Lost 1984 - Former US Navy tug; later dive and treasure-salvage boat; scuttled as an artificial reef
The King was built in South Carolina in 1941 as a diesel-powered US Navy tug. After her naval career she came to Bermuda, where she was converted for treasure salvage and later worked as a dive boat for her owner, Gary Lamb, complete with her own compressor for filling scuba tanks on board. She was probably the tug King Otto, which the Royal Gazette shows Lamb, then a Southampton excavating contractor, running out of St David's in 1977 and keeping at Dolly's Bay in 1981.
In 1984 Lamb gave her up to be sunk as an artificial reef, and South Side Scuba scuttled her about half a mile off the South Shore - the first vessel in Bermuda to be sunk deliberately as a dive site. She drew fish and divers so well that she helped inspire later scuttlings such as the Hermes and the ferry Triton. Even so, for almost ten years the exact position was lost and the wreck was rarely visited until it was found again. In 2009 a second, larger tug, the former Dockyard tug Forceful, was sunk about 100 yards away, making a two-tug dive.
The King lies with her bow on the reef and her stern in the sand, listed about 45 degrees to starboard, in roughly 60-65 ft. Earlier guides describe swimming into the pilothouse, galley and engine room; storms have since opened holes in her hull, and some operators now say entry is not possible but you can look inside through the openings. Combine with the nearby Forceful across an S-shaped sand patch. Suits Advanced divers; the surrounding reef and sand holes are good for shells and tropical fish.