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.

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.

Products by Capt. Dan ORDER FORM

Shipwreck Expo Free Newsletter
Sign up for our free e-mail shipwreck, diving and Treasure Hunting newsletter. Capt. Dan Berg has designed this e-mail service for all wreck divers, maritime historians and treasure hunters.