This past weekend, I went exploring again. This time, I visited the Musquash Estuary Nature Reserve, which, in addition to being a beautiful natural habitat, is also home to some very interesting long-abandoned vessels. I had tried to visit it months ago with the side-by-side, but a vehicle blocked the trail. This time I returned and walked the 3 km out to the site of the abandoned ships.

US Navy Landing Craft

This landing craft was built by the US Navy to carry soldiers and tanks into battle during the Second World War. Built late in the war, it was awarded a battlestar for its involvement in the war in Japan. After the war, it found its way to the Maritimes, when it was purchased by the owner of a dry dock in Saint John, who brought it to New Brunswick.

Varying internet sources suggest there were two, three or even four of these landing vessels in the area at one time. There were at least two. The other may have been the sunken structure that can be seen in some of the photos in the water. Another rumour is that what’s in the water is actually a capture Japanese submarine, but I wasn’t able to track down information about that online.

The wartime engines for two of the landing craft were apparently sold to NB Power to be used as part of a hydro dam in Grand Falls, and then both ships (and maybe more) found a new home at Grand Manan Island, where they were used to transport pulpwood across the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy.

They reached the end of their useful life around 1960 and were sold for scrap, but since the scrappers never showed up to dismantle them, they have rested in the Musquash Estuary every since and are now property of the Government of Canada.

Navy Tugboats

I was able to find much less information about these wooden tugboats, which in their current state you might mistake as old schooners. I believe at least one of them was a 233-tonne US Navy tugboat built by Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. in Kingston, Ontario in 1945. It was later operated by Saint John Shipyard and Drydock Co Ltd. and Saint John Tugboat Co.