Lockness ran to the Ayuruoca, AKA the Oil Wreck this past Saturday.  You couldn't have asked for better topside conditions. While the bottom was a little cold @41 Degrees, the vis was a acceptable 10-15' depending on who you asked. We were tied in on the stern section. On my dive I swam to the gun tub and Aux. helm station on the very stern. While the forward wheel on the double helm was taken years ago the aft one is still there and is a good 7' in diameter. Others spent their time digging and a few cold cream jars, a wine bottle, and a fantastic platter with the ships line was recovered. As always a good time with good people.

For those that never have dived the Oil Wreck, she is a fantastic dive. A 460 odd foot freighter sunk after collision in 1945. She now lies in 2 pieces upright and intact in 175' in NJ mud hole. All the masts are intact and standing to the crosstrees. Since she was carrying war supplies, she has several trucks lashed to the decks. The deck gun and aft helm are a must see. The bridge, on the bow section, can be reached in about 90'. The deck are at 145'. The only drawback is that the mud hole wrecks are heavily fished so entanglement is concern.

Capt. John Bricker

June 23, 2007

One of the best things about owning a dive boat and being a diver is the ever present search for a new wreck, something no one has ever dove, or even knows about.  It's the stuff we dream of. This Sat. our dreams came true, after years of begging, pleading, and buying countless beers.  One of the local fisherman gave me a set of #s for a wreck. Within a week we set up a trip to dive the virgin wreck and we had the who's who of the dive world on the boat ( I don't mean me!). We had the crew Pat Rooney, Jeff ( I hate everybody ) Pagano, Kevin Dorman, Gus Bricker ( AKA Russ Ricker), and we would have had John Bricker but he came down with a case of New wreck ass so we sent him home. The other legends besides myself were Richie Kohler, Frank Pellegrino, Evan Kovics, M3 (Marty Schutzbank), and M4 (Mike Schwaner), were there and also Jeff (I broke the window ) Gershen. Now the bad news is the wreck is 60 miles away, in 200 feet of water,  the #s he gave me are Loran #s which can be a little difficult. The wreck is low lying which makes it harder to find.  Oh did I mention the 30 knot winds??!! The wind dropped to 15+ so we left at 3 AM for the 6 hr. cruise, going slow to conserve fuel. We got there around 9 AM and the waves are huge.  I don't see anything on the ocean floor, my heart rate is increasing with every minute, I don't see anything. So now I'm saying to myself,  we just went 60 miles for nothing, what a loser you are.  You knew you should have waited for a better day! Now I can feel the sweat coming down my forehead and the voices in my head is calling me names like Jackass, Asshole, Loser and a few more I would rather not mention!! After more then a hour I keep seeing this little raise in the Ocean floor that comes up around 4 to 5 Ft. It was hard to tell because the waves were a lot bigger then that. Finally  we drop the line on some little speck in the middle of the Ocean, the voices are saying you just wasted  a lot of time and money Jackass!  Jeff and Pat jump in to tie into probably a old refrigerator or shopping cart ( the voices again ).  When the bottle came up I can't believe  we are on something. The voices are now saying, you the man, words like great, legend, and  I think I was taller at that moment. As it turns out we discovered a very large sailing vessel that has never been touched since the early 1800's.  Pretty cool!  We think it was a four masted ship over 300 feet long. A Little while later a lift bag comes up with 2  portholes very old and very cool.  Evan said they were just sitting in debri, loose, just waiting for a diver to come by.  We were tied into the anchor wench  on the bow.  On the stern is a bronze helm station, a fare amount  of coal too. Also there were 2 anchors on the bow. The vis was 30+  There were lots of lobsters and even some Cod fish which you don't see many of anymore. The temp. was around 48.  We will be going back there soon to see if we can find out more about her on a lot calmer day.  Being the first person to touch the wreck you are allowed to name it.  First it was Jackass then PJ Jackass, then FW (Filthy whore) so that's it we...found the Filthy Whore. So next time your with a filthy whore just remember she wasn't until we found her!!! 

The Legend??