JZeller

SS American Star

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 | History

Click on the picture for a larger version

I ask you take a look at this picture for a minute or two and tell me what you think about it. Personally, I find it eerie yet intriguing at the same.

The ship you are seeing is the SS American Star, it was a 1940’s ocean liner that carried passengers for its entire 54 year career. In 1994 the ship was sold to a company in Thailand to be converted into either a hotel or prison ship, however, on its way via tugboat from Greece the tow lines broke and any attempts to restore the tow lines failed. The American Star eventually ran ashore on the Canary Islands and it was left to nature while the company that bought it, the towing company and the company insuring the ship discussed its future. Sadly the elevation of the bow (when the ship came ashore the bow of the boat went up a sandbar causing the ship to sit at an incline which put added stress on the middle of the ship) and months of rusting and erosion caused the ship to split in two separating the stern from the bow. All parties involved declared it a total loss making the shore of the Canary Islands its final resting place.

Since its fateful journey in 1994 the ship has slowly deteriorated and pieces that have broken loose have fallen into the sea. The picture above was taken in 2004 and since then the ship has almost completely collapsed into the ocean. Only a small amount of the ship if visible today and within the next couple of years will disappear completely. On more of a side note all crew that was on this ship during the towing procedure were rescued by helicopter.

For more information on the SS American Star please visit the following link:

Wikipedia: SS American Star

Tags: History, shipwrecks

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