Derelict wreck of the Caroline C salvaged off Manatee coast at cost of $135,750

The saga of the Caroline C, a derelict wreck anchored off Snead Island for a decade or more, ends this week with its removal and salvage.

The rusting 80-foot, 170-ton trawler once saw service as a mission supply ship.

Several times during its final anchorage, the trawler sank, leaked contaminated water, and had to be refloated.

“It’s being retrieved by a barge vessel and scrapped,” Charlie Hunsicker, director of Manatee County Parks & Natural Resources, said Friday.

The owner of the vessel, Theron Bonham, was unable to pull together the money to repair or save the vessel, Hunsicker said.

The $135,750 cost to remove and salvage the 170-ton trawler was funded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Manatee County Inland Navigation District to remove a threat to the environment. The U.S. Coast Guard earlier this year had. 5,800 gallons of contaminated water and fuel pumped from the ship.

Handling the removal and salvage of the Caroline C is International Ship Repair and Marine Service of Tampa.

In 2002, the Caroline C brought 1,300 gallons of water and several hundred pounds of produce and canned goods to a stranded Brazilian freighter 16 miles west of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, according to Herald archives.

In 2003, the Caroline C was moored in the Manatee River and broke loose in heavy winds, drifting into the Green Bridge fishing pier. The Coast Guard moved it to safety, using tow lines and the Caroline C’s own engines.

Derelict ships are a continuing problem in Florida coastal waters, representing a threat to the environment and navigation. The cost to remove the Caroline C is one of the costliest in recent years.

In 2016, the Herald reported that Manatee County taxpayers paid $204,000 bill over almost seven years for abandoned and derelict vessel removal.

This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 2:00 PM.