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SS Sapona

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SS Sapona
Sapona's port side, August 2009
History
Owner
Operator
  • Clyde Steamship Company (1920)
  • Standard Steamship Company (1920)
  • Carl G. Fisher (1924–)
  • Bruce Bethel (–1926)
BuilderLiberty Shipbuilding Company[1]
Cost$1,127,705.81 ($21.2 million in 2025)[2]
LaunchedOctober 11, 1919[3]: 161 
CompletedJanuary 14, 1920[4]
Home portWilmington, NC[5]
Identification
FateGrounded 1926
General characteristics
TypeDesign 1070 cargo ship[5][7]
Tonnage
Displacement6,310 tons of loaded displacement[8]: 47 
Length
  • 281 ft 10 in (85.90 m) (o/a)[9]: 448 
  • 268 ft (82 m) (p/p)[9]: 448 
  • 86 m (282 ft)
Beam46 ft (14 m)[9]: 448 
Draft23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)[9]: 448 
Depth28 ft 3 in (8.61 m)[9]: 448 
DecksOne[1]
Installed powerCoal-fired boiler[6][10]
Propulsion
Speed10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)[10]
Crew48[5]

SS Sapona was a concrete-hulled cargo steamer originally created as part of the World War I Emergency Fleet. As with the other twelve concrete ships that finished construction for the Shipping Board, she was finished too late for wartime service. She briefly hauled cargo for a time before being moved to Miami to serve as storage. She was later moved to Bimini, where her wreck continues to serve as an artificial reef and as a popular dive site.

History

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Under the auspices of the United States Shipping Board, the Sapona was built by the Liberty Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina, and outfitted by the Jacksonville Ship Outfitting Company.[3]: 161  After the armistice brought an end to the shipbuilding program, any ship that wasn't far along in construction was canceled, leaving the ship as one of only twelve concrete ships that would continue construction.[8]: 76  She was launched October 11, 1919, under the name Old North State, and was renamed Sapona by the end of the year.[7][11][3]: 161  The Sapona received her documents on January 8, 1920,[3]: 168  and was delivered on January 14, 1920,[4] at a final cost of $1,127,705.81 ($21.2 million in 2025).[2]

She was operated as a cargo ship for a time by the Clyde Steamship Company and the Standard Steamship Company, primarily in the New England coal trade.[12][3]: 168  On September 2, 1920, she was sent to be laid up at Claremont, Virginia.[3]: 168  The Sapona was subsequently sold to Miami Beach developer Carl G. Fisher for $4,000 ($75,146 in 2025),[4][13] who obtained her documents February 29, 1924.[3]: 168  Once the Sapona was moved to Ajax Reef near Miami,[14] her machinery was traded to the Clark Dredging Company in exchange for their services.[3]: 168  Without engines, and with the intention of using her for fixed service (a fisherman's club[14] and oil storage), she was considered dismantled and her documents were surrendered April 19, 1924.[15][3]: 168 

As the hulk's condition deteriorated, she was considered an eyesore and was ordered sunk by Fisher, but was instead sold off to Bruce Bethel, a former British soldier running a bar in the Bahamas.[16][3]: 168  The Sapona was towed to Bimini, where it was intended that she be used to store liquor for use in Florida rum-running.[16][3]: 168  She was driven aground at Barnett Harbor during a hurricane in 1926, breaking her stern.[16][3]: 168  Salvaging her was considered too expensive, and she was abandoned.[16]

She was later used for bombing practice during World War II.[3]: 168 

Since her grounding, she has served as an artificial reef and has become a popular fishing, snorkeling, and diving site because of the shallow water she lies in (15–20 ft (5–6 m)) and the numerous tropical fish near her.[17][16]

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The ship was used as a backdrop in the 1977 horror film Shock Waves.

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  • Design 1070 inboard profile and deck plan
    Design 1070 inboard profile and deck plan
  • Sapona, starboard side, June 2010
    Sapona, starboard side, June 2010
  • SS Sapona, February 2010
    SS Sapona, February 2010

Footnotes

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  1. ^ The designed deadweight. In practice, the figure was as low as 3,078 DWT.[8][3]: 161 

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1920–1921. Vol. II Steamers. London, England: Lloyd's Register. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  2. ^ a b Disposal of vessels to June 30, 1921, and prior to April 1, 1923. 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 March 20, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 March 25, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Sale of Other Than Steel Vessels as of April 1, 1924. 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, Exhibits to Testimony Part C (Report). Government Printing Office. p. 2140. LCCN 44033164. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation (1920). Part II: Steam Vessels, Alphabetically Arranged. Fifty-second Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States (Report). United States Government Publishing Office. p. 161. LCCN sn88028129. OCLC 09336739. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  6. ^ a b "Graded Aggregate: Concrete Ships". Concrete: A Monthly Magazine of the Construction Field. 23 (2). Detroit, Michigan: Concrete-Cement Age Publishing: 75–76. August 1923. OCLC 3382999. Retrieved March 17, 2026.
  7. ^ a b Record Group 32, Series: Records of the United States Shipping Board. U.S. National Archives. – via Stephen S. Roberts, , "Name Changes of Completed EFC Wooden and Concrete Ships", Shipscribe.
  8. ^ a b c Fougner, Nikolay Knudtzon (1922). Seagoing and Other Concrete Ships. London: Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton. p. 76. OCLC 1084851042. Retrieved March 17, 2026.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Concrete Ship of 3,500 Tons Deadweight by Emergency Fleet Corporation". International Marine Engineering. XXIII (8). Simmons-Boardman Publishing Company: 446–449. 1918. ISSN 0272-2860. LCCN sc80000851. OCLC 5878951. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  10. ^ a b "1919 Construction Record of U.S. Yards". Marine Review and Marine Record. 50 (2): 119. 1920. LCCN 40007286. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  11. ^ "Last Concrete Ship Kisses the Waves". The Montgomery Advertiser. XC (285): 7. October 12, 1919 [article composed October 11, 1919]. ISSN 2993-9143. LCCN sn84020645. OCLC 2685433. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  12. ^ "Shipping Board Allocations". The Nautical Gazette. Vol. 99, no. 4. July 24, 1920. p. 126. OCLC 1049892734. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  13. ^ Sales Other Than Steel Types. Eighth Annual Report of the United States Shipping Board (Report). 1924. p. 98. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  14. ^ a b "The Triumph of the Concrete Ship". Engineering News-Record. 91 (22): 906. OCLC 760807850. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  15. ^ "1st October to 31st December, 1923". Returns of Vessels Totally Lost, Condemned, &c. Lloyd's Register: 8. September 1923.
  16. ^ a b c d e Funderburg, J. Anne. Rumrunners: Liquor Smugglers on America's Coasts, 1920-1933. McFarland & Company. p. 14. ISBN 9781476626703.
  17. ^ Berg, Daniel & Denise (1989). Tropical Shipwrecks: A Vacationing Divers Guide to the Bahamas and Caribbean. Aqua Explorers. pp. 11–14. ISBN 9780961616724.
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25°39.040′N 79°17.593′W / 25.650667°N 79.293217°W / 25.650667; -79.293217

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