Description: A Web Page dedicated to Captain Shirley J Brown who, though his longtime tug and barge company, Brown Marine Service, Inc., created many artifical fishing reefs for Alabama & Florida from ships, tugs, concrete bridge rubble and even railroad box cars. On June 3, 2015, his concrete ship, The 'Tenneco Boat', became the newest artifical fishing reef off of the coast of Alabama & Florida
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The Boat built of Cement in 1943 was known to many as the "Tenneco Boat" or "The Concrete Ship". It was owned by longtime Pensacola businessman and commercial tugboat and barge operator Capt. Shirley J Brown who acquired it in the 1980's from the Tenneco Oil Company. What is known about it is somewhat sketchy. It was built in Saint Marks, Florida during World War II, so the shortage of steel was most likely the reason that it was built from cement and wood rather than steel. At that time many vessels includ