The Rye Cliff Ferry Shipwreck New York and New Jersey's (Wreck Valley)

The Rye Cliff Ferry 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

RYE CLIFF FERRY WRECK

DIRECTIONS: (Sea Cliff, Nassau County)
Take the Long Island Expressway to Exit 39, Glen Cove Road North. This will change names to Cedar Swamp Road. Proceed north until the end and make a left turn onto Glen Cove Avenue. Make a right turn onto Short Drive, which will take you along the water. At the end of this road, before Shore Drive turns to go uphill, there is a small park overlooking the Sound. Parking is available all along the south side of Shore Drive. During the summer, Shore Drive becomes a one-way street, so a small detour will have to betaken.

CONDITIONS:
The Rye Cliff Ferry Wreck was built in 1898, and named the General Knox. It was later sold and renamed the Rye Cliff. This car ferry, which was 137 feet long, burned to the water line and sank on September 28th, 1918, while at its dock in Sea Cliff.

To find this wreck, divers should walk into the park and take a compass bearing of 230 degrees out from the telephone pole with the white sign mounted to it. Divers should then carefully climb down the rocks and swim along that course for about 50 yards. There shouldn't be too much of a problem finding the wreck since it is scattered over a very large area.

Also known as the Sea Cliff Park Wreck, or Ferry Wreck, she lies very low and is mostly sanded over. One small section protrudes up about eight feet off the bottom. In this particular spot a few black fish can usually be seen. The rest of the wreckage lies a little further offshore. Divers who visit this wreck should not expect to find too many remains, but if they look hard enough and fan around in the sand, brass spikes and other artifacts can still be found.

Back in 1986, we found the brass rudder gudgeon from the wreck. The artifact was still attached to the wreck and even after several dives would not even budge. The gudgeon is still there ready to be salvaged by some ambitious diver.

In 1992, I returned to the wreck with Rick Schwarz and Mike McMeekin. We were experimenting with different types of underwater metal detectors and chose this site because it was shallow, relatively calm and had decent visibility. Anyway Rick, Mike and I soon found how productive metal detectors really can be. We each recovered 20or so brass spikes, by scanning the sand surrounding the wreck.

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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.

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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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By Capt. Dan Berg
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A Record of Shipwrecks off Long Island's South Shore and New Jersey.

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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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