Morehead City, North Carolina, United States

Papoose

The Papoose (often referenced as the SS Papoose) is a US tanker torpedoed by the German submarine U-124 on the night of 18 to 19 March 1942 off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, during the height of Operation Drumbeat. Two of the 33-man crew were lost. The wreck has long been identified as the Papoose by NC dive operators, although NOAA has documented that the actual identity of the upside-down hulk is debated and may instead be the SS W.E. Hutton (also torpedoed in the same period); for the purposes of this dive description we use the operator-traditional name as that is how it is dispatched. The wreck lies inverted on a sand bottom at 37 metres about 35 nautical miles south of Morehead City, with the keel around 30 metres. The hull has corroded into a complex of overhangs and debris fields ideal for shelter, and the site is famous for resident sand tiger sharks: aggregations of 20 to 60 animals are routine in summer. Visibility is excellent during Gulf Stream weeks.