SS Atlantus

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Atlantus1926.jpg
SS Atlantus the day she ran aground
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameSS Atlantus
Owner United States Shipping Board (1919-1925), H. P. Etheridge (1925-April 30, 1926), [1] National Navigation Company (April 30, 1926-) [2]
OperatorRaporel Steamship Line (August 16, 1919-December 1919), [3] Clyde Steamship Company (December 1919-1920), National Navigation Company (April 30, 1926-)
BuilderLiberty Ship Building Company, Brunswick, Georgia
Laid downMarch 18, 1918 [4]
LaunchedDecember 4, 1918 [5]
CommissionedJune 1, 1919 [2]
In service1919
Out of service1920 [2]
FateWrecked, July 10, 1926
General characteristics
Type Concrete cargo ship
Tonnage3,000  DWT [6] 2,391  GT [7]
Length260 ft 2.5 in (79.312 m) (o/a), 250 ft (76 m) (p/p), [6]
Beam43 ft 6 in (13.26 m) [6]
Draft6.7 m (22 ft)[ citation needed ]
Depth26 ft 9 in (8.15 m) [6]
Installed powerTwo boilers fueled by 16 oil bunkers of 220,000 US gallons (830,000 L; 180,000 imp gal) capacity [2] [8]
Propulsion188 nhp, 1,400  ihp (1,000 kW) triple-expansion steam engine, three cylinders [8] [9]
Speed10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)[ citation needed ]

SS Atlantus is a concrete ship built by the Liberty Shipbuilding Company in Brunswick, Georgia, United States, during and after World War I. [10] As EFC Design 1040, [11] she was the first concrete ship constructed for the World War I Emergency Fleet, and the second concrete ship built in the United States (after the Faith ). [12] [10] Her name was given by Edith Wilson. [13]

Contents

History

She was originally contracted on December 17, 1917. [14] The keel of the Atlantus was laid on March 18, 1918. [4] [15] The cost of each concrete ship was projected to be $375,000 ($8.03 million in 2025), [4] but after production was scaled back, the cost of the Atlantus was placed at $1,125,129.40 ($20.7 million in 2025). [11] After two failed attempts, [16] the steamer was launched endwise [15] [17] on December 4, 1918 at 8:30 a.m. [9] [5] After the armistice, work on her and other Emergency Fleet vessels was de-prioritized. [10] [18]

During a trial run on May 24, 1919, a small fire destroyed a life boat. [19] She sailed to the Liberty Shipbuilding Company's headquarters in Wilmington, North Carolina on her initial voyage at 4 a.m. on May 27, 1919 for final touches, prior to sailing for New York. [20] [10] On August 16, 1919, she was turned over to the Raporel Steamship Line to be used in their West Indies service. [3] The Atlantus was used by the Clyde Steamship Company to primarily transport coal from Norfolk, Virginia to New England. [15] After seventeen sailings, the ship was found to be unprofitable to operate, and she was returned to the Shipping Board to be laid up at Norfolk. [15] She made transatlantic journeys on several occasions, but the port records of her log were damaged. [2] [21]

She was tied up in the James River in 1920. [2] In 1925, she was purchased by H. P. Etheridge, a salvage company, for $3,025 ($55,535 in 2025). [2] [1] [7] She was stripped of most items of value and then moved to Craney Island flats, where she sank for unexplained reasons on way to anchorage. [22] [1] As she was deemed a navigational hazard, it was ordered she be refloated. It took until May 20, 1926 to accomplish the refloat. [1]

On April 30, 1926, Colonel Jesse Rosenfeld, president of the National Navigation Company, purchased the Atlantus for use in the creation of a ferry dock (for a route now served by the Cape May–Lewes Ferry) out of her and two other ships. [2] The plan was to dredge a channel into which the Atlantus would be towed, then submerged by filling it with sand, creating a bridge between the pier and the slips. [2] Afterward, the other two wooden ships would be anchored stern-to-stern with the Atlantus in a Y formation, which would also filled with sand and sunk to create the slips. [2] In March 1926, the groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the construction of the ferry dock. The Atlantus arrived at Cape May on June 8 at 11 a.m. [23] and was towed to Cape May Point on June 10. [24] Before it could be placed, the ship was beached in a storm on July 10, 1926. [25] She was refloated on July 11, but dragged anchor into a sewer discharge pipe on July 12. [25] Several attempts were made to free the ship, but none were successful. [26]

