SS Selma (1919)

SS Selma
Wreckage of SS Selma in 2013
History
NameSS Selma
Owner
  • USSB (1919–March 1922)
  • J. E. Peterson and J. L. Bludworth (March 1922–)
  • Novie Brown (–1992)
  • A. Pat Daniels (1992–2007)
  • A. Pat Daniels - S.S. Selma, Inc. (2007–)
OperatorAmerican Fuel Oil & Transportation Co. (May 8, 1920–)
BuilderF.F. Ley and Company, Mobile, Alabama
Cost$1,865,950.16 ($34.3 million in 2025)[1]
LaunchedJune 28, 1919[2]
Identification
FateAbandoned in 1922
General characteristics
TypeDesign 1100 concrete tanker
Tonnage
Displacement13,040 tons of loaded displacement[5]: 47 
Length
  • 431.0–434.25 ft (131.37–132.36 m) (o/a)[6]
  • 420.7 ft (128.2 m) (p/p)[b][4]
Beam54.0 ft (16.5 m)[4]
Draft26.0 ft (7.9 m)[8]
Depth34.4 ft (10.5 m)[4]
DecksTwo[4]: VI 94 
Installed powerThree Foster boilers fueled by a bunker of 256,000 US gal (970,000 L; 213,000 imp gal) capacity[8][4]: 482 
Propulsion
Speed10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)[4]: 490 
Range6,500 mi (10,500 km) cruising radius[4]: 490 
Capacity3,000,000 US gal (11,000,000 L; 2,500,000 imp gal)[4]: 490 
Crew49[4]
SS Selma (steamship)
SS Selma is located in Texas
SS Selma
SS Selma
Location within Texas
SS Selma is located in the United States
SS Selma
SS Selma
Location within the United States
Nearest cityGalveston, TX
Coordinates29°20′39″N 94°47′11″W / 29.3442°N 94.7863°W / 29.3442; -94.7863
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
NRHP reference No.93001449
Added to NRHPJanuary 5, 1994[10]

SS Selma was a concrete-hulled oil tanker built as part of the World War I Emergency Fleet, one of only twelve concrete ships that were completed for it. SS She barely saw service before being wrecked, and was scuttled a few years later. Now, Selma is the only permanent, and prominent, wreck along the Houston Ship Channel. She lies approximately one mile north of Galveston Island.

Construction and career

Steel shortages during World War I led the US to build concrete ships as part of the Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet program. When the armistice was signed, the shipbuilding program was scaled back, leaving only twelve of its planned concrete ships to finish construction.[5]: 76  The Selma was constructed by Fred T. Ley & Co. in Mobile, Alabama.[3] Her name was chosen to honor Selma, Alabama, for having the state's largest contribution to the liberty loan drive.[2] The ship was launched sideways at 3 p.m. on June 28, 1919.[2][11] She was the largest concrete ship in the world at the time of her launch, was the largest of the Shipping Board's concrete ships, and was the sister ship to the SS Latham.[2][12][13] She underwent sea trials in February 1920, and was documented on May 6.[14]: 169 

On May 8, operated by the American Fuel Oil and Transportation Co, she entered service in the oil trade.[5]: 78 [14]: 169  However, on May 22, 1920,[15][16] she struck a jetty in Tampico, Mexico, tearing a 60-foot (18 m) hole in her hull and spilling thousands of barrels of oil.[14]: 169  She was refloated and kept in harbor alongside her sister ship, the Latham, which had suffered a similar accident.[13] From August 12–15, she was towed to Galveston, Texas, for intended repairs. She was shuffled between piers for a time until July 13, 1921, when she was struck by another steamer, the Carmarthenshire, which put another hole in her stern.[14]: 169  Afterward, she was stripped for parts and her documents were surrendered on February 21, 1922.[14]: 169  She was then towed out and placed in a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 25-foot-wide (7.6 m) channel off Pelican Island and was sunk on March 9.[12] The wreck was sold a few days later to J. E. Peterson and J. L. Bludworth.[17]

Her wreck was used for storage and disposal of bootleg liquor during the Prohibition era, as an explosives storage site in 1926, and as a staging area for an oil exploration company in 1928.[18] Testing of her concrete in the 1950s and 1980s revealed that it became stronger over time,[d] peaking in about 1975, and that it showed little signs of corrosion.[18]

