'Perfect Storm' ship sunk off New Jersey coast

John C. Ensslin
NorthJersey

CAPE MAY – The storied U.S. Coast Guard ship that helped rescue seven people during the infamous “Perfect Storm” of 1991 now rests at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. 

The USS Tamaroa as it takes on water and finally sinks.

The 74-year-old Tamaroa was sunk 26 miles off New Jersey’s southernmost point Wednesday afternoon, joining other military ships 130 feet below on the ocean floor to form one of the largest artificial reefs on the East Coast. 

The Tamaroa was sunk at about 1 p.m.  It joins other military ships as part of the "Del-Jersey-Land Reef" off New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. 

About 20 former crew members and their families watched from another boat as the 205-foot Tamaroa began to take on water after contractors removed covers that had been placed over holes cut in the side of the ship.

The cutter sank slowly, then fast. After gradually listing to one side as sea water gushed through a door-sized hole, the end came quickly. The bow pointed skyward until the entire ship slid quickly beneath the surface of relatively calm waters. As endings go, it was almost elegant and dignified.

Soon all that was left was a round aquamarine slick on the surface of the water. Alicia Lupperger, whose late grandfather had been a crew member on the ship, tossed a bio-degradable wreath of red and white flowers into the water.

"Thank you to all the veterans, past and present," she said. "Thank you to everybody that served. And thank this wonderful ship for a long time in service."

TIMELINE:The history of 'The Perfect Storm' ship Tamaroa

The ship is best known for its role in the Oct. 30, 1991 rescue of seven people in one of the worst storms off the New England coast that produced 40-foot waves. It was immortalized in author Sebastian Junger's 1997 book "The Perfect Storm" and later a movie starring George Clooney.  

The Tamaroa had an illustrious history long before the storm when it was called the USS Zuni and served as a U.S. Navy tug. The Zuni arrived three days after the assault on Iwo Jima began in 1945 and stayed there for a month. After the war, the Coast Guard inherited the ship, where it served along the East Coast in hundreds of search and rescue missions. 

Efforts to turn the ship into a museum stopped after the Tamaroa was flooded in 2012 while it was docked in Norfolk, Virginia. 

A plan to sink the ship late last year was halted until environmental regulators were assured that all contaminants, such as cancer-causing PCBs, had been removed. It was delayed again because of rough seas over the past month. 

Wednesday, however, was a calm, beautiful day. Several former crew members, many of whom were young men when they served, spoke with a mixture of pride and sorrow as they watched the ship that was once their home vanish beneath the water.

Former Tamaroa crew member Paul Swanholm said he had mixed feelings looking at the ship, as he watched sparks fly from the hull as a welder cut open a hole.

Former USS Tamaroa sailor Larry Eckert of Allentown, Pa., pays his respect to his former ship after it sank.

"We always knew that it was going to bring us home safe," Swanholm said. "It was one of the main reasons why everybody loved the cutter."

Chris McFarland, who served as a junior engineering officer, said the reason for that confidence and the ship's longevity had a lot to do with its design.

"She's not overly complex, which also meant that she's economically built, which led to her long life," McFarland said. "She's a fairly simple design - not simple that she would compromise crew members - but simple, straightforward and extremely well built."

While the Tamaroa and Zuni will be remembered for rescue and wartime missions, it also served other important but less memorable tasks.

The Coast Cuard cutter Tamaroa on patrol .

Timothy Mulvey, a crew member from Hawthorne, carried a photograph of the Tamaroa hauling a barge laden with sewage during a New York City garbage strike.

Longshoremen refused to handle the cargo in solidarity with sanitation workers, so the Coast Guard responded as a health emergency, he said.

After the ship sank, several members stood on the deck swapping Tamaroa stories. Another sat on the stern looking off into the distance.

"It's sad," said Howard Cohen, who served on the Tamaroa in the 1970s when it was based on Governor's Island in New York City. "It's good that it's going to be serving fisherman and fishes. 

"But the way I feel is like they are closing a chapter of my life, because it's not just the Tamaroa, it's everything that's around it - family and growing up and that neighborhood."

Staff Writer Scott Fallon contributed to this story.