The wreck was used for a time by the United States Coast Guard base at nearby Sewell Point for breeches buoy training. [27] At one time there was a billboard painted on the side of the ship advertising boat insurance. [28] Since her sinking, her slowly deteriorating hull has drawn tourists, although little of her is left visible above the water line. The wreckage is currently split in three pieces. The stern is the most visible section, the middle is completely submerged, and the bow can only be viewed at low tide.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Concrete Steamer Atlantus Raised". The Virginian-Pilot . May 21, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Concrete Ship, War Failure, to Serve Peace End". Milford Chronicle. June 25, 1926. p. 1,10. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Concrete Ship Launched". The Bennington Evening Banner . Washington, D.C. August 18, 1919 [article composed August 16, 1919]. p. 6. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "Concrete Ships at Brunswick Plant". The Wilmington Dispatch. March 18, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Concrete Vessel Launched". Richmond Times-Dispatch . Brunswick, Georgia. December 5, 1918 [article composed December 4, 1918]. p. 3. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "EFC Concrete Dsn. #1". Emergency Fleet Corporation . Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Ninth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Government Printing Office. 1925. p. 165.
  8. 1 2 Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1919-1920. Vol. II Steamers. Lloyd's Register. p. 88. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  9. 1 2 "First U.S. Concrete Ship Launched at Brunswick". The Atlanta Georgian . Vol. 17, no. 106. December 5, 1918 [article composed December 4, 1919]. p. 4. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "First Concrete Vessel Built on the Atlantic on Initial Trip Monday". The Atlanta Constitution . Vol. II, no. 233. Brunswick, Georgia. May 25, 1919. p. 5. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  11. 1 2 Hearings Before the Select Committee To Inquire Into the Operations, Policies, and Affairs of the United States Shipping Board and the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, House of Representatives, Sixty-Eighth Congress, First Session, Pursuant To House Resolution 186: Exhibits to Testimony, Part C (Report). Government Printing Office. 1925. p. 2075.
  12. ↑ "Concrete Ships a Success". Birmingham Age-Herald . March 9, 1919. p. 10. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Concrete Ship Atlantus". Public Ledger . November 16, 1918. p. 10. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  14. ↑ Hearings Before the Committee on Commerce United States Senate Sixty-Fifth Congress Second Session of Senate Resolution 170 (Report). Vol. 1. Government Printing Office. 1918. p. 337. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Harper, Walter R. (1922). "Concrete Ships Constructed by U.S. Shipping Board". Proceedings of the American Concrete Institute. 18: 83–114.
  16. ↑ Written at Brunswick, Georgia. "Defective Ways Prevent Launching of Vessel". The Leader Enterprise. Fitzgerald, Georgia. November 27, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  17. ↑ McMillan, Franklin R. (July 1920). "The Strainagraph and its Application to Concrete Ships". International Marine Engineering. XXV: 591. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
  18. ↑ Third Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (PDF) (Report). Government Printing Office. 1919. p. 70.
  19. ↑ "Burns Part of Her Lifeboat". The Brunswick News . 25 May 1919. p. 1. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Atlantus Will Go Out Early for Trial Spin". The Brunswick News . Vol. XVIII, no. 260. May 27, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Last Concrete War-Time Ship to Be Sunk As Landing Place for Ferry at Cape May". The New York Times. June 13, 1926 [article composed June 12, 1926]. p. 6. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Criminal Docket in Federal Court: Under Navigation Laws". The Virginian-Pilot . April 24, 1926. Retrieved February 25, 2026.
  23. ↑ "First Foundation Hulk Reaches Cape May from Norfolk, Va". The Press of Atlantic City . Vol. LVIII, no. 151. June 9, 1926 [article composed June 8, 1926]. p. 6. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Concrete Ship Docks". The Washington Times. June 10, 1926. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  25. 1 2 "Ferry to Run Soon as Dock Completed". The Press of Atlantic City. Vol. LIX, no. 29. Cape May. July 14, 1926 [article composed July 13, 1926]. p. 8. Retrieved March 7, 2026.
  26. ↑ Steele, Randy (February 2006). "Durable Goods". Boating: 26.
  27. ↑ "For Those in Peril". British Pathé. Pathé Newsreels/Pathé Gazette. December 15, 1927. Retrieved April 21, 2025.
  28. ↑ Roth, Jon (August 2016). "Beneath the Surface: The Story of the SS Atlantus". Cape May Magazine. Cape Publishing Inc. Retrieved February 10, 2026.

38°56′40″N74°58′19″W / 38.94444°N 74.97194°W / 38.94444; -74.97194

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