A. Pat Daniels, a Texas journalist, historian, and author, purchased the ship in 1992 from Novie Brown (Hargett) after discovering that she was privately owned.[18] Through his efforts, the SS Selma was designated a Texas State Archeological Landmark in 1993, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, was recognized with a Texas Historical Commission marker located on nearby Pelican Island, and was named the official flagship of the Texas Army.[12][18][19] After Daniels died in 2011, control of the corporation was transferred to his friends William and Edna Cox,[18] who had helped Daniels incorporate the ship as protection from a potential liability lawsuit. On their passing, control of the company went to their son, Ken Cox.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The designed deadweight. In practice, the DWT was as low as 6,380 DWT.[5]
  2. ↑ The designed length was 420.0 ft (128.0 m).[7]
  3. ↑ 2,800 ihp (2,100 kW) was the designed figure.[8]
  4. ↑ About half again as strong as it had been while she was afloat.

References

Works cited

  • Daniels, A. Pat (2011). Strange Saga of the SS Selma.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Hearings Before the Select Committee To Inquire Into the Operations, Policies, and Affairs of the United States Shipping Board and the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, House of Representatives, Sixty-Eighth Congress, First Session, Pursuant To House Resolution 186: Exhibits to Testimony, Part C (Report). Government Printing Office. 1925. p. 2075. LCCN 44033164. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Largest Concrete Ship Is Launched at Mobile". Bogalusa Enterprise and American. Vol. 5, no. 27. Clyde S. Moss. July 3, 1919. p. 3. ISSN 2381-408X. LCCN sn88064055. OCLC 17449943. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "1919 Construction Record of U.S. Yards". Marine Review and Marine Record. 50 (2): 119. 1920. LCCN 40007286. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation (1921). Part II: Alphabetical List of Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States. Fifty-third Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States (Report). United States Government Publishing Office. p. 162. LCCN sn88028129. OCLC 09336739. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Fougner, Nikolay Knudtzon (1922). Seagoing and Other Concrete Ships. London: Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton. p. 76. OCLC 1084851042. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  6. ↑ Harper, Walter R (May 1921). "Big Hole in Concret Ship Bottom Successfully Repaired". Concrete. Vol. 18, no. 5. p. 221. LCCN 13010407. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  7. ↑ 12152-20. No. 36. Register of Ships Owned by the United States Shipping Board (Report). United States Shipping Board. August 1, 1920. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 "United States Shipping Board Concrete Tankers For Sale". New-York Tribune. December 15, 1920. p. 23. ISSN 1941-0646. LCCN sn83030214. OCLC 9405688. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1921–1922. Vol. II Steamers. London, England: Lloyd's Register. p. 1,134. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  10. ↑ "National Register Information System – (#93001449)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Selma Mayor's Wide or Daughter Wanted to Sponsor New Ship". The Montgomery Advertiser. Vol. XC, no. 176. June 25, 1919. p. 5. ISSN 2993-9143. LCCN sn84020645. OCLC 2685433. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 "Details for SS Selma". Texas Hisotrical Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  13. 1 2 "Latham Is Ready Concrete Ship Built at Mobile Is by Side of Sister Ship". The Montgomery Advertiser. Vol. XCI, no. 197. Associated Press. July 15, 1920 [article composed July 14, 1920]. p. 2. ISSN 2993-9143. LCCN sn84020645. OCLC 2685433. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Haviland, Jean (July 1962). "American Concrete Steamers of the First and Second World War". The American Neptune. XXII (3). Salem, Massachusetts: The American Neptune: 157–183. ISSN 0003-0155. LCCN 42021546. OCLC 1480480. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Concrete Steamer Selma Aground". The Sunday Star. No. 27787. May 23, 1920. p. 14. ISSN 2331-9968. LCCN sn83045462. OCLC 2260929. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Marine Casualties". Seaboard: A Maritime Reporter and Nautical Gazette: 831. May 29, 1920. OCLC 41113931. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  17. ↑ Ships Sold During Fiscal Year 1922. Sixth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (Report). 1924. p. 193. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 Maca, Kathleen (June 2016). "The SS Selma: When Concrete Floated in the Gulf". Galveston Monthly. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  19. ↑ Ferguson, John Wayne (April 22, 2019). "Set to Turn 100, Selma's Days May Be Numbered". The Daily News. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  20. ↑ Ferguson, John Wayne (April 22, 2019). "Set to Turn 100, Selma's Days May Be Numbered". The Daily News. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.