SS American Star

January 21, 2003 11:52 AM

Ghost Ship? After being grounded off the west coast of Fuerteventura in January of 1994, the SS American Star has slowly deteriorated over time creating quite a surreal landmark. [More info here! and here!]
posted by bhell13 (21 comments total)

That's AWESOME, bhell13. Great post, thanks!
posted by jonson at 11:56 AM on January 21, 2003

Reminds me of the ship-breaking yards of Alang. Plenty of Ghost Ships there. Unfortunately for the laborers of Alang, what remains of the ships are both dangerous and toxic.
posted by samuelad at 12:10 PM on January 21, 2003

Reminds me of my favorite demotivator.
posted by doorsnake at 12:19 PM on January 21, 2003

Beautiful. Ugly, but beautiful. Uncanny but beautiful.
posted by 111 at 12:38 PM on January 21, 2003

Reminds me of the desertification of the Aral Sea.
posted by tomplus2 at 12:44 PM on January 21, 2003

Can it be a landmark if it's sitting in the ocean?

Just wondering.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:50 PM on January 21, 2003

Can it be a landmark if it's sitting in the ocean?

You're right Crash. It must be a watermark.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 12:55 PM on January 21, 2003

*rimshot*

I sets 'em up, PST knocks 'em down.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:04 PM on January 21, 2003

A crew member of the ship in the mid-seventies has put together a very detailed site about the "watermark".
posted by LeiaS at 1:17 PM on January 21, 2003

I find Ghost Ships facinating, but I have no idea why... great post!
posted by si at 1:24 PM on January 21, 2003

Humans sure are a strange yet wonderful lot. (Present company excluded of course. On the strange part that is. Oh, never mind.) Nice post and a wonderful follow-through by all.
posted by Dick Paris at 1:41 PM on January 21, 2003

I find Ghost Ships fascinating, but I have no idea why...

Me too and me either. Maybe it's because they're kind of like abandoned amusement parks: it's something that we feel we shouldn't see decaying (for some reason), but there it is. Eerie.

Oh, and [this is metafilter] with big f'ing bells on, bhell13. Excellent post. 'Specially since I got to do a little vaudeville for the first time in years.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:57 PM on January 21, 2003

Here is a Google cache of the second link (which is down). No images available, but the history of the American Star is there. (It says SS America, but it's the Star--scroll down.)
posted by Shane at 1:58 PM on January 21, 2003

More of this. Less of Iraq.

I so want to climb aboard that ship and explore it. With appropriate flashlights and safety equipment, of course. And not after dark.
posted by jammer at 3:28 PM on January 21, 2003

Me too Jammer. I always want to climb around in those things. I like to snorkel on wrecks too, don't know why.

The pictures of the Aral Sea are amazing. Where is that place?
posted by aacheson at 3:37 PM on January 21, 2003

Hey, speaking of abandoned amusement parks - in Maryland near D.C. a couple of years back, a friend took me to an abandoned fairground that had been converted into an artist's colony. One of the neatest things I ever saw in person. Must remember to badger friend about the name of that place so I can look it up online and find photos of it.
posted by jonson at 3:45 PM on January 21, 2003

This is a cool site about the Aral Sea. And this is a quicktime composite of how it has dried up in the last 35 years. Fascinating stuff.
posted by aacheson at 3:48 PM on January 21, 2003

Did anyone ever see the flooded Saltair amusement park on the banks of the Great Salt Lake in Utah? That was so spooky to me as a kid. It was under water. All these abandoned water slides under a few feet of water. Now they have dug it out again and opened it up again. Weird.
posted by aacheson at 4:05 PM on January 21, 2003

Speaking of abandoned amusement parks and their ilk, I saw an interesting one recently: I'm not in New Jersey, but if I were, I'd want to go here.

That's a really interesting site in general.
posted by jammer at 4:08 PM on January 21, 2003

[this is good]

Another good SS American Star link here.
posted by Vidiot at 9:56 PM on January 21, 2003

Reminds me of the shipwreck on the Irish island of Inisheer. Washed ashore during a storm in 1960 and left to rust since, in the middle of nowhere - amidst rocky fields, sheep and cows. With a tiny sign, almost apologetic - danger, do not enter. Hah!

The link sucks though, but was the only one I could find, amazingly. You can barely see it on the top left image. I wish I could have self-linked to the pictures I took, alas, I screwed up those films in the darkroom...
posted by esha at 1:26 PM on January 22, 2003