''Amaryllis'' was a
cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...
built in 1945 at
Burrard Dry Dock
Burrard Dry Dock Ltd. was a Canadian shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Together with the neighbouring North Van Ship Repair yard and the Yarrows Ltd. yard in Esquimalt, which were eventually absorbed, Bu ...
in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. She was long and measured 7,147
gross register tons. Originally named ''Cromwell Park'', she was built for the government of Canada to be used in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In 1946 she was sold to Canadian Transportation Co. Ltd. which renamed her the ''Harmac Vancouver''. In 1948, she was sold to Greek shipowner Kydoniefs, renamed the ''Amaryllis'' and registered in Panama.
[Florida East Coast Shipwrecks: Amaryllis](_blank)
/ref> In 1965, she ran aground during Hurricane Betsy off the coast of Florida and was later sunk offshore as an artificial reef at
.
Grounding
As Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Betsy was an intense and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida and the central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. The storm's erratic nature, coupled with its intensity and minim ...
approached the east coast of Florida on September 7, 1965, ''Amaryllis'', bound from Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England to Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...
with a Greek crew of 30, sought refuge in the Port of Palm Beach
The Port of Palm Beach is located in Riviera Beach, Florida, United States, in Palm Beach County. The port is an independent taxing district, with a five-member board of commissioners elected at large by voters within the district. The port dist ...
in Riviera Beach, Florida
Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home ...
. As she approached the Palm Beach Inlet from the Atlantic Ocean into the port, she suffered steering problems in addition to the high winds and seas, which resulted in her being forced into the shallow waters laced with coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
s north of the inlet. Sometime during the night of September 7–8, she ran aground on the Singer Island
Singer Island is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida, in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores occupies its southern tip. Its latitude of ...
beach in front of the Rutledge Motel, later known as the Rutledge Inn, in Riviera Beach. During the next day the winds and seas increased as Hurricane Betsy made her landfall to the south in Key Largo
Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected b ...
; this pounding wedged the ship farther onto the beach.
The ship almost immediately became an attraction for sightseers and locals, who came to view her and listen to her Greek crew strum their musical instruments. She soon became a magnet for surfers. Since none of the Greek crewmen spoke English, a local interpreter was required for the Coast Guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
to communicate with them. All of the crew except for two who jumped ship, and were later picked up in Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
, remained on the ship until November when her owners made arrangements for them to leave the country.[
After several unsuccessful salvage attempts by the original owners and a Miami man who bought her from them, the ship was abandoned and became a menace to those people daring enough to board and wander through her, as well as a concern for the motel owner whose guests were annoyed by the sightseers and kept awake at night by clanging noises from the ship. Oil seepage fouled the water and beach and one fire broke out on the ship. Local residents and officials became concerned about the danger of further damage to the coral reef by the ship as well as the discharge of large quantities of ]bunker oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
from the ship if she broke up.[
The Army Corps of Engineers became involved in dismantling the ship and removing the oil. On August 22, 1968, her remains were "towed three-fourths of a mile out to sea and sunk in of water" to create an ]artificial reef
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing.
Many re ...
. Cleanup of the beach and removal of debris from the ship took over a year.[Kleinberg, Eliot, Historic Palm Beach, July 23, 2003](_blank)
/ref>
Status
Only the ship's hull and lower deck remain at the artificial reef site. ''Amaryllis'' is part of a string of four wrecks, another of which is the ''Mizpah'', and two rock piles north of the Palm Beach Inlet known today as ''The Corridors'', all of which are classified as "advanced dive sites." Local knowledge is required.[
]
In the media
''Amaryllis'' was used as a backdrop in the 1967–1968 daytime game show ''Treasure Isle'' hosted by John Bartholomew Tucker
John Bartholomew Tucker (April 9, 1930 – December 7, 2014) was an American radio and television personality, as well as an author.
Career
Along with Big Wilson, Tucker was one of the last two "communicators" (hosts) of the long-running NB ...
. The show was actually shot a mile or so south of the ship at John D. MacArthur
John Donald MacArthur (March 6, 1897 – January 6, 1978) was an American insurance magnate, real estate investor and philanthropist who established the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, benefactor in the MacArthur Fellowships.
...
's Colonnades Beach Hotel in Palm Beach Shores.
References
External links
Surf History Project: Amaryllis clippings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amaryllis
Ships sunk as artificial reefs
Ships built in North Vancouver
Shipwrecks of the Florida coast
1945 ships
Palm Beach County, Florida
Maritime incidents in 1968