In November of 2007, a ship sank off South Padre Island, Texas. No, it wasn’t swamped by a hurricane, it didn’t suffer a mechanical failure, nor did pirates scuttle it. It quietly slid under the waters, just as planned. The ship was the Texas Clipper, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department intentionally sank her to create an artificial reef 17 miles off the Texas coast. She had been stripped of most of her equipment and rigged so she would settle onto the bottom in 132 feet of water. She lies there today, holding an enticing array of marine life for scuba divers. And she still holds an interesting history.
The Texas Clipper began life in Sparrows Point, Maryland in 1944 as the USS Queens, a 470 foot long Windsor-class attack transport. She served in the Pacific campaign during World War II, carrying men and supplies to Iwo Jima, and providing medical care to the wounded of that bloody battle.
After the war she was decommissioned and, in 1948, sold to American Export Lines and converted to a luxury passenger cargo liner. She was renamed the Excambion, and became one of four ships owned by American Export that were advertised as the new “4 Aces”, which carried passengers and cargo between New York and the Mediterranean. Before the war, American Export’s original 4 Aces ships were quite popular. When the war broke out, the U.S. Navy took over the original 4 Aces. During the war, 3 of the 4 Aces were sunk, including the original Excambion.
In 1959, she was retired by American Export. In 1965, the U.S. Government, which had repurchased her, loaned the ship to the Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston (now Texas A&M – Galveston), where she was the school’s merchant marine training vessel for 30 years.
The Texas Clipper had been out of service for ten years when the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sank her in her final resting place. She is now laying quietly on her side, as an entirely new marine environment blossoms around her. Dive shops in South Padre Island offer packages to visit the Texas Clipper.
Gulfscapes friend and contributor Jesse Cancelmo dove the Clipper last year, and has provided us with these photos and commentary on his exploration. You can see more of Jesse’s wonderful photos on his website, www.cancelmophoto.com, and his excellent book, Texas Coral Reefs, is available at Amazon.
