AH-WR-0677

Ronald B. Johnson

Cargo Freighter · Netherlands · Lost 1988 · Florida's Atlantic Coast

A grounded, abandoned freighter renamed for a Vietnam War casualty and dynamited onto a deep Pompano Beach reef, where it landed squarely atop another wreck.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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 the Netherlands in 1955 as the freighter Otto, the vessel ran aground and was abandoned at Kingston, Jamaica, before being towed to Florida for reef use. A Broward County raffle renamed her for Ronald B. Johnson, a serviceman killed in the Vietnam War. On May 15, 1988, she was sunk with explosives and, by chance, came to rest draped directly across the earlier-sunk dredge Corey N Chris, creating one of South Florida's most distinctive deep technical dive sites.

Vessel

Built: 1955
Builder: Scheepswerf Gebr. Van der Werf
Yard: Deest, Netherlands
Material: Steel
Length: 226 ft
Beam: 36.7 ft
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Diesel, single screw
Owners: Otto Shipping Company Limited (originally); Broward County (at loss)

Loss

Date: May 15, 1988
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Off Pompano Beach, Florida
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 0
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 120-270
Condition: Landed draped across the dredge Corey N Chris; keel later collapsed fore and aft of the intersection during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Orientation: North-south, resting over the perpendicular hull of the Corey N Chris
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established