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SS Adirondack Wreck - This Civil War gunboat struck a reef off forced her to anchor. The Mermaid had tried to anchor three times,
but on each attempt the force of the storm snapped her line, driv-
U the north end of Man-O-War Cay in 1862, the same year that ing her closer to a shallow reef. At 8:00 AM Captain Hackman, in an
attempt to lighten his vessel with the hopes of allowing her to pass
it was built. While shipworms have eaten nearly all of its wooden over the reef, ordered her guns to be cast overboard. This attempt
timbers, divers will find among the wreck’s debris field two 13-foot only prolonged the inevitable fate. The Mermaid finally ran aground
cannons and boilers from the Adirondack’s steam engine. The U.S. S. a half mile from shore. For a month the vessel’s hull stood up to the
Adirondack was an Ossipee class wooden screw sloop built in 1861 ocean’s pounding, allowing time for all of her stores to be salvaged.
at the New York Navy Yard. She was launched on February 22, 1862, On January 6, 17ffi, the Mermaid finally collapsed and sunk beneath
and commissioned in June of the same year. This union gun boat the waves. The location of this site remained unknown until 1987
was 207 feet long, had a 38 foot beam, weighed 1,240 gross tons, when the Spanish Main Treasure Company with the use of a proton
and was powered by both sail and steam. The Adironduck was part magnetometer was able to find her resting spot. According to Carl
of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. On August 23, 1862, Fismer, a noted treasure hunter,the site was found after locating
while on a voyage from Port Royal to Nassau, she ran aground on one of her anchors in about 40 feet of water. This clue lead the team
Little Bahama Bank. Her crew was rescued by the vessel Canadai- to a second anchor, a third, and then a fourth. Each anchor brought
gua, but all salvage attempts of the ship failed. The Adirondack the treasure hunters closer to the H.M.S. Mermaid. They found her
broke up in the surf and sunk. The scattered remains of this war- cannons in 30 feet of water, and finally the remains of her hull were
ship rest in l0 to 30 feet of water. Divers can still see two of her I I found in only ten feet. The Spanish Main Treasure Company pre-
inch bore cannons that are about twelve feet long and weigh about served the historical integrity of the site. Duke Long, the company’s
10,000 pounds each. Twelve smaller cannons can also be sighted cartographer, drew up detailed drawings of the wreckage.. Today,
while exploring the wreckage. the wreck can be found off Mermaid Beach and explored by sport
divers and snorkelers. Walkers Cay Diving runs trips to the wreck
H .M.S. Mermaid Wreck - The H.M.S. Mermaid, an English war- regularly, and who knows what a lucky diver might find.
ship under the command of Captain James Hackman, set sail
from Charleston, South Carolina to New Providence on December I
, 1759. On the morning of December 4th, the ship was blown into
the breakers by gail force winds blowing from the northeast which
