Jim Atria

The Poinciana was launched on February 22, 1961, at the Groningen shipyard in the Netherlands by Noord Nederlandse. It was initially owned by Stoomboot Maatschappij Hillegersberg and powered by an 8-cylinder Stork Werkspoor diesel engine. In 1966, it changed ownership to Stoomboot Maatschappij Oostzee-Willemstad, and in 1972, it was acquired by the Poinciana Trading Company, Limited, based in the Cayman Islands. However, on September 21, 1982, the Poinciana encountered a mishap. As it departed from the Miami River bound for both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, it developed a severe starboard list. After several hours, the ship sank to the bottom of the Miami River, resting on a high-voltage (69,000 V) power line that served the southern area. The incident was allegedly caused by a miscalculation during the conversion from kilograms to pounds, resulting in the ship being overloaded by 300 tons of cargo (160 tons beyond its rated capacity of 139 tons). After blocking the Miami River for four days, the freighter was salvaged and successfully refloated but was subsequently abandoned in Miami. It remained rusting at its berth for five years until it was acquired by the Broward County Artificial Reef Program. The ship’s name history includes “Poinciana” (1961) and later “Jim Atria” (1987), named after Fort Lauderdale developer and avid diver Jim Atria. The Jim Atria originally came to rest on its port side in over 110 feet of water. Six years later, Hurricane Andrew’s storm surge righted the vessel and moved it offshore, where it now lies in 135 feet of water. Covered in a thick layer of gorgonians and orange cup coral, the Jim Atria is a fantastic dive site and one of the larger intact recreational-depth wrecks off Fort Lauderdale.