WinstonFlorida’s Okaloosa County plans to sink the SS United States off Destin to make an artificial reef. On her way down the Florida coast under tow, a cruise ship pulled alongside. Its captain told the passengers which ship they were looking at. Then he sounded the horn three times.
AsherI like that he told them first. From the rail, you’d see an old ship being towed. How would you know she once outran the Queen Mary?
WinstonOn her very first trip, too. In 1952 she crossed the Atlantic in three days, ten hours and forty minutes. I love that somebody kept track of the forty minutes.
AsherThey could afford to round down. She beat the old record by about ten hours. But once people could fly across the Atlantic, speed meant something different. By 1969 she was out of service.
WinstonShe spent nearly thirty years at a pier in Philadelphia. People worked to keep her there so that someday you could walk aboard. How did we get from that to sinking her off Florida?
AsherShe lost her place at the pier. A court ordered her to move, and the people looking after her couldn’t find another berth. Florida’s Okaloosa County offered to buy her and turn her into a reef. That kept her out of the scrapyard.
WinstonWeather permitting, the county plans to sink her on November twelfth. The idea is for fish to find shelter in the hull and for divers to be able to visit her.
AsherI’d love to see what settles there. I also wish I could’ve stood on that deck just once.
WinstonMe too. I’m glad that captain sounded his horn. Everybody out on that rail got a chance to say goodbye.
WinstonIf this story made you think of someone, share it with them. And come back to AwkwardPixels for our next edition.
Tip jar