ships have always been an integral part of humanity and vessel types have ranged from
wood to aluminum and steel but how many of us can imagine a concrete ship well indeed concrete ships
did exist and there's one wreck on the shore of cape may new jersey called the ss atlantis that
might offer us an understanding for why they failed today we discover the story of the ss
atlantis and the fall of concrete ships i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
the first concrete ship was built in france in 1848 by joseph lewis lambot who invented furrow
cement which led to the development of reinforced concrete furrow cement is a thin wall reinforced
concrete commonly constructed of hydraulic cement mortar strengthened with closely spaced layers
of continuous and relatively small wire mesh this mesh may be made of metallic or other suitable
materials in the early 1840s lambot started constructing water tanks using cement mortar
and iron reinforcement most likely in the form of iron rods chicken wire and possibly barrel bonds
that had become widely available with the arrival of the machine age in 1848 lambot constructed his
first boat using the same system which he tested on puns the boat was patented on january 30th 1855
and presented at paris's 1855 world's fair ironically and not unlike the shipwreck in cape
may lambot's ship sank and was preserved in the mud at the bottom of a lake where it was put on
display an interesting fact is that the boat was actually recovered more than a hundred years later
into the 1860s furo cement barges were used in many countries across europe for canals
and numerous small concrete boats were built in england in the first decade of the 20th century
designed in 1917 one of these three ships the violetta is now a boating clubhouse
on medway river in england and perhaps it's best off this way as the violeta proved to be
troublesome from the start of her career after running trials off gravesend on august the 5th
1919 she was not accepted by her owners veleta was ultimately declared a loss and was laid anchored
her engine was removed and converted to a later type installed in the coastal tanker stargate
this makes her the oldest concrete ship still afloat things took another step forward around
1896 when an italian engineer carlo gabilini began building small ships out of furrow cements the
most famous of these ships was the liguria by the end of the great war steel shortages forced the us
navy to order many concrete ships the largest of them was ss selma the ss selma was a 7 500
ton reinforced concrete tanker built in mobile alabama it was launched on june the 28th 1919
and had a length of 420 feet a beam of 54 feet and a draft with full cargo of 26 feet her loaded
displacement was 13 000 tons the concrete mixture was quite fluid to obtain the proper placement
in the thin hull and throughout the heavy mats of steel internal vibration was also used to improve
consolidation although she will never sail again the ss selma is still quite visible today from
the historical marker on pelican island these ships were built by liberty shipbuilding company
liberty ships carried two-thirds of u.s cargo thus playing a significant role as merchant vessels the
estimated cost per ship was 375 000 on april the 6th 1917 president woodrow wilson declared
war on germany after several years of maintaining strict neutrality towards the conflict in europe
entering at the tail end of the battle the u.s was coming to aid the severely diminished allied
forces to better transport resources the us needed more ships so wilson declared a mandate to produce
new merchant vessels to help the cause costing about 50 million dollars
but even with the money invested the scarcity of steel was still an issue so naval engineers
were tasked with finding affordable plentiful alternatives to metal surprisingly concrete
came to mind almost immediately smaller ships had been made out of the material since the mid-1800s
but larger scale cargo vessels were still a relatively new concept so the government enlisted
norseman nicolai fogner to conduct a study of feasibility for bigger more formidable concrete
ships in his home country faulkner had already built the first self-propelled ocean-ready
concrete ship measuring in at 84 feet and weighing 400 tons this norwegian ship was launched in 1917
but due to widespread skepticism by engineers and sailors the norwegian government had him construct
it using his own money and required a sea trial before they would allow it to be used for trade
after the successful test of the first ship the government permitted him to build more but
once again he had to front the capital to make the ships ultimately he would go on to build four more
vessels given faulkner's history it's no surprise that his study ultimately endorsed the manufacture
of similar vessels in the united states so not long after the u.s commissioned 24 concrete ships
to help with the war effort so how does concrete flow well surprisingly the same way that a massive
steel vessel floats with airtight compartments and a large hull for added structural strength
the concrete was reinforced with a steel skeleton feasibility studies by marine engineers indicated
that a supported concrete ship would be practical if the concrete had a compressive strength of 5000
psi and although this technology is impressive the ships were planned as a convenient solution
but everyone knew that they would only be temporary in 1918 rj wig the head engineer
of the concrete ship project would say quote concrete ships will be durable for several years
and serviceable throughout the probable duration of the war the upper limit of life expectancy is
three or four years because of deteriorating elements the present emergency calls for ships
and their life is not of great importance at this time essentially they were building themselves
a disposable fleet it was a weird solution and the world was enamored by these ships in fact in
june of 1918 efc draftsman e.j tully was arrested for trying to steal a complete set of blueprints
for a concrete boat his accomplice was a german agent who was later discovered to be waiting for
the plans in new orleans they were unsuccessful and the american production of concrete ships
continued the need to build ships rapidly increased during world war one and on april
16 1917 the u.s shipping board incorporated the emergency fleet corporation to build own and
operate a merchant fleet for the u.s government the shipping board created by the shipping act of
