The Gulftrade Shipwreck New York and New Jersey's (Wreck Valley)

The Gulftrade Shipwreck New York and New Jersey's (Wreck Valley)

Historical and current New York and New Jersey Shipwreck Information and images for scuba divers and fisherman.

Capt. Dan Berg's Wreck Valley Collection

GULFTRADE

The tanker, Gulftrade, was built in 1920 by Sun Ship Building Co., Chester, Pennsylvania. She was 430 feet long, 59 feet wide and weighed 6,776 gross tons. The Gulftrade had been running blacked out in accordance with navy policy for avoiding U-Boats, but because there were other ships in the vicinity and in order to reduce the possibility of collision, her running lights were turned on. On March 10, 1942, under the command of Captain Torger Olsen, while en route from Port Arthur, Texas, to New York with a cargo of 80,000 gallons of fuel oil, a torpedo from the U-588 exploded amidships, breaking the tanker in two.

Fire filled the night sky. The Antietam , a Coast Guard vessel, rushed to her aid. Rescuers were able to pick up eight men including the Captain from one of her stern life boats. Unfortunately, the Antietam wasn't able to maneuver closer since a line had fouled in her propeller. On the still floating stern section remained seven men waiting for help. Two hours later, the seven where taken off by the Navy tender, Larch. Out of a total of 34 men, only 16 survived.

Today, the Gulftrade is actually two dive sites. The scattered bow section is resting in 60 feet of water, eight miles from Barnegat Inlet. The bow wreckage was blown up so as not to cause a hazard to navigation. The stern section drifted about ten miles before settling in deeper water of 90 feet, 13 miles from Barnegat Inlet. Her stern section was not left alone after sinking either, but was wire dragged clear to a depth of 50 feet for safe navigation.

Underwater Photo by Herb Segars: The Gulftrade was a 430' long tanker powered by a steam engine, It was built in 1920 and was sunk on March 10, 1942 by the German Submarine U-588 off the coast of New Jersey, USA.

Photo Below: Diver explores the Gulf Trade Shipwreck. Courtesy Brandon http://downtoolong.com/

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WRECK VALLEY III
By Capt. Dan Berg
The most comprehensive, accurate, illustrated collection of information, photographs, sketches and stories ever written about the shipwrecks that lie off Long Island, New York and New Jersey.

Soft cover, 8x10", 188 pages
printed in full color. $39.95 +P&H

The original Wreck Valley book was published back in 1986. At the time it was not only the first but the only book for area divers that detailed local shipwreck history and dive conditions. Capt. Dan's 2nd edition was printed in 1990 and became the most popular of his shipwreck publications. Wreck Valley III is a completely new update, expanded and enhanced edition of the Wreck Valley books. Wreck Valley's 3rd edition covers the history, legend, present condition, aquatic life, and pertinent dive information on over 140 shipwrecks. This text includes over 550 illustrations, comprised of over 400 color photographs, 111 black and white historical photographs, 35 sketches, 20 side scan sonar images and nine 3D underwater shipwreck illustrations. Capt. Dan completely changed the books format and design to accommodate all of the research and images collected in 30 years of local shipwreck diving. The collection of historical photographs alone would take years of archive research to locate and would cost a small fortune if purchased separately. Many of these rare images have never before been published. Wreck Valley III includes a GPS list of accurate artificial reef and shipwreck locations. Divers, fisherman, marine historians, armchair sailors or anyone with a general interest in history, diving or the sea will surely find this book informative, fascinating, and the perfect addition to their library.

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WRECK VALLEY III
By Capt. Dan Berg
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WRECK VALLEY Vol II ebook
A Record of Shipwrecks off Long Island's South Shore and New Jersey.

NOTE: The 2nd edition is out of print but has now been made available as an instant download ebook.

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This is the most comprehensive, accurate, illustrated collection of information, photographs, sketches and stories ever written about the wrecks that lie off the Long Island, New York, and New Jersey shores. This ebook is a completely new updated, expanded and enhanced edition of Daniel Berg's original Wreck Valley book. Wreck Valley Vol II covers the history, legend, present condition, aquatic life and pertinent dive information on over 90 shipwrecks. This text includes over 265 illustrations comprised of 137 color photographs, 97 black and white historical images, 32 sketches, plus one map. The collection of historical photographs alone would take years of archive research to locate and would cost a small fortune if purchased separately. Many of these rare photographs have never before been published. Divers, fisherman, marine historians, armchair sailors or anyone with a general interest in history, diving or the sea will surely find this ebook informative, fascinating and the perfect addition to their library.

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