AH-WR-0667

MV Adolphus Busch Sr.

Cargo Freighter · United Kingdom · Lost 1998 · The Florida Keys

A 210-foot island freighter, once a Hollywood tramp-boat stand-in, scuttled off Big Pine Key as the Lower Keys' first artificial reef.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Built in Scotland in 1951, the ship worked as a short-haul freighter under a succession of names and flags, briefly appearing on film as the smuggling boat Ruby in the 1957 movie Fire Down Below. After wrecking at Port-au-Prince in 1998 under the name Ocean Alley, she was purchased with support from the Busch brewing family and renamed for family patriarch Adolphus Busch. She was cleaned and intentionally sunk off Big Pine Key on December 5, 1998, becoming the Lower Keys' first purpose-sunk dive reef.

Vessel

Built: 1951
Registry: IMO 5211161
Builder: Burntisland Shipbuilding Company
Yard: Fife, Scotland
Material: Steel
Length: 213 ft
Beam: 36 ft
Tonnage: 706
Propulsion: Diesel, single screw
Owners: Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Co Ltd (originally); Looe Key Artificial Reef Association (at loss)

Loss

Date: December 5, 1998
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: About 6 miles south of Big Pine Key, near Looe Key
Water: Straits of Florida
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 0
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 70-112
Condition: Upright and largely intact on a sand bottom; fully penetrable through bridge and cargo holds.
Orientation: Upright
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary