Benjamin H. Grierson (Liberty Ship)

Fast Facts:

• Average Depth:  60 ft. / 18 m
• Max Depth: 77 ft. / 23 m

Features:

• Artificial Reef
• Wreck Site

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The Benjamin H. Grierson is one of many Liberty Ships that were quickly built around the U.S. during World War II. The Grierson was built in 1943 by the Oregon Ship Building Corporation in Portland, Oregon. Many Liberty Ships were named for officers of the Civil War. Benjamin H Grierson served as a colonel in the Union Army. After the war he organized the 10th cavalry regiment of white and black soldiers, known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Grierson’s career in the U.S. Army is featured in the TNT documentary, “Buffalo Soldiers”.

In November, 1949, the ship was laid up in the Mobile Reserve Fleet near Mobile, Alabama. She was eventually acquired by the Florida Department of Natural Resources and deployed as an artificial reef on September 29, 1977. The Grierson (often called just Liberty Ship by locals) lies at a depth of 77 feet. The ship is 441-feet in length with a 57-foot beam. She rises 20 feet off the bottom. The ship was cut at the waterline, but several bulkheads are still in place.