Jupiter Star / Cleve Jones
SPECIFICATIONS
COORDINATES
MAX DEPTH
RELIEF
SUNK DATE
25° 48.975' N
155
ft
0
ft
80° 04.890' W
47
0
m
m
August 14, 2002
ft
m
232
ft
70.3
m
RECOMMENDED MINIMUM TRAINING
HISTORY
The 498‐ton freighter known as the Jupiter Star was launched on May 19, 1956, as the Ubbergen. She was built by B.V. v/h Scheepswerven Gebr. Van Diepen at their Waterhuizen, Netherlands, shipyard for the vessel’s first owner, the South Holland Shipping Company. The 498‐ton general cargo freighter w a s 225.9 feet long and 33.5 feet wide. In 1961, the Ubbergen was converted into alive stock carrier for the purpose of ferrying horses. With a capacity of 202 horses, over the course of five years she carried more than 50,000 horses between Amsterdam and the Baltic Sea port of Klaipéda, Lithuania. In 1966, she was retro fitted back to her original configuration of a general cargo vessel. The freighter traded hands numerous times over the next three decades: in 1968 she was sold to Peter Schaa Sr., of Leer, Germany, who renamed her the Hella Schaa; in 1976 she was sold to a Cypriot company and renamed Katerina El; she was renamed Kostas in 1979 after being sold to a Greek firm; in 1983 she was sold to the Cassandra Shipping Company and renamed the Nita II; two years later she sailed as the Pallini; in 1990 she operated as the Eleni M. for Gaya Shipping, Incorporated; a year later she was known as the Nitsa; in 1993 she was sold to a Honduran company and renamed Falcon; in 1994 she traded hands yet again and was renamed Christopher 8 Natalie; and finally, in 1994, she was sold to the Belizean shipping company Rose Shipping Limited and renamed Rosemarie. It is unclear when the vessel became known as the Jupiter Star, as this name does not appear in the vessel’s documentation history. Abandoned to rust on the Miami River, the vessel was later sold for use asan artificial reef. The Atlantic Gamefish Foundation helped prepare the freighter, which was renamed the Cleve Iones, Sr. after the founder of the Jones Boat Yard, prior to its August 14, 2002, scuttling at the Pflueger Artificial Reef Site off Miami. The former Ubbergen now rests intact on its port side, in approximately 160 feet of water. It is possible for divers with the requisite training and experience to penetrate down the funnel into the engine room, where numerous gauge panels can be observed.