June 20, 2018 –The 320’x68’ ferry Twin Capes, former flagship of the Delaware River and Bay Authority’s fleet linking New Jersey and Delaware, is now a destination for fishermen and divers after it went to the bottom of the ocean Friday.
The double-ender vehicle and passenger ferry was emplaced on the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Reef site, in 120 feet of water 26 miles southeast of Cape May, N.J., where the former Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa was likewise put to rest in May 2017. Contractor Colleen Marine, Norfolk, Va., handled the Tamaroa project and did a repeat performance with the Twin Capes, towing the old ferry away in August 2017 to clean and prepare it for the reef deployment.
Built in 1974 at Todd Shipyards, Houston, the Twin Capes was the biggest vessel on the 17-mile run between Cape May, N.J., and Cape Henlopen, Del., with capacity for 895 passengers. But over the years its higher operational costs compared to the authority’s three other vessels became a handicap.