The Adonis (Dual Wrecks) Shipwreck
New Jersey's (Wreck Valley)
Historical and current New Jersey Shipwreck Information and images for scuba
divers and fisherman.
ADONIS
DIRECTIONS: (Long Branch, Monmouth County)
Take the Garden State Parkway to Exit 105 East. Take Rt 36 to the
end and turn right on Ocean Ave. Drive south for 2.5 miles, you will
see a red church on the right. The retreat house is opposite the
church. Note that parking may be a little tricky. I have parked in
the dirt lot behind the retreat house on several occasions and have
never had a problem. Please remember that this is not public
property and divers should use manners, courtesy and good common
sense when diving in the area.
Unfortunately in 1995a group of divers did not use common courtesy.
They not only were load and left garbage at the site but bad mouthed
the property owners. Since then parking has not been allowed.
CONDITIONS:
The Adonis was built in Bremen, Germany in 1853, and displaced 550
gross tons. She was owned by F. Best & Company and valued at
$20,000. The Adonis was en-route from Newcastle, England to New
York, and under the command of Captain Bosse when she struck the
beach at 11:00 PM during a heavy fog on March 8, 1859. The wood
hulled vessel was carrying a cargo of 124 grindstones, 600 lead
ingots, 39casks of ground flint, 100 casks alkali, 501 casks of
soda, 170 casks of powder, 130 casks of carb soda, 200 casks V. red
and 500 kegs C. soda. Her entire crew was taken off by rescuers from
lifesaving station number four. The wrecking schooners Ring old and
Nora were dispatched to the scene. Steam pumps were fitted into the
vessels hold to try to reduce the water and re-float the Adonis but
these efforts were soon abandoned due to rough weather. On March18th
of the same year the vessel broke up in the pounding surf. In the
1960'sdivers recovered over 300 of the lead ingots she was carrying.
Each weighed 115pounds and had the name Locke Blackett & Co.
embossed into them. These early divers also found grindstones
ranging in size from two feet to six feet in diameter.
This wreck coupled with the wreck of the
Rusland, which ran aground
on the same spot in 1877 and now sits at a right angle to the
Adonis, are more commonly known as the Dual Wrecks.
Today divers can easily navigate to the Dual Wrecks. All that's left
of the Adonis are low lying wood ribs. Still visible are the
remaining five and six foot diameter grindstones and occasionally a
diver can recover brass spikes from the site. Howard Rothweiler
reports that by digging in the sand just inshore of the grindstones
he has located some of her cargo barrels. One barrel contains what
appeared to be red dye. The wrecks sits in 25 feet of water and are
one of the more interesting beach dives in the area.
Photo Above: Divers with
Howard Rothweiler who displays a dead eye he recovered from the
Adonis shipwreck. Photo Courtesy Dan Berg.
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DIRECTIONS: (Long Branch, Monmouth County)
CONDITIONS:
