Jersey Shore Magazine

j e r s e y s h o r e • S P R I N G 2 0 2 1 35 Despite currently sitting in differ- ent counties (although less than a half mile apart as the bird flies), a single incident on October 30, 1890 links these two anchors: the collision of the 211' schooner Cornelius Hargraves and the 287' steamer Vizcaya directly east of the Barnegat Inlet. The anchor from the Vizcaya at the Shipwreck Grill in Brielle. The Vizcaya. courtesy of New Jersey Maritime Museum Jill Ocone courtesy of New Jersey Maritime Museum courtesy of New Jersey Maritime Museum The Cornelius Hargraves' anchor at Captain Bill's Landing in Point Pleasant Beach. Anchors from the Vizcaya and the Cornelius Hargraves Shipwreck Grill, Brielle and Captain Bill's Landing, Point Pleasant Beach Both ships sank within minutes about one-quarter of a mile apart from each other. Some survivors clung to mast tops protruding from the ocean while others were picked up by passing ships and by Hargraves' lifeboats. Sixty-nine lives were lost on the Vizcaya, including all of the women and children on board. The vessels' locations on the bot- tom of the Atlantic are well-known dive spots. Enter attorney, restauran- teur, and longtime diver Bill Cleary, owner of the popular Red's Lobster Pot restaurant and Captain Bill's Landing in Point Pleasant Beach and the Shipwreck Grill restaurant in Brielle. After modeling the Shipwreck Grill's logo from an online image of the Vizcaya's anchor, Cleary won- dered if he could possibly retrieve the anchor to adorn the front of the restaurant, thus adding it to his already impressive collection of authentic maritime artifacts. Cleary and friends devised a salvage plan, which took almost a year to com- plete. They eventually set out on Cleary's dive boat Depth Charge, and after freeing the Vizcaya's anchor from its chain and other wreckage, the scallop boat Discovery aided in hoisting the 2,000-plus-pound anchor to the surface. It took another year to remove the growth and crust that formed on the anchor before it became a permanent fixture at the Shipwreck Grill. Ten years later, Cleary set his sights on the Cornelius Hargraves' anchor, which still lay at the bottom. With help from local marine biologist Chris Wojcik and friends, he even- tually recovered and restored that anchor as well, which now sits at Captain Bill's Landing as a pillar of the maritime spirit. The Cornelius Hargraves. continued on page 36

• Cover