A Ship That Survived WWII
Our Goal: Rehabilitate heavily over-fished marine populations in ways that boost income for local dive operators and the BVI economy
History Of The Ship
“In 1967 her registry was still US documented. She was converted to an Alaska king crab vessel and salmon tender and worked out of Kodiak Alaska.
There are those of us who remember the Kodiak Queen in her glory days of crab fishing in Alaska. My brother, Dave Tippett, sailed on her as chief Engineer in the early 70s when Jack Johnson was running her and fishing King Crab out of Kodiak, Alaska. She was truly the Queen of the fleet. She was one of the largest crab vessels at that time. As a converted WWII vessel she was over 30 years old then but she was well maintained and a safe vessel. She fished and tendered in Alaska till the early 2000s when she was taken out of the fishery in what was called the “crab buyback program.” As a condition of the buyback program she could no longer fish anywhere in the world so she was sold into what would appear to have been a not so glorious life for the last 10 years. It is very fitting for her to have an afterlife in the warm waters of the Caribbean and to become a habitat for the fish. Much better than being melted down and becoming a toaster She was truly one of a kind.”
Ken Tippett
The Kodiak Queen finally made it all the way underwater.
The Kodiak Queen from Rob Sorrenti on Vimeo.
