The Yellow Submarine

There is a old rusty Submarine half-submerged in a Brooklyn waterway called Coney Island Creek. I heard about it from a few Flickr contacts of mine that like exploring NYC as much as I do. I had never been to Coney Island Creek so I went to see it this weekend.

On my foray into a very hidden area of NY I saw some of the coolest things i have seen so far on my farewell tour: a secluded beach, a few broken down piers and about 10 rusted-out shipwrecks including an old Yellow Submarine.

But before I get in to that, here are some facts about the Creek and Coney Island.

• Coney island used to be a real island separated from Brooklyn's mainland by a tidal strait (a body of water similar to the Long Island sound).
• Coney Island creek, the remains of that strait starts at Gravesends Bay and ends near Shell road.
• Coney Island was named by the Dutch and called Konijn (rabbit), named after the local wildlife.
• The Canarsie Indians called the area Narrioch "Land without shadows" because of its day long sunlight.
• During the building of the Verazzano Bridge, the city allowed dredged soil and garbage to be dumped in the creek, essentially closing it off for boat traffic.
• At least a dozen boats that had been trapped in the creek are still there and can be seen during low water times.

What a trip! I don't know what it is about things like shipwrecks that makes me have fun. I spent the day traveling from beach to beach trying to find the best spot to see the submarine and other boats. I started at Leon Kaiser Park on the westend of Coney Island. I saw the boats right away on the opposite coast, but decided first to walk up the shore and see what i could find. Next door is a very secluded beach without a name that wraps around the island out to Gravesend Bay. The sand is much finer that that of the main beaches. There are a number of fun things along the beach, like a few abandoned wooden docks, old decaying piers and piles of old rusty metal.

On the other side of the creek is Calvert Vaux Park also called Dreier Offerman park. I don't know what is up with this park. It was closed...kind of It is a big open space but all the entrances were fenced off or blocked. It has a half dozen ball fields and not much else. I wonder why on a sunny Saturday afternoon in October a park like this would be closed. I hope its not closed for development...that would be bad.

This park was great. I hopped the cement barricade and walked towards the water and noticed right away that there was no direct water access. The entire park was surrounded by wetlands that were buffering the water from the highway past the park. There were a few narrow paths carved out by fisherman that lead to the water, but making my way out there wasn't all that easy. The paths cut through tall weeds and trees. Once at the water, it was an 8 foot jump down to the rocks. The only reason that i could do this was because the water is at its lowest point it will be all year. Most of the year, the submarine and the other boats are completely submerged.

There were 3 separate landings in the creek that had boats washed up. Check out an aerial view here: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/YOU'D%20NEVER%20BELIEVE/yellowsub/yellowsub2.html

The boat graveyard is nothing more than the old rusted boats that were left here after the creek was blocked off. I suppose you could climb up on the wrecks, but i wasn't all that interested in wading waist deep in oil sludge and sharp rusty metal. But looking at it all was very cool. The coolest site of course was the yellow submarine. A small sub that never made it out to the ocean still sits in the creek.

In 1956 an ocean liner named the Andrea Doria sank in the North Atlantic killing 41 people. 5 years later a NY ship builder Jerry Bianco launched a plan to salvage treasure from the wreck and built a sub he called the Quester I. He painted it yellow and tried to moor it in Coney Island Creek. Making a series of poor decisions, and cutting too many cost-saving corners, Bianco tried to launch it in 1970 but the sub turned on its side as soon as it went in the water and it never sailed since.

During the years it first sat there, the sub was robbed of its internal components and was straight left to rot by Bianco who failed to secure more funds for his venture. Most people thought the sub had floated out to sea, but the sub reemerges every once in a while to remind people of its sad past.

Now, you can see it when the water is low...still known mostly by fishermen, photographers and urban explorers.

here are some pictures of my trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82369865@N00/