Ship made of cement.....

Visited the boat several times over the last six decades. A sad but inevitable event.

Palo Alto's sister ship, Peralta, is still afloat in Powell's River, BC. I consulted with environmental engineers in CA on the Palo Alto years ago about possible bunker fuel left in her.

There's the wreck of another one on the Delaware River side of Cape May NJ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Atlantus

In any case, it's 'concrete', not 'cement'.

SS Selma at Seawolf Park in Galveston

Larry M ; How long has she been there ? I would have thought that I would have seen her as much as I was down that way. Years ago though.

I never knew there were so many concrete ships. In addition to the ones mentioned there is the Sapona, near Bimini. She was used as a target during WWII.

There are half a dozen used a breakwater at Kiptopeke state park Eastern Shore of VA

ulysses said:

Larry M ; How long has she been there ? I would have thought that I would have seen her as much as I was down that way. Years ago though.

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She has been there a long time. From Wikipedia:

"On May 31, 1920, the Selma hit a jetty in Tampico, Mexico, ripping a 60 foot hole in her hull. After attempts to repair the ship in Galveston failed and efforts to sell the ship proved unsuccessful, US officials decided to intentionally scuttle the ship. A channel 1,500 feet long and 25 feet deep was dug to a point just off Pelican Island's eastern shoreline where on March 9, 1922, the ship was laid to rest. The wreck of the Selma has since been the object of failed plans to convert it for use as a fishing pier, pleasure resort, and an oyster farm. Long a source of curiosity and local legend, it remains important to scientists who continue to study aspects of its concrete construction."

A fellow sunk a cement ship out at Cortez bank, CA many years ago. It was an attempt to form a private island.

Used to spend a lot of time camping at Sea Cliff Beach State park as a kid in the late 40's early 50's. The old "cement boat" was one of the unique things about the beach. I remember the last time I was there, probably 15 years ago, it was in really bad shape then from years of being pounded by the surf.

A good read in this morning's Maritime Executive:

Record Swells Spell the End of the "Concrete Boat"

DHeckrotte said:

There's the wreck of another one on the Delaware River side of Cape May NJ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Atlantus

In any case, it's 'concrete', not 'cement'.

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Your'e right but for some reason we always called the one at Sea Cliff the "cement boat" and the name sort of stuck in my mind.

Northern Spy said:

Palo Alto's sister ship, Peralta, is still afloat in Powell's River, BC. I consulted with environmental engineers in CA on the Palo Alto years ago about possible bunker fuel left in her.

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I am amazed that they left the fuel in the tanks when she was initially scuttled.

I think concrete barges were more common. There was on in Neshaminy creek off the delaware river when I first started boating.

bayview,
I would think that unlikely as most barges are built of flat surfaces. I think concrete lacks the stiffness necessary. Are these unusual shaped barges?

dhays said:

I am amazed that they left the fuel in the tanks when she was initially scuttled.

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Not the same environmental mindset then. Heck they buried two WW II vintage concrete ships in Newport, Oregon used as wharfs. There was a fair amount of bunker in the PR hulks up until the 90s.

Weathered bunker fuel is more akin to tar than oil.

Nomad Willy said:

bayview,
I would think that unlikely as most barges are built of flat surfaces. I think concrete lacks the stiffness necessary. Are these unusual shaped barges?

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They are barges. They look like steamships, but we're towed by ocean going tugs. Had auxiliary power, steering gear, and were crewed.

PS: Ships are mostly flat planar surfaces too.

Www.Concreteships.org is a fairly accurate website. John Campbell, an amateur historian, and myself provided the info for the Powell River hulks. I was the project manager for the evaluation and re-mooring of the hulks 15 years ago.

The one I saw looked like any other barge. Did not look like a ship. Not hard to have bulkheads inside for stiffness.

The Atlantus in Cape May has what looks like rebar protruding from the newly fractured edges i.e. re-inforced concrete. I guess that was state of the art back in WWI days.

The two floating bridges in Lake Washington (Seattle) are basically flat bottom barges made of concrete and rebar. They are held to the bottom with cables though and don't see the wave action that a ship would get.

During WWII when steel became scarce, ferro-cement liberty ships were built. 9 of these ships make up a breakwater at the old RR port of Kiptopeke, VA. These were fully operational ocean going liberty ships they were not barges. Somewhere i have a lot of pictures i took over there a few years ago. Still looking to that file
Kiptopeke’s Concrete Ships; A Long Journey to Obscurity | Abandoned Country

S.S. Arthur Newell Talbot

I've seen the Powell River Breakwater. Did not know until now that some of those ships are concrete.

Concrete Ships: The Powell River Floating Breakwater

Northern Spy said:

Not the same environmental mindset then. Heck they buried two WW II vintage concrete ships in Newport, Oregon used as wharfs. There was a fair amount of bunker in the PR hulks up until the 90s.

Weathered bunker fuel is more akin to tar than oil.

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Similar to the oil still being released by the Arizona in Pearl Harbor. The harbor there hasn't seem to have any deleterious affects from it.