On a cold November night in 1883, a few Fenian men snuck into the a pier in the Canal Basin, using only forged signatures and the cover of night. The men pulled a tugboat in and securely attached the Holland III - a submarine prototype to be used in the fight for Ireland’s independence from Britain. The thieves towed the vessel up the East River before rough waters, high winds and an open gasket secured her fate. The wreck now lies in 110 ft of water off of Queens. It has not yet been recovered. In 2012, ferocious winds and water of Hurricane Sandy unburied and ripped apart another wreck off of Coney Island. It is thought this is what remains of the 1919 schooner Bessie White, but with such damaged beams, archaeologists are still confirming its identification. Searching for these underwater treasures is especially important now - before storms like Sandy become more frequent and accelerate the disappearance or deterioration of these underwater time capsules.

This expedition seeks to uncover and document similar wrecks in and around New York and New Jersey harbors by utilizing open-sourced databases, local historians, maps, trusted contacts and new technology. Any collected data and imagery will be provided free of charge to those interested. In the future, school groups will be invited to use tools and technology to explore identified wrecks from shore as educational excursions. Curriculum and worksheets will be provided.