Sandy pushed this 1941 vessel ashore on Staten Island late last October. The registered owner was from another continent and possibly no longer alive due to unrelated circumstances. The city took charge and the sheriff’s auction happened today.
Viewing and inspection happened from this vantage point. Sheriffs offered binoculars, though none with x-ray capability.
Before the auction began, a tanker at least four times greater in length passed northbound in the Arthur Kill.
Auctioneer Dennis Alestra welcomed the crowd to the auction, indicating where the bidding would take place.
Members of the sheriff’s department outnumbered all other attendees combined. Carolina Salguero, director of PortSide NewYork, has a similar tanker, Mary A. Whalen, now possibly the last of this class of coastal tanker in the United States and certainly the only tanker serving as a center for cultural and educational events.
One bidder and one bid . . . and the tanker is SOLD for $25,000 to Donjon Marine. Total elapsed time of the bidding: about one minute. Here shipshooter Jonathan Atkin witnesses the signing of papers.
I’ve always enjoyed seeing her.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
6 comments
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June 6, 2013 at 10:03 pm
bowsprite
welp, that’s sold. So how much for the nice high pile behind the auctioneer?
Nice photos!
June 7, 2013 at 2:21 am
Joe
What’s DJ Marine going to do with her, any speculation? They’re not known as ship breakers?
And why did she go aground anyway? Too short of a rode? She wasn’t in the dangerous quadrant, down by the bay shore or out front of SI? Where exactly was she moored? High Water and wind alone shouldn’t have broken ground or dragged her hook if it was properly set and especially if she’d been ballasted down, which she wasn’t.
June 7, 2013 at 6:08 am
will
joe– to answer your questions . . . DonJon Marine does many things, but one of them is a scrap/recycling business, in fact, the documentary i made with Gary Kane was filmed around the edges of their scrapyard: https://tugster.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/graves-of-arthur-kill-the-documentary/ Also, Caddell’s former fleetmate can be seen cut in half in the foto here: https://tugster.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/ice-and-fire/
As to where she was moored, go to google maps staten island and find Clifton; there you’ll see the Caddell and another vessel tied up. Sandy broke her free and pushed her ashore right opposite the Clifton station of the Staten Island Railroad. As i understand it, the owner/representatives had taken no additional precautions prior to last October’s storm. here are stories from the Staten Island newspaper back last fall: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/post_397.html as well as from today: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/06/beached_tanker_symbol_of_hurri.html#incart_river
June 9, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Carolina Salguero
When I photographed her 9/28/10 shortly before the Nigerians closed on the sale, she was on ragtag, rotten remains of a pier. The new owners had a shipkeeper aboard for about 6 months, and then not. I suspect that when Sandy hit, about a year and half later, the lines were old and short (no storm lines had been put out); and she ripped right off the bedraggled pier in the surge. It’s a testament to her stout construction that she sat on the rocky shore looking mighty intact.
June 11, 2013 at 5:31 am
jeff s
did the JOHN B CADDELL ever actually ”re-flag” Nigerian…or did they plan to do that later?
June 11, 2013 at 8:32 am
Carolina Salguero
Paperwork here was not finished which is why she did not sail. She was not prevented from sailing for safety reasons.