September 1, 2014 Photo Of The Day

A concrete ship? Yep! Today I would like to share a photo I shot while at Sunset Beach in Cape May Point, New Jersey yesterday. The S.S. Atlantus. One of twelve experimental concrete ships built during World War I. Though this ship made two Trans-Atlantic trips to bring soldiers home from Europe it was quickly discovered that concrete ships were not very feasible. Obviously due to their weight. 

The Atlantus was launched into service on December 5, 1918 and retired to a scrap yard in Virginia in 1920. In 1926 Colonel Jesse Rosenfeld purchased the ship to use as a ferry dock in Cape May Point. In June of 1926 the Atlantus broke free of it's moorings during a storm and now rests about 150 feet off shore of Sunset Beach. Though many attempts were made to rescue the ship, none were successful.

You can read more about the S.S. Atlantus here and here. And here is the photo.

This is all that remains today. The years, salt water and weather have all taken their toll. Check out the links above for more pictures and you will see what it looked like before going mostly under.

As always, I really appreciate you stopping by and checking out my little blog. I hope you enjoy it and like what you see. Keep checking back. I am working on a longer post or two from our recent trip. Also check out some more of my photos here at 500px.com and here at Flickr.
 
Until next time...