Golden Ray Shipwreck - St Simons Sound
Sept 8, 2019 2 AM
A South Korean car carrier that had just departed one of Brunswick GA deepwater ports, while making a right turn, tipped and beached itself in the channel between Jekyll Island and St Simons. Thankfully there were NO deaths - with all 23 seamen getting off. Reportedly there were about 4200+ Hyundai and Kia vehicles being transported. A good link below explains it a lot better than I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Golden_Ray
Car and Driver also had a great article about the Golden Ray
Sept 9 - 10 Rescue and media coverage
To remove the ship they will weld 16 "handles" ontop of the ship, slice the ship into 8 pieces, and lift and transfer each piece to the Brunswick Port. This is where they will finish taking out and documenting every vehicle before transporting the empty section to a scrap yard in Louisianna.
Bottom side of ship as seen from Jekyll Island
Starting to weld the "handles" onto the ship
Sept 2020 - a Year later
All the "handles" have been attached
The Big Yellow thing called the VB 10,000 arrived in October 2020 - it sort of seesaws a huge chain underneath the ship that cuts up thru the vessel. First cut was the bow in November- second cut was the stern in December.
They worked 24/7 and because of Covid-19 they sequestered the workers at Epworth.
One piece being emptied at the port - If you zoom in you will see some of the cars hanging.
Empty piece being towed to the scrap yard in Louisianna.
Lots of tourists came to see the Golden Ray including Penny and Ted !
5 pieces left.....
The VB 10,000 lifting a piece up to put it on a barge.
4 pieces....
Unfortunately there was a large fire and oil spill from 'section 6' (the 4th piece) in mid May 2021 but by the end of May they are finally able to resume cutting.
I'll add more photos as it gets smaller and say a prayer that they can clean up the spills on the beaches and in the marshes. I also hope they can remove all the car and ship pieces that have escaped the catch-all net.
Almost the 2 year mark - Sept 6th
Down to the last 2 pieces
Two of the sections that are now located at the Brunswick Port.
For more detailed and very accurate information go to
Warning - There are so many official reports that you will have to be really persistant to get to the earlier ones.
