Berkshire No. 7
Canal Barge · United States · Lost Exact date in 1974 not established in the sources reviewed. · Long Island Sound & the Connecticut Shore
A wood-and-steel transitional canal barge sank at a Bridgeport pier in 1974 alongside two sister barges, all three now resting stacked on the harbor bottom.
Become Captain of RecordSee Shipwreck on Map
The Vessel and Her Loss
Berkshire No. 7 was built in 1935 as a transitional wood-and-steel canal barge, combining a steel-framed hull with wood planking, and carried bulk cargo including fertilizer for the S. J. Dailey Company between Connecticut and Long Island Sound ports. In 1974 she took on water at a deteriorating Bridgeport Harbor pier and sank, dragging down two other moored barges, the Priscilla Dailey and the Elmer S. Dailey. The three vessels remain stacked on the harbor bottom on the west side of the Pequonnock River. They were jointly listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Vessel
- 1935
- US Registry #172071
- Jacobson and Peterson, Inc. (architect Irving Jacobson)
- Not established
- Wood
- 104 ft
- 20 ft
- 216
- Unpowered (towed barge)
- S. J. Dailey Company (Stewart J. Dailey)
Loss
- Exact date in 1974 not established in the sources reviewed.
- Mechanical failure
- Bridgeport Harbor, on the west side of the Pequonnock River, just south of the Stratford Avenue Bridge, Bridgeport, Connecticut
- Long Island Sound (Bridgeport Harbor, Pequonnock River)
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Deteriorated wooden hull, partly visible at low tide from the Stratford Avenue Bridge; stacked with two other sunken barges at the same site.
- Not established
- Not established
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (December 21, 1978)
Position
- 41.18° N 73.19° W
- Approximate position
- Bridgeport Harbor, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Position corresponds to the National Register of Historic Places nomination location for the three Bridgeport barges.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (70/100)
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places
Builder, dimensions, tonnage, registry number, construction, and sinking circumstances.
University of Connecticut, Connecticut Underwater Archaeology
Narrative of the 1974 sinking and the three barges' condition and significance.
