1800s Anchor Recovered From Delaware River

On March 3rd, 2012, Randive, Inc. of Perth Amboy, NJ received a call from a petroleum transportation company stating that one of their barges had fouled its anchor in the Philadelphia area of The Delaware River and it could not be recovered.

A dive team was immediately dispatched in order to ascertain and remedy the problem. Upon completion of the underwater inspection, it was found that the barge's anchor had become fouled onto and brought out of the muddy river bottom a very large and old wooden stocked anchor. 

Upon mobilization of the necessary cranes and barges, the dive team was able to rig and pull free the historical anchor from the Delaware River and free up the barge in order to satisfy its commercial commitments.

Upon closer examination of the anchor, it was found that the wooden stock - which measured to be 22 feet in length and was copper cladded - was an old US Navy mooring pick anchor with an estimated weight of 9 tons and dates back to the 1800’s.

The anchors final history and disposition remains pending.