Joe Weatherby likes to go big. No one knows better than the veteran artificial reefer — the man behind Key West’s Vandy and many more artificial reefs the world over — how expensive it is to safely and properly give retired ships new life as artificial reefs that can be enjoyed for decades by divers and fishermen.

His latest project, the reefing of the USS Clamagore, a 320-foot Balao-class submarine built in 1945, is expected to cost around $4 million. Officials in Florida’s Palm Beach County in January enthusiastically approved $1 million for the project, to be sited just south of Jupiter, about 75 feet deep. 

Enter Jeff Stillwell, president of Salt Life, the popular lifestyle brand and restaurant chain, and a dedicated scuba diver since 1986, a pursuit he describes as his favorite salt-life activity. (No. 2? “Sitting on the back of the boat with a beverage.”)

Stillwell met Weatherby in the Keys and was hooked. Salt Life has pledged to raise $1 million in support of Clamagore reef.

“At Salt Life we love everything about salt water, and we have to make sure we give back,” Stillwell says, citing the brand’s ongoing support of the Roatan Marine Park as an example. “This was an opportunity to take something historic like Clamagore and make a reef, something that will touch people who fish, people who dive — where would you ever see anything like this? And creating a great environment for sea life, that’s a win-win.”

The 100-percent cotton, sky-blue t-shirt — available for $25 at clamagorereef.com in sizes small through 2X — incorporates historic info and drawings of the sub in its design. Salt Life is donating net profits from the shirt to the Clamagore reef project. A GoFundMe campaign also has been established.

Since 1981, Clamagore has been on display at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum near Charleston, South Carolina. The museum also has agreed to contribute funds toward sending Clamagore to its next and final assignment. Plans for the installation in Palm Beach County include a land-based Clamagore museum that would complement the historic reef.