Video shows 65-foot trawler sink nose first to watery grave off South Carolina coast
The final minutes of a doomed shrimp trawler were caught on video as it sank 10 to 15 miles off the South Carolina coast.
Witnesses say it took nearly an hour for the decommissioned boat to go down, but its final voyage was condensed to three minutes for YouTube.
The video, created by Coastal Conservation Association South Carolina, shows the 65-foot boat’s demise begin with a starboard teeter that worsens as the hull floods. Then, it suddenly lurches forward and sea spray explodes as the boat dives bow first into the Atlantic.
When the back of the back of the boat hovers momentarily at the surface, it’s reminiscent of the scene in the movie “Titanic” — except, of course, there are no people hanging on the end of the trawler.
It was a 52-foot fall to the ocean floor, where experts expect the boat to begin its second life as an artificial reef, a process that typically takes just six months.
Hundreds of people have reacted to the video since it was shared on YouTube and Facebook Monday, including some who called it “kinda spooky.”
The sinking took place Oct. 22 off Georgetown, between Myrtle Beach and Charleston.
Scott Whitaker of the Coastal Conservation Association South Carolina told McClatchy News the boat came from Florida, and is one of 15 the group has “rigorously” cleaned and purposely sunk off S.C. in 11 years. This includes several boats that were up to 125-feet long and one stubborn vessel that took six and a half hours to sink, he said.
As artificial reefs, the wrecks come alive as home to multiple species of marine life, experts say.
“We get them at reasonable price and they turn into really fantastic artificial reefs,” he said. “We are shooting for a total 42 reefs off South Carolina by 2030.”
The association already has three scheduled in 2021, he said.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Video shows 65-foot trawler sink nose first to watery grave off South Carolina coast."