Bald Eagle
Built: ? Sunk: ?
Depth: 80fsw Tonnage: ?
Dimensions: 200' x 40'
The Bald Eagle is a bit of a mystery, just one of the MANY unknown wrecks in our area. I first started diving the wreck in the early 1980s with Captain Mick Traszka on the dive boat Jackpot. The wreck is in 85 Ft. Of water, about 20 miles south east of Great kills. The bottom is a silty type of sand. Visibility is usually around 15 Ft., but can exceed 35 Ft. on any given day. It is wooden, with a large pile of granite stones, that I believe could be a ballast pile. The wreck is almost 200 Ft. long, and 40 - 50 Ft. wide, with at least 3 large sections, scattered in the sand. There are several rows of low lying decking, that have small deep holes for lobster to hide in. This wreck also holds a lot of black fish, late in the season. We have had, many good days of hunting here, with the wreck giving up several large lobsters each season. Since it is relatively shallow, you can easily get a long dive on the site. This lets you peruse the wreck, at your leisure. The highest point on the wreck, is the ballast pile about 8' high.

I have often thought this to be a barge, that was either loaded with those stones, or maybe sunk with them. There are a few large steel beams across the top of the wreck, that would help support that claim. In addition, I can find no machinery, or masts anywhere. If it was a ship, how did it move?? Contrary to this, there is a 20 Ft. Long section of massive ribs on one end that are clearly curved, and shaped like the bow of a ship. Old sailing ships were some times, de-masted, and used as barges, often for coal. While this could be a ship turned into a barge, to carry the stones, there is definitely no coal on the wreck. This could be a project wreck, for some budding wreck identification researcher to work on. Some clue to it’s origins might be found in the pieces of glassware that are sometimes found when digging on this wreck. This is just another diving mystery, in an area known as wreck valley.