A 205-foot vessel immortalized for its service as a Coast Guard cutter that conducted daring rescues during a brutal 1991 East Coast storm was deployed Wednesday off Cape May to become part of an artificial reef comprised of old military ships that is enhancing fishing opportunities off New Jersey and Delaware. The vessel was featured in the bestselling book The Perfect Storm and the movie of the same name.

Tamaroa gained fame for its rescue efforts during the 1991 Halloween Storm – a rare convergence of a hurricane and a massive low pressure system from Canada – that battered the East Coast and was chronicled in Sebastian Junger’s bestselling book, The Perfect Storm, made into a hit movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.