Crumbling Concrete ship - Cape May, NJ.

Crumbling Wreck of a Concrete Ship

  Cape May Point,   New Jersey  

The scarcity of steel during World War I forced America to build ships out of a counter-intuitive substitute -- concrete. The same stuff that was used to fashion cement overshoes for Mob victims actually floats when it's shaped like a boat.

The S.S. Atlantus was one of a dozen concrete ships that were built, and it criss-crossed the Atlantic several times, hauling cargo and troops. But when steel again became available, the S.S. Atlantus was mothballed.

In 1926 she was docked in Cape May when a storm broke her loose and ran her aground, just off of Sunset Beach. She couldn't be pried off of the bottom because she was made of, well, concrete. For the last 80+ years her slowly crumbling hulk has been a tourist attraction, although not much of her is left to see.