The "Concrete Ship" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Walking Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ with my brother Steve looking for the elusive Cape May diamond.  Directly in front us about 100 yards off the beach in the swirling waters of the Atlantic Ocean lies a concrete ship.  Yep, you read that right ...... a concrete ship!  Ship is named the Atlantus and has a fascinating history to it.  It was during World War I that an emergency fleet of  38 concrete ships was planned due to a shortage of steel.  

Sign telling about the Atlantus. Click to enlarge.

The United States Shipping Board had plans to build the 38 ships, but only 12 were ever put into service with another two that were scrapped before they were completed.  So, what are you thinking by now?  Wouldn't a concrete ship sink?  Well, that's why there is a concrete ship off the coast of Cape May's Sunset Beach.  Not quite sunk, but run aground.  The Atlantus was a 3,000 ton, 250 foot long freighter.  Built with a 5 inch thick hull of special concrete aggregate which helped prevent shattering and brittleness problems which plagued the first concrete models.  It was built in Georgia and launched on November 21, 1918 at Wilmington, North Carolina.  It served for a year as a government owned, privately operated commercial coal steamer in New England.  Then, after the war ended and steel was once again plentiful, all the concrete ships were decommissioned.  The Atlantus ended up in Norfolk, VA in September of 1920.  It was purchased by a salvage company and towed to Cape May with plans to use it as part of a ferry service from Cape May to Lewes, Delaware.  A channel was to be dredged into the shoreline at Cape May, the ship was to be forced into the channel and a special drawbridge device was to be mounted on it to accept the ferry that would come from Lewes.  

The S.S. Atlantus with the Cape May Ferry in the background.

While the Atlantus was being positioned, it broke loose of it's mooring  during a storm on June 8th, 1926 and went aground.  Several attempts were made to free it, but nothing worked.  So, today the ship causes the swirling waters coming from the Delaware River to deposit its quartz pebbles on the beach where Steve and I are searching for our treasures.  To me, the Atlantus is an eyesore, but it does draw visitors to Sunset Beach and helps deposit the jewels for which the beach is so famous and is one of the main reasons Sunset Beach has been voted one of the Top 25 Beaches in America!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.