AH-WR-0479

USCS Robert J. Walker

Survey Steamer · United States · Lost 1860 · Delaware Bay & the Approaches

One of the U.S. government's first iron-hulled steamers, a pioneering Coast Survey ship, sank after a collision with the largest single loss of life in NOAA's institutional history.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

USCS Robert J. Walker, one of the first iron-hulled steamers built for the U.S. government, spent the 1850s charting the Gulf Coast for the U.S. Coast Survey. On June 21, 1860, while sailing from the Gulf toward New York, she was struck by a commercial schooner about 10 miles off Absecon Inlet, New Jersey, and sank within 30 minutes. Twenty of her 66 crew died, the greatest single loss of life in the history of NOAA or its predecessor agencies. The wreck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

Vessel

Built: 1847
Builder: Joseph Tomlinson
Yard: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Material: Iron
Length: 133 ft
Beam: 31 ft
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, sidewheel
Owners: United States Coast Survey

Loss

Date: June 21, 1860
Cause: Collision
Location: About 10 miles off Absecon Inlet, New Jersey
Water: Atlantic Ocean, approaches to Delaware Bay
Voyage: Gulf of Mexico survey grounds → New York
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 66
Lives lost: 20
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: National Register of Historic Places (listed March 19, 2014)

Position

Coordinates: 39.38° N 74.41° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Absecon Inlet, New Jersey
Region: Delaware Bay & the Approaches

General area only: coordinate of Absecon Inlet from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named landmark used in the vessel's loss record ("about 10 miles off Absecon Inlet"), not a surveyed wreck position.