Texas Clipper Sinks
Last November I was asked to photograph the sinking of the Texas Clipper. It was an amazing experience to wittiness and be part of. As the ship was leaving port the late afternoon sun cascaded on her beautifully, giving her a nice warm glow. I shot her using my Nikon D2X, 10 – 24 2.8 lens, F 7.1 at 1/80th.
The Texas Clipper makes its final journey Friday, November 16, 2007 to its underwater resting place tomorrow in the Gulf of Mexico,17 miles off South Padre Island, where it will begin a new life as an artificial reef for marine wildlife. Launched during WWII as the USS Queens, the 473-foot vessel saw duty as a troop transport and attack ship. After the war it was converted to a luxury passenger liner and most recently (1965-1996)served as a maritime training vessel for Texas A&M University.
Thats me on top of the smaller vessel in the orange shirt.
The actual reefing of the ship was a rough day. We left the docks at 6AM and battled up to 8′ swells until she sank at 12:30 that afternoon. Too much beer and sea food the day before did not help matters. But I still got the shot.
June 11, 2008 at 9:32 PM
Chase, it’s too bad you weren’t on the deck of the Clipper; that would have been a great photograph!