dinner that night!) The place is covered with mussels. Even though the Algol is not known for its lobster, a few were caught, and at least one was thrown back in (As Rich put it - not even big enough for salad.) There were tons of crabs, and some members brought back sea scallops. Perhaps among the best catches was the wreck reel, goody bag and dive light. Gene found the light, which had obviously been down awhile. He cleaned it up a bit, turned on the switch and the thing worked! Lots To See There is nothing like the site of looking up from 120 ft and seeing the outline of the huge ship bathed in ambient light --Once again, proving New Jersey has wrecks with character! RP RESOR by Justin Case On a cold, clear evening in February of 1942, the RP Resor sailed up the New Jersey coastline. Owned by Standard Oil (Exxon), the Resor’s cargo was 78,729 full barrels of crude oil. She was under the command of Captain Fredrick Marcus, and carried 40 crew and nine armed naval guards. The sea was calm, and the night was clear. It was a perfect night to be a u-boat captain. Korvetten Kaptain Ernest Rehwinkel in command of the U-578 maneuvered to within 200 yards of the Resor and launched a single torpedo which struck amidships. Kaptain Rehwinkel launched another torpedo, and ruptured the Resor’s oil tanks. Flames enveloped the tanker. Oil and debris were blown skyward. The men leaped into the frigid water or tried to launch life boats. The flames engulfing the tanker were so bright they were easily visible from the Jersey shore line. On 2-28-42, two days after the U-boat attack, the Resor burned itself out, rolled over and sank 31 miles east of Barnegat light in 130’ of water. Of the 40 crew and 9 armed guards, only two survived. The Dive RP Resor Stats: Built in Kearney NJ Length: 445 feet Width: 66 feet wide Type: Tanker Built: 1932 Sunk: 1942 Depth: 130 ft. |
