Atlantic Beach, NC (April 2025)

diving aboard Atlantis IV

WE Hutton, aka Papoose (sunk March 18, 1942 by U-124)

Our annual April trip to Atlantic Beach is a bit early in the season for East Coast diving, with the risk of wind and rough seas always present, as well as cold water temperatures. We managed to get out to the wreck of the Papoose (actually the WE Hutton) on Friday, and indeed the water on the bottom was a chilly 66 degrees, but the visibility was reasonably good. We did have some decent shark action, as well as a huge stingray lying in the sand, which we tentatively identified as a roughtail stingray, a larger cousin to the more common southern stingray.
This roughtail stingray was hanging around the wreck for both of our dives, and was quite large. On the first dive she was sitting in the sand alongside the hull on the starboard side, but on the second dive it was sitting off the wreck's upside-down stern.
The wreck's hull is rapidly collapsing these days, but in some ways it becomes a more interesting dive. You can easily swim in and out of the stern on either side, and the cylinders of the upside-down steam engine are now readily visible (above left).
(above left) A sand tiger swims overhead; (above right) a small sand tiger swimming in front of the upside down bow of the ship, the anchor visible to the left, still in its hawsepipe.