SUMMERVILLE BASIN TUG

DIRECTIONS:                         (Far Rockaway, Queens County)

Take the Southern State Parkway to Exit 19 South, which is Peninsula Boulevard. Drive south on Peninsula to Rockaway Turnpike and turn left. Turn right on Burnside Avenue and take Burnside to Beach Channel Drive and just continue to head west. Turn right on 63rd Street. Head north to Elizabeth and turn right. Drive to the end and park. The wreck is at the base of Summerville Basin and is only partially submerged.

As a side note, I would like to forewarn anyone who visits this area that the neighborhood is, to say the least, not the best. One of our biggest concerns when diving here was whether or not our car would be stolen while we were underwater.

CONDITIONS:

This old abandoned tugboat sitting up on the west side of Summerville Basin was spotted one day while we were diving the Beach 59th Street Wreck. I decided to snorkel over and take a closer look. At first, the tugboat looked completely stripped, but once I slipped beneath the surface, I found two intact brass portholes just below the water line. The next day, my brother Dennis and I returned. After about two hours of work with a sledgehammer, chisel, crow bar and punch the portholes were free. Anyone who has ever retrieved a porthole knows that they are mounted from the interior. We had driven the rivets in from outside the wreck. The portholes were free but I still had to go inside to retrieve them. Because the tug's bow is up on the bank, with a port list, and her stern is down in the mud penetration is a little tricky. Once inside silt quickly reduced visibility to zero. After finding the loose porthole I located the exit by feeling my way along a wall until I reached the open door space. After two such trips into the wreck, one for each porthole, we departed. I have never been back partially because I saw no other artifacts worth the effort but mainly because I have no desire to attempt such a difficult penetration again.

Ed Slater reported that only a couple of years ago another porthole, as well as a cage lamp, was recovered from the site.

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