The Superior 183

Located at 32.4140N, -64.8517

Discovered by Edmund Downing in the early 1960’s in 30 feet of water The Superior was an American Barque that sank in 1837 a year before L’Herminie.

She was clearly heavily salvaged at the time of her sinking as there was no ships hardware, no metal rigging, no anchors, no rudder hardware etc. to be found on the site. What the wreck did contain were the unsalvaged remains of some of her general cargo. 

After her discovery she became known as the Glass wreck because of the large amount of common French glasses on the site which were a part of her cargo. Also to be found were olive oil bottles and sulpher sticks destined for pharmaceutical manufacture.

The wreck was heavily salvaged in the 1960’s presumably for the glasses. It appears that no one salvor laid claim after Edmund Downing and many salvaged the site ( including Mr Lambe , Mr Cox etc. ) and the glasses are quite common in the Bermuda community.

A license was issued to Mr. Harold Conyers by the Receiver of Wreck to excavate the site in the 1980’s.

Today the wreck site consists primarily of the degraded floor timbers still attached to a long section of the keelson along with ballast. The wreck lies on the southern side of a large sand-hole running parallel to the reef with one side disappearing into the sand and the other agglomerated into the reef itself.

Distinctively the keelson fasteners are protruding up vertically through reef and floor in a perfectly straight line making for a very picturesque dive.

The Superior is not regularly dived but it is sought out and enjoyed by underwater photographers. The existence and location of the wreck is well known, as it is located in a popular area for lobster diving and spear fishing.

The Superior is not a part of the Bermuda Dive Sites program.