Insights Into History: Episode 12 "SS Atlantus" (AUDIO)

Facing steel shortages and urgent wartime need, the U.S. turned to an improbable solution: concrete ships. SS Atlantus, launched after World War I, proved the idea could float but not compete—later breaking loose during a 1926 storm and grounding off Cape May.

Now a crumbling shore-side landmark, the Atlantus stands as a haunting symbol of emergency innovation and the slow, inevitable erosion of both material and memory.