BY BEN BRACHFELD
A giant sailboat has been
slowly sinking into Sheepshead
Bay for weeks, seeping
oil into the southern Brooklyn
inlet and becoming a minitourist
attraction for scallywags
trudging alongside the
bay.
The sailboat, christened as
“American Venture,” has fully
capsized on her starboard side,
with the bow fully underwater
and only the stern and mast
jutting out of the bay’s murky
depths, immediately adjacent
to the Shore Boulevard Mall
in Manhattan Beach and the
Ocean Avenue footbridge connecting
Manhattan Beach and
Sheepshead Bay.
The water in the spot where
the vessel lay is about eight
feet deep, according to a nautical
chart from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
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meaning it’s unlikely
the boat could fully sink
beneath the bay’s surface due
to the height of its mast.
Locals say it’s been there
for about two weeks or so,
since the sailboat became unmoored
from its spot in the
middle of the bay during a
storm last month and likely
sinking after colliding with
the footbridge. Pictures were
posted in a local Facebook
group of the boat on the verge
of capsizing as early as Oct. 23.
By the 30th, it had sunk.
Offi cials have roped off the
shipwreck to prevent it from
drifting away, but so far have
not begun work to remove it
from the bay. As she sits undisturbed,
what appears to be
The wreck of American Venture in Sheepshead Bay on Friday, Nov. 5 Photo by Ben Brachfeld
an oil slick has proliferated
in the water around the vessel,
presumably having leaked
from her engine.
The wreck has become
something of a curiosity for
passersby, owing to its location
right next to a waterfront
promenade and a pedestrian
bridge, who are shocked by
her presence and often stop to
take pictures.
Community Board 15
Chairperson Theresa Scavo,
however, believes the city
should remove it with haste.
“I think it’s dangerous,” Scavo
said. “And it’s a huge problem
to take away.”
The Parks Department
says that abandoned shipwrecks
can be dangerous both
for other boaters and for delicate
aquatic ecosystems. In addition
to the damage an adrift
boat can do to other boats or to
shoreline areas, shipwrecks
can also leak gasoline, oil, or
other pollutants into waterways
and wreak havoc on delicate
ecosystems.
However, the city has determined
that in the case of
American Venture, the wreck
is not a pressing environmental
hazard. A spokesperson
for the Parks Department said
that the Coast Guard has inspected
and removed hazardous
fl uids such as oil from the
wreck, and that other than the
Sheeperme
timbers!
Sailboat has been sinking into
Sheepshead Bay for weeks
Continued on page 14
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