The Ancient Mariner was a floating restaurant along Lauderdale's River district but got bankrupt after a hepatitis A outbreak onboard.

Name Dive Site:	Ancient Mariner
Depth:	52-68ft (16-21m)
Inserted/Added by:	lars, © Author: Lars Hemel
Rated:	Rated 5.0, 2 votes
Specifications:

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The Ancient Mariner is a retired Coast Guard Cutter originally built in the 1930s under the name Nemesis in Pt Pleasant, West Virginia. Her home base was St. Petersburg with its main duties controlling the coast and operating as a lifesaving boat in emergencies. She was used as a submarine chaser and a convoy escort during World War II in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Southeast Atlantic. She rescued survivors from the torpedoed tankers Faja De Oro and there are stories that tell us she had dropped depth charges on a submarine in August 1942. After the war she was sold, resold, restructured and partly rebuilt quite a few times.

Her last makeover was when she was being sold as a floating restaurant and bar along the new trendy Fort Lauderdale's river district. Rebuilding it to a three deck African steamer was expensive and it wasn't until 1981 when she opened her doors the first time. This only took five years when she had to close her doors after a large outbreak of Hepatitis A. She couldn't survive such bad publicity and became bankrupt. Other owners tried something similar with restaurant/bar names such as Chapmans River Raw Bar, Anchorage Seafood, Dockside 501 and Cutters, but all were not extremely successful. Finally, South Florida Divers Club in Hollywood laid their hands on the Ancient Mariner and donated it to Broward County's artificial reef program. She was being scuttled on June 1991 to strengthen the artificial reef.

The Ancient Mariner is 165 feet long especially interesting for wreck divers. Its many reconstruction plans have made many openings at several different levels of depth. Enjoy this great wreck with some of Florida's weirdest shipwreck history.

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