Underwater Objects

The underwater objects, animals, and phenomena collected here are arranged in no particular order to encourage you to browse the list and make new discoveries each time you visit. These lively materials were found by divers, scientists, detectives, engineers, activists, artists, and citizens.

Our list serves as a prompt for many of the stories we publish or produce, and we share it in the spirit of collaboration, inviting you to work with our waterways. If you know of an object that belongs on our list, let us know!

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LOWER NEW YORK BAY

Giraffe

When the Army Corps of Engineers dredged up this surprising haul, they guessed it was pitched off the side of a circus ship after it died. Or maybe it escaped the circus (go giraffe, go!), only to meet its fate in the Atlantic (stop giraffe, stop!).

CONEY ISLAND

Dreamland Bell

Before subways connected Coney Island to Manhattan, ferries were one of the most popular ways to get there. The bell is believed to have sat at the end of the pier, announcing the ferries as they arrived and departed. Another find by Gene Ritter, of the amazing Cultural Research Divers.

PROSPECT PARK

Bag of Lottery Tickets

All it takes is a dollar and a dream…

CONEY ISLAND

Silicone Breasts

We don’t really know the story behind these, so make one up and send it to us.

HUDSON RIVER

Barnacle Bike

As reported by Gothamist, this barnacle-encrusted Citi Bike might have been in the Hudson for nearly six months before it was returned to a dock. Who? What? Why? How?

CONEY ISLAND

Dreamland

Dreamland was one of the earliest and grandest amusement parks in the world before it burned down on May 27, 1911. The Dreamland Pier, at W. 5th St. and Surf Avenue, was an elaborate creation that served as an extension of the decadent park. When the 1911 fire broke out, the pier collapsed and sunk into the water without a trace. In 1988, Bensonhurst resident and professional diver Gene Ritter discovered the pier in a single solo dive.

BRONX RIVER

Human Skull

In the 1980s, when Bronx River clean up efforts were in full swing, a member of a conservation crew for the Bronx River Restoration Project came across a human skull and reported it to the police. Is it an artifact of violence, neglect, or something else?

DEAD HORSE BAY

Horse and Animal Bones

Dead Horse Bay marks the site of what once was Barren Island, where for decades the city’s trash and daily animal dead were rendered into profitable byproducts. Today, the area that was once a marshland is now Floyd Bennett Field, bordered by Dead Horse Bay, where bits of trash from the past century continually wash ashore and provide fodder for collectors, explorers, writers, and artists.

LOWER NEW YORK BAY

Grand Piano

We’d totally understand if you wanted to write about this one. You wouldn’t be alone.

PLUM BEACH

Kawasaki Waverunner

How did this expensive piece of equipment wind up buried and alone on a vacant beach?

DEAD HORSE BAY

Headless Dutch Boy Figurine

Found on our excursion with the teachers of the Sarah Lawrence Child Development Institute. See a photo here.

GREAT KILLS PARK BEACH

Robot Hand

UNY editor Nicole Haroutunian spotted this mysterious artifact during a casual autumn stroll along Staten Island's shore.

CONEY ISLAND

Steeplechase Pier

Steeplechase Park, like Dreamland before it, was one of the great amusement parks of Coney Island. The feature attraction was the Steeplechase Ride, a horse race which circled the Pavilion of Fun. A series of accidents, rivaling factions within the Tilyou family, who owned the park, and a rise in crime led to the park’s closure in 1964. As far as we know, this submerged pier is all that remains of the park.

THE ROCKAWAYS

Ice Cream Trucks

Like the subway cars, a fleet of ice cream trucks were used to build an artificial reef to lure schools of fish. The vehicles that once delivered Good Humor ice cream bars are now home to black sea bass, porgy, bergall, hake and cod.

CONEY ISLAND

1968 Lincoln Continental

The car was discovered belly-up in 1978, a few feet from the end of the old Steeplechase Pier.

EAST RIVER

Formica Dinette

The table sits upright, as if waiting to be set, near 16th Street. We’d accept a hundred stories about this one.

HUDSON RIVER

Two Shipwrecks On Top of Each Other

A cabin cruiser and a 19th century sailing ship get it on.

GOWANUS CANAL

Mysterious White Goo

Scientists are studying this goo—a mixture of bacteria, protozoans, and contaminants—for its medical potential, as it’s managed to thrive in one of the most polluted canals in the city.

THE ROCKAWAYS

Princess Anne Steamship

Built in 1897 for the Old Dominion line, the ship ran aground in the Rockaway Shoals when the Captain missed the entrance to New York Harbor. Despite severe weather, the passengers were all taken to safety, but strangely, the crew refused to leave without their luggage, which could not fit in the life boat. They stayed onboard for nine days, until the ship split in half and the passengers had to be rescued.

DEAD HORSE BAY

Kangamouse

This toy appears to be a kangaroo-mouse hybrid. Although he is missing an ear, his little light-bulb heart is still intact.

HUDSON RIVER

Freight Train

In 1865, a train carrying passenger baggage plunged over the Peekskill drawbridge, which was open, and plummeted into the river. Two young stowaways survived.

BRONX RIVER

Voodoo and Santeria Objects

The fact that we have no other information just makes these objects more evocative.

ARTHUR KILL

Tugboats

How does a city wind up with a graveyard of tugboats? You can pursue the real answer or invent your own.

CONEY ISLAND CREEK

Quester 1 Submarine

The submarine was built by Brooklyn resident Jerry Bianco in 1967 to dive the ill-fated Andrea Doria off the coast of Nantucket. Though the Quester never made it to Nantucket, the vessel is a beloved neighborhood site and a home for marine life and birds.

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