My father-in-law has told me serval times about seeing Liberty Ships mothballed up the South Edisto River in the mid to late 80’s. Does anyone know if these ships are still there? If they are not were they possibly ships that DNR was holding to be sunk as fish havens? He couldn’t remember exactly where he had seen them only that they were on the inland side of Edisto Island on the South Edisto River.
Two big ships are offshore at the Edisto 60 and one at 4KI. They could possibly be liberty ships. Those reefs are more out of the N. Edisto though.
Don’t know of any ships like that still in the river.
Luke 8:22-25
There is one a couple miles up the south edisto. Im not sure what is under the water but there is a reef there.
I looked at my maps unique today at the office at both the 40 and 60 and it said APCs and barges at both but no Liberty ships. They could have been used south of Edisto but not sure.Might need to send a diver down to check um out for us.
23 Hydra sport 225 Yammy
Edisto 60 has two ships that are over 200’ long… could be liberty ships…
The 400+ foot long Robison at 4KI I am pretty sure was a liberty ship as well as the ship over 400’ long at the Betsy Ross.
Luke 8:22-25
Phin, I am showing my ignorance but what exactly is a Liberty ship? I know it was a very long ship, not sure of the lenth or use. Could they be some of the APCs at the 40? I just thought of the near shore also, could have been sunk there also.
23 Hydra sport 225 Yammy
Liberty ships were used to take supplies to the Allies in europe before we were militarily involved in WWII. German Uboats sunk a lot of them. They were built quickly and cheaply- they were not meant to be used very long- and they took a lot of stuff to the brits when we were down in the dumps and needed just such an export boom. sorta…
APC’s are armored personel carriers. You also see steel pup tents listed at the reefs. They are just steel rods that they used to drap tarps over to sleep under in the field. Lately, they buy reefballs to sink that have some nice rebar and stuff sticking out for the spadefish to get wrapped all around. 
Luke 8:22-25
I gotcha. I knew about the APCs but didnt know how long they were. Would be pretty cool to dive some of the reefs and see what they look like from where the fish live. BTW , that post bout Stretchs email, was that on the up and up? I lost my entire computer at work with so many addreses that I dont have on my laptop.
23 Hydra sport 225 Yammy
I’ve been going to Edisto since the late 50’s and I’ve never seen a ship anchored anywhere in close proximity to the South Edisto…If one was anchored there I’m sure I would have seen it or heard about it…Then again,the 80’s were pretty much a blur anyway…Maybe so.
Scout 202 Dorado
200 Yamaha HPDI
There are two liberty ships on S.C. reefs, one is the Betsy Ross off Hilton Head and the other is the Vermilion off Georgetown. The vessels at the Edisto 60 are a roughly 300 foot specialized landing craft and a barge roughly the same size that was used for navy dive training. Steel pup tents are 1/4 inch plate steel 12 feet long bent into a triangle with holes. Robison was a destroyer that was cut down to the main deck and sunk at 4KI.
Guys, thanks for all your information. I am just getting back to the thread. It sounds as I suspected, the ships, and i’m not sure how many there were, must have been used as fish havens. Im like Margret Jane, it might be fun to dive on these ships and gain another perspective. It might make catching fish a little easier.
I have dived the Edisto 60 many times. There are three Dawhoo bridge sections on their sides, one ship sitting upright but is very corroded with not much structure to hold fish, and the 330 ft. ship sitting upside down. It holds the most fish. Mainly large baracuda and atlantic spades. There is a 6 ft nurse shark their on most dives. Oh yeah, I usually get a couple of brand new anchors each dive too.
I dived the Edisto Offshore and all of the fish were inside the wheelhouse and much larger baracudas lurking around it. If any of those fish peaked out, the cudas got’em.
The Edisto 40 was just lots of concrete rubble. Visibilty was not that good. I will admit that I felt like I was being watched if you know what I mean.
Before I forget, if someone wants to dive these and never has, be very careful of the monofilament on the bridge sections and the 330 ship. You will get entangled if you are not careful.
longbearded1,
Could you please email me? I sent you an email to your old address thru this site, and it got returned.
I’m at weadair@msn.com
Thanks
edistobrad, Are there any lobsters on the 60 or do you have to go deeper?
jeff 33 Grady White
Edistobrad, do you do a static line dive or is the water clear enough to go down and still see the location of your boat? I have been diving in the Caribean and Lake Murray but never off the coast of SC. Frankly I have always been a little leary of unclear open water. I learned to dive in the early 90s and I never have done a lot of diving in unclear water other than Lake Murray. Do people regularly dive the 40 and 60? How does a dive on either of these compare to open water dives in say the Virgin Islands?
JRock,
If you want lobsters, you need to go about 100 ft. I have not seen any around the artificial reefs in 60 ft.
Irishfisherman,
I use my anchor rope to go down and up. Once on the bottom on the Edisto 60 ships, I am familiar enough to know where the anchor is located when it is time to go back up. The visiblity varies due to the moon and currents. Sometimes it can be as good as 40ft. and other times about 10ft. I have dived the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas) and it is much better visibility in shallower water. If you ever dive off of SC coast, you will never want to go back to Lake Murray.
I am going diving off of Charleston to a lobster hole on Labor Day if the weather is good.