Here’s the wikipage for the ship.
In the 90s this ship, having had a long and storied career, was being towed away. The plans were to turn her into a floating/docked hotel but things didn’t work out as intended. The towing distance was extreme and would take over 100 days but a small Ukranian vessel won the bid to bring her there. Weather didn’t agree. Two attempts were made, both marred by bad weather. While they were able to turn back from the first storm, they were not so lucky for the second.
Partway into the journey the strain from an intense storm forced the cables to snap, the ship breaking free in the intense waves. The ship drifted off into the dark, carrying men who were on board into the void. Attempts to find her were a non-started in such weather. The America drifted on her own, presumably terrifying the people left on board as they had no way of controlling the ship at all.
After the storm passed, search parties were sent out to locate the ship and not long later it was discovered. The America had run aground of a sandbar and was wedged with the stern exposed to strong waves. The crew were rescued off of the stranded ship but to unstick the America itself was a larger undertaking. However within 48 hours the increasing strain on the ship proved to be too much. The waves that were endlessly smashing into the stern finally buckled the hull and the ship tore in two, dashing all hopes of retrieving it.
The photo posted is of the ship is between 2005 and 2007. You can no longer see the remains of the ship above water but dives have been done to study the remains of the wreck underwater.
My grandparents immigrated to the states on that ship. I really hope to dive the wreck someday.
That’s actually really cool to hear! I hope you get to fulfill your wish my friend. Swimming past the portholes and seeing everyone dancing on the inside… Would definitely be a treat.
It’s hard to believe that’s a photo. It looks so much like a painting to me.
Same here. I’ve got a fascination with shipwrecks but this shot particularly just stood out. There’s a reason that one is also in the vault, just the folder of “Cool Pics”.
The coloring between the paint and the rust is just gorgeous.
So, like, is this real or just a metaphor for the country?
Four of my great grandparents went to the U.S. on that ship in the early '30s. Its prop is displayed outside of a small museum in Virginia.
The wikipedia page linked in the OP says it wasn’t even built until 1939 :(
Damn, I had no idea they were time travelers too, sweet! j/k I’ll have to ask around, but I’m sure I’ve seen the ship manifest with their names on it and I was definitely told it was the America. Somebody has some 'splainin to do.
Edit: It looks like my Norwegian family was on the SS Stavangerfjord, maybe it was the Germans. I’ll have to do some more digging.
Likely Germans. My grandparents came across from Germany on that ship.
This seemed very emblematic of America herself. I initially thought this was a painting depicting that very thing. Seeing it is real, I find life again being ironically quite descriptive of its current plight.
Yeah, I thought it was a metaphor. That’s a beautiful photo though.
Awesome picture with a story, those are the best!
FUCK yes i love old shipwrecks. so haunting & oddly alluring
Totally with you. I’m from an island that’s really close to where the Titanic sank and that’s what did it for me. I remember being a kid and hearing about this big chunk of the ship they were raising up from the ocean. A lot of attention on the island at that point. It just stuck around and been obsessed every since. Haunting is definitely the word that I’d use.
Uncharted vibes
Quite the ship here.
I didn’t realize it but that’s actually half the ship
Wikipedia page links to this video as evidence of its current state: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8guA7xO_hOk … which is now completely taken by the sea … beautiful little story of the all consuming power of the ocean.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=8guA7xO_hOk
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
