New York Schedules Prudence Ferry Deployment at Sixteen Fathom Reef

New York is preparing to add the former Prudence Ferry to Sixteen Fathom Reef, advancing a long-running diver-led effort to give the steel vessel a second life offshore. A U.S. Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners says the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation plans to deploy the 90-foot vessel beginning on or after November 4, 2026. Miller's Tug & Barge Inc. is expected to transport and place the ferry during a one-day, dawn-to-dusk operation.

The notice gives an approximate deployment position of 40°26'05"N, 073°21'30"W. NYSDEC describes Sixteen Fathom Reef as an 850-acre site about 13 nautical miles southwest of Fire Island Inlet, with charted depths ranging from 85 to 103 feet. Those depths could put the finished reef within reach of advanced recreational and technical divers, but its actual dive profile will depend on the vessel's final orientation, relief above the seabed and post-deployment clearance.

The ferry formerly carried passengers and vehicles in Rhode Island before spending years idle in Long Island City. Local diver Harris Moore and the Long Island Artificial Reef Society helped champion its conversion rather than scrapping it. Project accounts say volunteers removed wiring, machinery, hazardous fluids, loose paint and other unsuitable material, while openings were cut to improve water flow and diver access.

NYSDEC says vessels proposed for its reef program are reviewed for environmental suitability and inspected with the U.S. Coast Guard. The state uses a patch-reef approach, placing cleaned, stable material in clusters intended to add hard structure and habitat complexity. The ferry's installation would expand that structure at an existing reef rather than create a new permitted site.

For divers, the placement is significant because it could become a recognizable wreck-style destination in the New York Bight and a future platform for observing marine colonization. It should not yet be treated as an open or penetration-ready dive site. Weather could shift the deployment date, and official post-placement information is still needed on the vessel's final coordinates, orientation, minimum clearance, access openings, entanglement hazards and any anchoring or mooring guidance.

The reef's ecological performance will also require observation rather than assumption. NYSDEC invites divers and anglers to report reef conditions and marine life through its Artificial Reef Volunteer Fishing and Diving Survey, providing a path for the local diving community to document how the new structure develops over time.