India, Oct. 27 -- On January 20, 2017, a 371-foot cargo ship slipped beneath the waves of the Gulf of Mexico(Gulf of America). That was the plan. According to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department news release, the vessel was deliberately sunk 67 miles off the coast of Galveston by the department's Artificial Reef Program. The ship was called the Kraken, after the mythical squid-like sea monster popularized in film and literature. The idea was simple: give a retired ship a new life as a home for marine life.

The story of the Kraken started in May 2016. The ship was towed from Trinidad to Brownsville, Texas, where it was prepared to become a reef. But before that could happen, it had to be cleaned. Cahaba Disaster Recovery LLC contractors...