Ships History

The Ancient Mariner was launched on July 7, 1934 as a B class Coast Guard Cutter and was originally designed to combat illegal rum running during prohibition. Due to delays in its construction the ship was not launched until one year after Prohibition ended. The ship was commissioned on October 10, 1934 and named the Nemesis and was eventually used as a sub chaser, escort for convoys and as a rescue ship for torpedoed tankers and supply ships.

The Nemesis was eventually decommissioned on November 20, 1964 and sold to auto Marine engineering on February 9, 1966. In 1979 investors purchased the vessel and remodeled it to look like a three deck African Queen steamer and renamed her, the Livingston landing and created Fort Lauderdale’s first floating theme restaurant. Unfortunately after only two years of operation the restaurant closed in 1981 and sold to another investor group. In an attempt to rebrand the restaurant the Livingston landing was renamed the ancient mariner however on April 28, 1981 before the new restaurant could open she sank at the dock on the new River.

The ancient mariner was floated, repaired and reopened as a restaurant and operated for about four years. During its time of operation, patients were contracting hepatitis from eating at the restaurant and eventually after 83 people contracted the disease the Broward County health unit close the restaurant on May 22, 1986. The Broward County health Department had to send out letters to about 30 laid off employees prohibiting them from working at any other food service businesses for the next 50 days while they were tested for hepatitis.

The owners of the restaurant filed for bankruptcy after numerous lawsuits were filed against them due to the outbreak of hepatitis. The restaurant eventually reopened in 1987 under the name of anchored seafood house however it only stayed open for about six months until it closed down due to the inability to shake off the bad publicity from the ancient mariner incident. There was another attempt in 1988 to sublease the floating restaurant to a bar didn’t quite pencil out. Over 1400 people who dined at the ancient mariner restaurant ended up having to have hepatitis vaccine treatments. After sitting for four years and unable to shake off its bad reputation the vessel was purchased in April 1991 by South Florida diverse club to be used as an artificial reef. In June 1991 the ship finally found its final resting place as part of Broward County’s artificial reef program and was sank offshore from Deerfield Beach.

Resident Marine Life

This is a well-established wreck site and there is an abundance of marine life that resides in the area. It is common to see large schools of small and medium tropical fish, stingrays large and small, eels, lobsters and the occasional Turtle or Eagle Ray..

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Extend your bottom time with Enriched Air (Nitrox) Course