Texas Clipper Ship Project

Texas Clipper Begins Fourth Life as a Reef

She spent time in the Pacific during World War II as an attack transport ferrying fresh troops and supplies into battle and caring for injured Marines during their journeys to hospitals and safe ports. She sailed round trips to the Mediterranean in the 1950's carrying passengers in first class style and cargo to and from their destinations. She trained sea cadets in the great maritime tradition of Texas A&M University at Galveston for three decades.

After several weather delays, the Texas Clipper began her fourth life as an artificial reef on Saturday, November 17 at 12:35 p.m. A small armada of boats carried curious visitors to the reef site in the Gulf of Mexico 17 nautical miles off the coast of South Padre Island. Over 200 people viewed the reefing in 5-7 ft seas. Officials from Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD), the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were on site to observe the reefing. A TPWD helicopter hovered overhead to capture an aerial view of the event for the media. Local elected officials and invited guests from the local community were on hand to celebrate the event. A number of Sea Aggies, former crew members of the ship while it served as a training vessel for Texas A&M University at Galveston, made their way to the sinking aboard commercially chartered vessels and private boats to witness the transition to her fourth and final life as home to sea life and a destination for divers and anglers. Many will continue visiting her as she surrounds herself with a growth of marine organisms. Scientists will soon be studying the development of the reef community.

The ship did not follow the sinking plan as designed and is now lying on its port side in approximately 134 feet of water. The highest point on the ship is 62 feet below the ocean surface. TPWD is in discussions with Resolve Marine Services to explore feasible options to right the vessel. Artificial Reef divers Dale Shively, John Embesi, Doug Peter, and Jeremy Helms made two dives on the vessel 2 days after it was reefed. Pinfish, silversides, and remora had already taken up residence on the ship.

She is marked with a yellow spar buoy that is attached to the anchor. One mooring buoy is attached to the stern end of the ship. Coordinates of her location are given below.

Background

The Texas Clipper was built in Sparrows Point, Maryland by Bethlehem Steel Corporation for the U.S. Merchant Marine Commission. She was destined to be a Texas ship from the beginning. Her hull was laid down on March 2, 1944, the 108th anniversary of Texas Independence Day. She was commissioned by the Navy as the Queens (APA-103) in December 1944, a troop transport ship with a rich naval history who served her country well in World War II. She ferried fresh troops into battle and cared for and shuttled the wounded from Iwo Jima. She was also part of the American occupation at Sasebo, Japan before being decommissioned in 1946. To learn more about the U.S.S. Queens.

From 1948 to 1958, she was commissioned the U.S.S. Excambion and served as one of the post–war four aces for American Export Lines. The original Four Aces were luxurious ocean liners that routinely crossed that Atlantic and visited Mediterranean ports of call. They were converted to troop transports when the U.S. entered World War II and three of them were sunk in battle. Three troop transports, including the Texas Clipper as the Excambion, were converted to cruise liners and again sailed to Mediterranean ports. To learn more about the U.S.S. Excambion.

The U.S.T.S. Texas Clipper was commissioned as the first Texas Maritime Training Academy ship and served sea cadets at Texas A&M University at Galveston from 1965 to 1996. She spent summers at sea and provided an ocean–going campus for about 200 students at a time. They learned the workings of a ship, studied the world's oceans and broadened their horizons beyond the normal constraints of a classroom. To learn more about the U.S.T.S. Texas Clipper.

Current Project

The Reef Program has been actively working on the Texas Clipper project since 1998. Now that she is on the bottom, we will focus on plans to monitor the biological community that develops around her and to study the economic boost she provides local communities. With funds from the Artificial Reef Fund, TPWD will support a biological monitoring program at the University of Texas Brownsville and Texas Southmost College (UTB TSC) that will provide data to support our monitoring efforts. Additional funding to the UTB TSC College of Business will support an economic impact study.

She will be more than a typical artificial reef and will become a popular diving destination. She will be the Texas Clipper, a proud Aggie training vessel, a cruise liner and a proud battle–tested Naval Ship. She will rest proudly off the Texas coast and serve the diving and fishing community for many more decades. She will be there as an oasis for marine life in an otherwise vast expanse of the mostly flat sand and mud bottom of the open Gulf.

She was towed to Brownsville in early November, 2006, from her recent home in the Maritime Administration Fleet storage site on the Neches River just below Beaumont. She was at dock in Brownsville for environmental cleanup and preparation for sinking. Masts were reduced in height to assure a 50–ft clearance above her. Wiring and electrical components were removed, along with other materials that might provide a source of contaminants, as the ocean claims her through weathering and corrosion.

Any materials that would float if dislodged from the ship are being removed. All substances that might result in environmental contamination will be removed. Holes are to be positioned at strategic points to ensure adherence to the sinking plan and to provide for water flow. Hatches will be removed or welded shut, and sometimes cut to new specifications for safe passage of divers. We will provide project updates as the work progresses. To learn more about the technical remediation work on the Texas Clipper (PDF 1.9 MB).

The site where she rests has been permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Seventeen miles from Pass Santiago in 134 ft of clear blue water, she has found her place on the barren sandy bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Barnacles, corals, sponges, clams, bryozoans and hydroids will eventually take their stations on her hard surfaces.

Fishes and mobile invertebrates such as rock crabs will come to feast on this bounty she attracts. We will also benefit from her bounty. Anglers will be drawn to the surface above and divers will seek her beauty below as she supports their pursuits. She will add to the marine environment as well as the South Texas economy. Her proud traditions of maritime heritage will be remembered, and her new role as an artificial reef will enhance her legacy to the future.

Go to earlier updates.