Shipwrecks and shore memory · Ship Bottom
The Fortuna wreck and Ship Bottom’s recovered anchor
Borough and county accounts compared · Original rescue log not inspected
The Italian bark Fortuna ran aground off Ship Bottom on January 18, 1910. The hull vanished from the beach, but the recovered anchor remains a public reminder of the wreck.
A wreck that stayed in view
The Borough of Ship Bottom’s history dates the grounding to January 18, 1910, during thick fog at 16th Street beach. It says the captain and crew were rescued, the vessel capsized in soft sand, and salvagers cut up the visible wreck later that year. A Historical Society of Riverton account using maritime collections and old photographs describes the Fortuna as a three-masted Italian bark carrying coal from Montevideo toward New York. It reports that the local U.S. Life-Saving Service rescued 18 people, including Captain Giovan Adragna’s family. The original station log has not been inspected here, so that passenger breakdown remains attributed to the later account.
The anchor returned
In 1983, Carole Bradshaw found the ship’s anchor protruding from the sand. The Ocean County publication describing the 2010 centennial credits her with recovering the roughly three-ton anchor and moving it to a memorial outside Borough Hall. The borough continues to identify the anchor there, and the municipal-building designers describe a new anchor plaza as part of the 2025 complex. The outdoor artifact is the practical history stop; the map does not claim that any wreckage remains visible at 16th Street. Municipal complex project account.
Two shipwreck stories, one town name
The Fortuna became a civic image, but it did not give Ship Bottom its name. The borough’s account attributes that name to an earlier wreck and rescue involving an unidentified woman. Its narrative says the vessel and woman were never recorded by name. That earlier story should be read as the borough’s historical tradition, separate from the dated and named 1910 Fortuna wreck.
Details still worth checking
The later summaries disagree on the ship’s gross tonnage: the Ocean County centennial piece gives 983 tons, while the Historical Society of Riverton article gives 924. Both give a length of 193 feet. A vessel register or contemporaneous casualty report would be needed to settle the discrepancy. The county piece also describes roof tiles and a local “spaghetti boat” nickname; these are recollections in a centennial account, not details established here from the 1910 rescue record. Ocean County centennial account; Historical Society of Riverton account.
Visit the evidence
Use the borough’s published 1621 Long Beach Boulevard address for the outdoor anchor plaza. The historical 16th Street beach location is a separate shoreline reference, not an excavation site or a promise that remains can be seen. Check current borough information and local parking and beach rules before visiting. For another Jersey Shore hull that became a landmark, read about the Sindia at Ocean City.
Sources and research limits
- Borough of Ship Bottom, “History of Ship Bottom” — Official account of the 1910 wreck, the distinct naming tradition and current anchor display.
- Ocean County, “Fortuna Commemorated 100 Years Later,” spring 2010, p. 9 — Contemporary centennial coverage and Bradshaw’s 1983 recovery.
- Harlan Radford Jr., Historical Society of Riverton, 2021 — Later account using maritime collections and period images; gives the 18-person rescue detail and a conflicting tonnage.
- T&M Associates, Ship Bottom Municipal Building project — Describes the anchor’s placement in the new plaza.
No original 1910 U.S. Life-Saving Service log, vessel register or surveyed wreck position was inspected. The beach reference and Borough Hall artifact are distinct map locations.