1916 was the first body specifically charged with the supervision of the merchant marine
the u.s shipping board controlled the emergency fleet corporation and carried out world war one
and post-war merchant marine policy particularly a progressive building policy to set up new yards
the largest of these yards was located on hog island near philadelphia this brings us to the
hero of our video and the first concrete ship built by the emergency fleet the ss atlantis
the ss atlantis was a 260 foot long cargo ship powered by a steam engine she could sail at
speeds up to 10.5 knots or about 12 miles per hour the steamer was launched on december the 5th 1918
with the ship's maiden voyage being a short trip to wilmington on the 26th of may 1919
after some final touches in wilmington where the emergency fleet headquarters was located
the atlantis sailed to new york production pushed ahead but not fast enough to aid the war effort
as victory was declared on november the 11th 1918 the war ended before the ss atlantis was finished
but she still had one full year of active duty for example the ship made at least two trips to france
to retrieve service members therefore the atlantis was primarily used to carry soldiers back home
from europe but also shuttled coal up to new england for a time naturally when the war came
to a close the shipbuilding program was abruptly halted and the experimental ships quickly became a
burden according to some sailors they moved too slowly consumed way too much fuel and weren't
well suited for transatlantic trips most sailors suspicious of the technology behind a concrete
vessel refer to them as quote floating tombstones sources indicate that nationally only 12 concrete
vessels were completed in 1920 the atlantis was sent to the ship's boneyard at pigs point
in norfolk virginia and salvaged for scrap the engines were removed the valuable parts resold
and basically only the ship's outer shell stayed afloat while waiting for the right buyer this
probably leads you to wonder how she ended up wrecked on the shores of new jersey in 1926 the
atlantis and her two sister ships were rescued by colonel jesse rosenfield a baltimore entrepreneur
rosenfeld purchased the atlantis not for any grand voyage but as a cornerstone to his plan
in linking delaware and new jersey his aim was to start a fairy line between cape may and cape
henlopen basically he needed the concrete ship not to move passengers but as the first part of
a concrete wharf with the atlantis as the initial outlet rosenfield planned to use the two sister
ships as well digging shallow depressions for each so that they'd form a y-shaped slip if his plan
worked then fairies could slowly slide between the ships the atlantis was towed to cape may point
new jersey to become a part of the concrete wharf for the ferry service that would run there
in march 1926 the ferry dock was constructed with groundbreaking ceremonies and the town
celebrated this new enterprise only three months into operation and before the project was even
fully completed a nor eastern tore the ship from its moorings which resulted in the shipwreck we
see today the boat drifted into the bay struck a sandbar and ran aground about 150 feet from shore
though the ship had no engine it still had a caretaker aboard to make minor repairs so as
the vessel moved seaward the caretaker rushed on deck and began waving a white shirt joe trolley
an employee at a nearby saw plant saw the distress signal and rode out to the atlantis
saving the caretaker and his cat from danger and hence this ominous shipwreck has been haunting
the shores of new jersey ever since over the ensuing years several rescue attempts of the
ss atlantis proved unsuccessful despite many tries the vessel couldn't be rescued the weight of the
boat was the reason so she was finally consigned to the waves as a lost cause just a stone's throw
from the shore of sunset beach and over the years just as engineers have warned the ship has become
destined to disintegration concrete ships were not meant to last long they were too slow and
not cost effective designers only gave them a few years of life expectancy and at the end of the war
steel once again became readily available so now that the more efficient and trusted
steel ships were back in production low-cost alternative materials were deemed insufficient and
concrete ships as a concept fell into obscurity the atlantis held together longer than anyone
suspected but by now little remains first its hull started splitting by the mid-1950s the entire hole
began to come apart and by 1961 it was fully divided in two these days the stern can be spotted
but most of the concrete has been washed away occasionally the bow peeks above water in low tide
but only ever so slightly the middle part of the ship is permanently submerged and with the
ravage of time it will effectively disappear one interesting side effect to all this is that the
wreck became a tourist attraction and if you'd like to see it it's best observed during low tide
nearby parking is free with a few handicapped spaces available at sunset beach what's more
nearby you will also find a world war two lookout tower and the cape may lighthouse national park
that being said this shipwreck has also been on the dark side of tourism
at one point people would dive into the water to look at the ship's interiors sadly this ended
tragically when one person drowned so divers no longer explore the depths of the atlantis
another interesting event took place when an enterprising businessman recognized the whole
as a prime advertising space and painted a billboard for his boat insurance company
on the ship's side which indeed is a rather ironic way to get that type of message across
to fellow boat owners overall the ss atlantis has stayed stationed for over 90 years
now the underwater wreckage is coated in muscle beds teeming with sea bass and rumor has it
is harboring sand polished cape may diamonds the size of baseballs in my opinion the atlantis is
emblematic of a time when america faced desperation let's be honest building a
ship out of concrete sounds so absurd that if not for the imposing shipwreck littered across
sunset beach you probably wouldn't even believe it to be true with that i'd like to thank you
all for watching encourage you to check out our new jersey history playlist and subscribe to
catch new episodes every thursday and saturday until next time this is ryan socash signing off