Perhaps the most bizarre choice of material humans ever made to make a vessel that floats was reinforced concrete.
For centuries ships have been made of wood, which later gave way to tougher materials such as steel.
The concrete ship SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California.
Photo credit:David Wan/Flickr
As suspected, concrete was not the most ideal material to build ships with.
This made the ship very heavy and consequently burned more fuel to move around.
And if the hull is breached, they sink quickly owing to their weight.
The sailors of WWI often called them floating tombstones and hesitated to serve on them.
Nevertheless, ferrocement ships continued to be made and their sizes gradually increased.
The largest of these was the 425-footSS Selma, an oil tanker launched in 1919.
However, none of them could be completed on time and put into service.
By the time the ships were ready only 12 of them the war had ended.
The completed ships were sold to private companies who used them for light-trading, storage and scrap.
Some were fitted with engines and used as mobile canteens and troop carriers.
When war ended, steel was once again available and the more efficient steel ships were back in production.
The concrete ships were de-commissioned and towed to various harbors to be sunk or made into breakwater.
The park closed two years later when the company went bankrupt.
Today, its yet another wreck on the beach, its hull fractured through the mid-section.
SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California.
Photo credit:Ted Silveira/Flickr
SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California.
Photo credit:Verifex/Flickr
SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California.
Photo credit:Don DeBold/Flickr
SS Selma at Seawolf Park in Galveston.
Photo credit:phamhoanghai/Panoramio
The Kiptopeke Breakwater in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.
Photo credit:Douglas MacGregor/Panoramio
Breakwater created out of concrete ships at Powell River, British Columbia.
Photo credit:David Stanley/Flickr
The wreck of SS Selma at Seawolf Park in Galveston.
Photo credit:Katie Mague/Flickr
The wreck of USS Selma at Galveston Bay on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Photo credit:Galveston.com/Flickr
Sources:www.concreteships.org/Wikipedia/www.mobileranger.com
