The Liberty Shipbuilding Company was originally contracted by the
Shipping Board to construct on an experimental concrete ship on December 17, 1917, with that contract later superseded by another that led to the
Atlantus. The experimental construction of the vessel was difficult, The keel of the
Atlantus was laid on March 18, 1918. With
the armistice, work on her and other Emergency Fleet vessels was de-prioritized, and she was one of only twelve concrete vessels that would have their construction continued. Originally named
Brokenbow, her final name was given by
Edith Wilson before being launched. After two failed attempts, the steamer was
launched endwise into Oglethorpe Bay on December 4, 1918, at 8:30a.m. She was intended to sail to the Liberty Shipbuilding Company's shipyard in
Wilmington, North Carolina on her initial voyage at 4 a.m. on May 27, 1919, for final touches prior to sailing for New York. On August 16, 1919, she was turned over to the Raporel Steamship Line to be used in their
West Indies service. The
Atlantus received temporary documents on November 19, 1919, and her permanent ones on January 24, 2020. The
Atlantus was later used by the
Clyde Steamship Company, which had purchased Raporel in 1920, The
Atlantus was tied up in the
James River in 1920, She was stripped of most items of value and then moved to Pig Point off the
Craney Island flats, where she sank on way to anchorage. On April 30, 1926, during the refloat efforts, Colonel Jesse Rosenfeld purchased the
Atlantus. The intention was to use her and two other ships as part of the National Navigation Company's efforts to create a ferry service (a route now served by the
Cape May–Lewes Ferry). Before she could be placed, the ship was beached in a storm on July 10, 1926. Work resumed with the
Atlantus as the pier foundation, but interest in the ferry waned and the project abandoned, leaving her wreck in place. For a time, there was a billboard on the side of the ship advertising boat insurance. Her deteriorating wreckage is split in pieces off
Sunset Beach; parts of her can only be viewed at
low tide, while others are completely submerged. ==Gallery==