Graveyard Surprise
by Michael E. Ach
I went alone to photograph the "Graveyard Of Ships" in the Arthur Kill off Staten Island. I launched my kayak at a nearby muddy marsh. I thought a photo story on this lost piece of New York City history would interest my newspaper.
Paddling slowly past half-sunken tugs and two rotting wooden ferries, I came to a Steel ferry with its hull covered by the tide. It was too irresistible to not float through the dark sunken ship. The upper deck was three or four feet above my head. The water depth was too difficult to estimate, but hidden things were always there below the surface.
There was a sense of the people who once used this ship with its peeling benches and broken stairs. Paddling by yourself definitely adds to the spook factor of this experience and its danger.
As I emerged into the light a Tug with a large empty oil barge alongside approached just offshore. Suddenly its stern line snapped, hitting the empty barge, sounding like a cannon shot. To my amazement the oil barge now floated free of the tug and was drifting towards me. It now towered above the wrecks like a brownstone at street level.
Since I could not outrun the huge beast, I pulled my kayak onto a Listing Wreck and prepared to jump onto the next nearby boat to escape. I could hear the tug revving its engines in reverse to regain control. Within yards of hitting my fragile fleet, the barge stopped, was tied up and was underway again all within minutes.
Feeling a little powerless, I took a deep breath, thankful that I did not have to step on the rotted deck of a 1910 fire boat or worse, swim in the murky water that was filled with nautical debris. Still, I recommend to those who want to see this sight, do so soon, for one day it will not be there.
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