This beloved Jersey Shore landmark vanished during Hurricane ErinStephanie Loder
NJ.comSat, August 23, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT
2 min read
The mast that showed above the sand dunes in Barnegat Light to mark the ship Sea King was washed away during Hurrican Erin.Waves from Hurricane Erin pounded Long Beach Island earlier this week, taking away a historic island landmark.
A steel mast poking above the sand on the beach at Barnegat Light was all that remained to let people know the final resting place of the vessel Sea King.
On Thursday night, the storm pulled the mast back to sea.
“It’s another landmark gone,” Gretchen Coyle at the New Jersey Maritime Museum in Beach Haven said on Saturday.
On Feb. 12, 1963, the 95-foot trawler Sea King was towing a decommissioned minesweeper named Prescott to Atlantic City for refitting, according to information on the museum’s website.
Both ships were stranded on the Barnegat Shoals during a thick fog. The Prescott was later re-floated and saved.
The Sea King, however, could not be salvaged and became buried in the sand near 12th Street.
“The Sea King ended up in the sand dunes and what was interesting over the years was sometimes it was in the ocean and sometimes it was in the sand dunes,” Coyle said. “It (the mast) didn’t move, but the water around it moved.”
The steel mast was a landmark used by locals and cherished by history buffs.
Many people took to social media on Saturday to express sadness that the mast was gone.
“The mast was a point where you just aimed to go and take a picture. It was a landmark that made you smile,” Coyle said.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy took away a small building next to the ship called the shack, she said.
Coyle said people are still finding out about the loss of the mast, much of the word spreading through social media.
“I haven’t been out there because this just happened the other day, but I saw it on Facebook this morning,” she said.
Coyle also thinks a new marker to identify the location of the Sea King will likely be put in place.
“I can’t speak for Barnegat Light, but at some point I don’t doubt there will be a commemorative plaque,” Coyle said.
“Barnegat Light treasures its maritime history,” she said.
Coyle said the New Jersey Maritime Museum at 528 Dock Rd, Beach Haven also carries photos and history of the Sea King.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/beloved-jersey-shore-landmark-vanished-170002793.html
