SS City of Salisbury
Freighter · United Kingdom · Lost 1938 · Cape Ann & the Gulf of Maine
A freighter loaded with exotic animals, wrecked on an uncharted ledge outside Boston Harbor in 1938 and known ever since as the 'Zoo Ship.'
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The Vessel and Her Loss
City of Salisbury was completing a 10,000-mile voyage from Calcutta with an unusual cargo, including pythons, cobras, monkeys and rare birds, when she struck an uncharted pinnacle on Graves Ledge outside Boston Harbor in April 1938. Investigators found the government chart was in error. The ship split in two the following day; nearly all crew and animals were saved, and she was later salvaged for steel, leaving a scattered debris field known to divers as the Zoo Ship.
Vessel
- 1924
- Not established
- England
- Steel
- 415 ft
- 54 ft
- 5924
- Steam, triple expansion with electric turbine, single screw
- Not established
Loss
- April 22, 1938
- Grounding
- Graves Ledge, outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Bay
- Calcutta, India, via Ceylon, the Malay States, and Halifax → Boston, then New York
- General cargo valued at nearly $2,000,000, including pythons, cobras, monkeys, and rare birds
- 18
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- 70-85
- Broke in two on the ledge and was later blasted, with much steel salvaged; now a scattered debris field
- Not established
- Not established
- Exempted site under the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources
Position
- 42.37° N 70.86° W
- Reported, unconfirmed
- Graves Ledge, Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
Position on Graves Ledge, outer Boston Harbor, reported by a New England wreck-diving reference as 42-22-26N/70-51-35W; not a government survey figure.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (82/100)
Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources
Vessel dimensions, tonnage, machinery, protected status.
Loss narrative, cargo, investigation findings.
Hunting New England Shipwrecks (wreckhunter.net)
wreck position
