Ship Sinks 20 Years Ago, World Realizes

Veteran World War II Vessel Sinks, Public Finally Aware

The SS America (or USS West Point, or SS Australis, or SS Italis, or SS American Star), built in 1940 for the United States Lines, sank in 1984. Coming as a shock to those who served aboard her during World War II, the few surviving veterans only now realize they were attending reuinions of the SS United States.

"It came as a complete surprise," says Phillip Gallagher, the son of one veteran.

"We had absolutely no idea that this had happened. Dad nearly had a coronary when we told him; he had a lot of good memories of that ship," he said.

It appears that in September 1984, the liner was sold to Silver Moon Ferries and renamed the SS Alferdoss, most likely the cause of the confusion. After only a few months ownership, a bilge pipe burst, flooding the engine room and most of the crew's quarters. In a dramatic attempt to prevent her from sinking, her anchors were cut loose and the once proud ship that had once served in aiding the United States in war was shipwrecked, beached off the coast of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.

The ship has listed over the years and fallen into the sea, with only part of it visible above the waves. Instead of traveling to the Canaries to see this sight, instead go to Philadelphia to see the SS United States. You won't know the difference.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Reader Louis DeChiarro has informed the Author that the SS America did not wreck in 1984, but in 1994. This, however, does not matter. Here is something that does: Ships do not generally sink, but instead float due to something called buoyant force. Buoyancy is the upward force on a given object which is produced by the liquid surrounding the object when it is partially or, sometimes, fully submerged. The upward force then is equal to the magnitude of the weight of the liquid displaced by the object causing the object to seem lighter than it actually is. Does this not FASCINATE and STIMULATE your mind?)

That is all.