RONALD B. JOHNSON Broward County

The bulk carrying freighter Ronald B. Johnson was built in Holland in 1955 as the Otto. She was 226 feet long, had a 37 foot beam and a 16 foot draft. The Otto burned and sunk in Kingston Harbor, Jamaica, on December 24, 1983. She was sold for scrap, raised and towed to Pompano Beach and resunk on May 15, 1988. The wreck was dedicated to America's Vietnam veterans. Now renamed R.B. Johnson, the freighter is a deep water wreck that is better left to fishermen or highly experienced deep divers as she sits in 240 to 260 feet of water.

According to local diver, Ed Murphy, there are two wrecks on this site. Ed reports that the R.B. Johnson actually sits on top and at a right angle to a deeper wreck which may be the Corey N Chris, a dredge sunk in 1986.

Photo: The Ronald B. Johnson was sunk as an artificial reef on May 15, 1988. Photo courtesy Steve Somerville.

Basic shipwreck information and images for this section of this site was taken with permission from the book Florida Shipwrecks by Daniel Berg. You are invited to submit your shipwreck related articles, images and information. As long as the text, photographs, sketches etc are of professional quality we will showcase them. Full credit will be provide and a same page link to your web site can be arranged.