?Texas Clipper? to be used as artificial reef

ôTexas Clipperö to be used as artificial reef    A former troop transport ship, which was also used for training merchant mariners by Texas A&M University, will be sunk to serve as an artificial reef.
   The Maritime Administration said the 'Texas Clipper' has been towed from the Beaumont Reserve Fleet and will be cleaned in Brownsville before being sunk 17 miles off the Texas coastline in 134 feet of water on the sandy floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
   'The 'Texas Clipper' has had several useful lives,' said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton, noting that after serving as a troop transport, the ship had been used for commercial cruises and then by Texas A&M before entering MarAd's Beaumont Reserve Fleet.
   Officials say the ship will help the environment by creating new marine life, and benefit the local economy by enhancing tourism as part of Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission's 'Ships to Reefs' program.
   That program began in the mid-1970s with a dozen World War II-era 'Liberty' ships sunk at six sites along the coast.