SOLD OUT!!! This is a 2 tank Tech dive charter to the Dixon Chemicals Barge aka “Acid Barge” …we will meet up at 6:00am to sign waivers, load gear and depart as soon as we’re loaded up & ready. This is on Priority located at the marina on 33 State St. Narragansett, RI. Maximum depth is 160′. Advanced Nitrox/Deco procedures certification is required as well as standard safety equipment: Safety Sausage, wreck reel and whistle….For this Charter you must have a pony bottle & 1 primary light is required as well. Cost is $165.00
Dixon Chemicals Barge aka “Acid Barge”
The Dixon Chemicals Barge or “The Acid Barge” was built in 1959 is a technical dive with a max depth of 155-160 fsw. This steel double hulled steel tank barge measured 220’ in length with a beam of 43’ and was transporting sulfuric acid from Philadelphia on a passage to Boston towed by a Tugboat when it collided with an inbound tanker Samuel Q. Brown on 11/15/61 before clearing the Delaware Bay. There was some damage but the repairs to damages were deferred to a later date and it was decided the tow must go on! (Lol) On November 20, 1961 found the eastern seaboard in the grip of a Nor’easter that put so much strain on the towing hawser that it parted with a snap sounding like a shotgun blast. She is only 3 miles from the USS Bass and enjoys much of the same great visibility. November 18, 1961, a 220-foot unmanned, steel tank barge, and loaded with 2,300 tons of sulphuric acid, was taken in tow by at Paulsboro, New Jersey, bound for Everett, Massachusetts. Shortly before this trip, the barge had been damaged in a collision, dry docked and repaired, including patching of the bow. It was thereafter given a temporary seaworthy certificate from the American Bureau of Shipping. The captain of the tug considered the barge properly trimmed and loaded at departure. When the vessels were about 9 miles south of Block Island they ran into strong winds and heavy seas and the tow was lost.