AH-WR-0794

Susan Richards

Tugboat · United States · Lost 2019 · The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

A retired 95-foot tugboat was sunk in 2019 to expand South Carolina's deepest public 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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Susan Richards worked as a harbor and coastal tugboat before her retirement. In June 2019, funded partly by the Coastal Conservation Association of South Carolina and state fishing license revenues, she was sunk at Vermilion Reef off Georgetown, joining the ex-Navy transport Vermilion and a collection of decommissioned New York City subway cars on the seafloor.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Steel
Length: 95 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Diesel, single screw
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: June 28, 2019
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Vermilion Reef, approximately 30 miles east-southeast of Winyah Bay
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 0
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 120 ft
Condition: Newly placed structure at time of sinking, added to the existing Vermilion Reef complex.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Managed as part of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Marine Artificial Reef Program.