Charles L. Brown Wreck
St. Eustatius Marine Park · Sint Eustatius
At 100 m (327 ft) long, the Charles L. Brown is the largest shipwreck in the eastern Caribbean — a former AT&T transatlantic cable layer built in Naples in 1954 as the CS Salernum. Sint Eustatius bought her for one dollar, stripped her of contaminants and scuttled her on 25 July 2003 to seed an artificial reef. She lies on her side on a sand slope off the island's leeward coast: the upper hull tops out near 20 m while the bridge and bow reach 30 m, and a long swim through runs the superstructure. Encrusting cup coral and sponges now sheathe the steel, and a resident barracuda nicknamed 'Charlie', dense schools of horse eye jacks, cubera snapper and passing reef sharks patrol the hull.
Conditions
Depth
20 to 30 m
Open water and up
Current
Usually gentle
Can pick up on the edge
Visibility
18 to 28 m
Clearest in the calm season
Water
25 to 30°C
Shorty or rash guard
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water (°C) | 26 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 26 |
| Vis (m) | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 20 |
| Current | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Great barracuda
Last confirmed May 15, 2026 · 65 records
Almost always
Nearly every dive
Horse-eye jack
Last confirmed Aug 4, 2025 · 1 records
Likely
About 6 in 10 dives
Cubera snapper
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Hawksbill turtle
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Spotted eagle ray
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Caribbean reef shark
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Gear
Basic kit
For this site
- Primary dive light · The superstructure swim-through and the wreck's interior compartments are dark even at midday; a torch reveals the cup coral, sponges and moray eels colonising the steel.
- Nitrox and dive computer · With most of the structure sitting between 20 and 30 m, enriched air meaningfully extends bottom time on this deep wreck while a computer tracks the multi-level profile.