DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (30 June 2004) -- A 40-year-old fishing boat quickly sank Tuesday into the Atlantic Ocean in a flurry of roiling bubbles and shooting sprays of rust, diving to its new fate as an underwater reef. Surrounded by a placid sea, the Antilles Star, a 165-foot retired Dutch trawler, tilted toward its left side as water flowed into the hull. Then the ship dove forward into the sea, striking the floor 80 feet below. Moments before it sank, air gushed from the ship's empty spaces, causing a violent gush of bubbles to surface and forcing a spray of rust and dirt to shoot out of a hollow tower near the stern. Then the ship twisted slightly before disappearing into the water around 10 a.m. in a last eruption of bubbles. The 670-ton vessel sank in 20 minutes, about 17 miles northeast of Ponce deLeon Inlet.The Antilles Star became the 42nd artificial reef off the Volusia shore, and joins more than 2,000 sunken ships, old bridges and concrete culverts that now dot Florida's coastline. Artificial reefs provide habitat for marine life, and many agencies, including Volusia's Ponce deLeon Inlet and Port District, regularly sink ships or concrete debris to attract fish and other sea life. The man-made reefs can provide an economic bonanza for local tourism. Studies show that each dollar spent on reef building reaps $100 in income to the various tourist, fishing and scuba diving businesses nearby, said Keith Mille, a fisheries biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who tracks artificial-reef construction throughout the state. Volusia's newest reef was a fishing boat that netted mackerel and herring off the European coast for decades. It was sold as a cargo ship in the Caribbean Sea, but that plan faltered and the vessel eventually fell into the hands of Associated Marine Salvage in Miami. The salvage company sold the ship to Volusia officials for $44,370 -- which included cleaning the boat of gasoline and other contaminants, tugging it from the company's docks and sinking it. Volusia's artificial reefs have been a success as fish magnets, with schools of baitfish populating a site within days. In time, algae, sponges and coral grow from the reef, and its interior spaces provide refuge for juvenile fish. | | 165-ft Antilles Star takes a dive "It provides an additional amount of habitat where there wouldn't be any," said Joe Nolin, inlet and port district manager. "The sea floor off Volusia is a barren desert." On its final voyage, the Antilles Star was towed from Miami and arrived at the reef site at daybreak. Workers with the salvage company sank a concrete anchor for the ship and pumped water into the hold to start the sinking. A dozen holes and a couple of large doorways had been cut into the steel hull, allowing more and more water to flow into the ship until it was fully immersed. Within a half-hour after the boat sank, Nolin and members of the Volusia Reef Research Dive Team dove into the water to see how the ship landed. The Antilles Star lay on its left side, its bottom sitting at a depth of 84 feet. Nolin said the impact had slightly crushed the bow, but the boat remained intact. He judged the project a success, with the boat landing where it was expected. "It's going to make a great shipwreck dive and a neat scuba diving and fishing location," Nolin said. |
