I could never stay long enough on the shore. The tang of the untainted, fresh and free sea air. Was like a cool, quieting thought, and the shells and pebbles and the seaweed with tiny living creatures attached to it never lost their fascination for me. ~Helen Keller
My friends and family think I am crazy.....it doesn’t help when they ask where I am going...and I say diving....but its winter, what are you going to see?...choo choo trains.... Sometimes diving is hard to explain.
Sometime in the 1850’s, two small locomotives fell into the Atlantic Ocean and landed side by side, about 7 feet apart, upright, in 85 feet of water. They remain upright instead of sinking into the sand because there is a stone ledge not far below the sand forming a solid platform beneath these engines. And there is a Federal Court Order of Protection on these trains and no artifacts may be taken nor is any damaging of the trains allowed. You tie into a sand spike between the two instead of onto their wreckage and diving this with two members of the New Jersey Historical Society gives you some additional insight into the site and the plans to retrieve the trains.
As we readied to dive, Rich G. rolled over first to tie us in. His theory was that with the site being so small there would only be one fish worth taking on the wreck and he was going to get it.
Josh and I readied to follow him. As I geared up Ernie mentioned that other divers referred to me as “Flash“ due to my lightening speed. It is good to be recognized and know some people appreciate me. I did have usual my blonde moments, but must mention that I did have help this time. The gauntlet of my new 5ml gloves does not easily fit over my dry suit arms and I asked for some assistance. Ernie had to call in reinforcements and with Howard braced against the benches with my arm against him and Ernie pushing on the gloves they finally managed to get a recognizable imitation of the gloves on my hands, although they did mention that I might not want to try and run a reel or anything with them on. They then sat me on the gunwale and I rolled over...into the water....and couldn’t kick myself upright.....without fins.... We had worked so hard on the gloves, no one noticed. I climbed back aboard and was assisted into them and rolled in again.
The seas were flat and we dropped down and passed Rich on the line, both times down. About half way down the line Joshes suit started to flood and we surfaced to adjust his zipper before continuing to the bottom and about 20 foot of viz.
While much of the wooden structure of the engineers cabin has rotted away, and the salvageable hardware and the brass has long been removed, as you come upon this unusual sight there is no mistaking that they are trains. While encrusted in a thick growth of barnacles, hydras and anemones, they form a natural encasement of the engine, boilers, wheels and stacks of the engines and a definite outline of a train.
After a swim around each engine you have seen the entire sight. The six spoked wheels still fully intact in the special 2-2-2 (o0o) design of these engines which are center of the wreckage. The boilers and smoke stacks above. The doors to the engine furnaces encrusted over in sea life.
The rear of the engines have the most enormous anemones I have seen. They are impressive and we swam a second circuit to check out the locals. Towards the rear of the engine, just above the last wheel, the wooden cabin is no longer there allowing you to see through to the other side. And sitting in this space, framed by the rest of the engine sat an enormous blackfish, close to 3 feet long. Just hanging out. Josh and I looked at each other, I could not imagine what Rich had speared if he left this guy behind.
We moved on up to the front where the cow catcher grate would be and as we approached, I saw it. It was just a tail and it stuck out about 2 foot, but it was big around and I headed straight for it. I peeked inside and this eel ran the whole width of the train inside and with his head in and his tail out....he begged to be poked. My hand went out and like a shot Josh grabbed it and gave me the international sign for “No Cheryl, we don’t poke these, choose something else.” And he nudged me along just to be sure. For a small site it had some mighty big inhabitants.
We moved on to the second engine and as we poked around we came across two nice sized blackfish in the 5lb range hiding between the spokes of the wheel and the side of the boiler. I swear the one played dead. He just laid on his side and didn’t move like “oops, you don’t want this one...move along“. I took my flashlight and clocked him right on the head. Apparently I didn’t hit him hard enough because as I grabbed him to pull him out he came to and wiggled out of my grasp and wedged himself farther inside the wreckage and out of my reach. I was “thiiis” close.
One more quick look around and up we went, heading right for the heated cabin and a snack. Rich had not gotten a goliath black fish, his reputation as a hunter must have preceded him and the big fish hid in fear while he was there.
Our second dive was to be the Macedonia, a 280 foot freighter sunk in June of 1899 in a collision with the ocean liner Hamilton, in 60 feet of water. It was rammed so hard by the Hamilton that she was wedged 12 feet into the freighter and most of the crew jumped onto the deck of the Hamilton before she broke free and left a gash so huge the freighter sank in half an hour. The Macedonia was owned by the Ward Lines. Sound familiar? She was part of the same fleet as the Mohawk, the second Mohawk, the Morro Castle, the Havana, the Algonquin, the City of Washington......
There was a bit of a surface current here and Ernie tied us in. I was using my new regs and computer for the first time and they were working out well for me, I switched to my trusty 3ml gloves, kitted up and reclaimed my title of Flash as Josh and I splashed in. There was a slight current at depth here and the visibility was about 10 feet with water temps around 48F.
This is really a sweet wreck. All you guys who pass up the chance to dive it because it is only 60 feet deep really are missing out. This is a huge contiguous debris field with impressive boilers and two propellers and all kinds of goodies.
Josh ran a line as we found ourselves jumping back and forth over hull plates looking about. The debris is covered in the usual sea life and there were a large assortment of blackfish begging to be poked with a spear and not a finger. I believe Howard accommodated them. Tucked in among the regular wreckage were several anchors, lost by unwitting fishermen, and a sinker garden where I stopped to harvest a few while Josh adjusted the reel. This is a wreck I could go back to.
Not a bad day on the water........Thank you Captain Howard, well done.....And Ernie great history lesson on the Locomotives....and Rich great suggestion of the Macedonia.....and Josh, my younger better looking dive buddy (his description by the way) (you better duck when you see Mark)we had fun. I will have to do this again.