I have just re-set this cache... I have installed a decoy so if you
find the "decoy" don't give up... you are on the right track. The
only difference now is that this cache will probably require two
cachers... or a tool of some kind to get at it. I used my car but
there is a lot of mud so you need to be very careful. To access
this cache site you will have to find your way onto Pelican Island.
From Houston, take I-45 S to 51st St, turn left and go over the
Pelican Island Causeway (follow the signs to SeaWolf Park). You can
drive to within 200 feet of the site on a gravel road. This road is
a little rough but most cars with decent clearance should do fine.
DO NOT go in the mud without 4wheel drive. This site was chosen
because many people know nothing about these concrete ship(s) and
this one can be seen (not accesible) from the cache site.
Wear jeans and DO NOT GO OVER THE LEVIES.
A Brief History of the Concrete Ships
www.concreteships.org
The oldest known concrete ship was a dingy built by
Joseph Louis Lambot Southern France in 1848. The boat was featured
in the 1855 World's Fair in France.
In the 1890's, an engineer in Italy named Carlo
Gabellini built barges and small ships out of concrete. The most
famous of his ships was the Liguria.
On August 2, 1917, N.K. Fougner of Norway launched
the first ocean-going concrete ship, an 84 foot long boat named
Namsenfjord. With the success of the ship, several more small
concrete vessels were built.
Numerous small concrete boats were built in the U.K
in the 1910's. One of these ships, the Violette, was built in 1917
and is currently used as a boating clubhouse on the Medway River in
England. This makes her the oldest concrete ship still afloat.
In 1917, the United State finally entered World
World I and steel became scarce while the demand for ships went up.
The US government invited N.K. Fougner to head a study into the
feasability of concrete ships.
Meanwhile, businessman W. Lesie Comyn took the
initiative and formed the San Fransisco Ship Building Company (in
Oakland, California) to begin constructing concrete ships. He hired
Alan Macdonald and Victor Poss to design the first American
concrete ship, a steamer named the S. S. Faith.
The Faith was launched March 18, 1918. She cost
$750,000 to build. She was used to carry cargo for trade until
1921, when she was sold and scrapped as a breakwater in Cuba.
President Woodrow Wilson finally approved the
Emergency Fleet program which oversaw the construction of 24
concrete ships for the war. However, only 12 were under
construction and none of them had been completed by the time the
war ended. The 12 ships were completed and sold to private
companies who used them for light-trading, storage and scrap.
With the advent of World War II, steel once again
was in short supply. In 1942, the US government contracted
McCloskey & Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to construct
a new fleet of 24 concrete ships. Construction of the fleet started
in July, 1923 in Tampa, Florida. Innovations in cement mixing and
composition made these ships stronger than the previous fleet.
Other companies were contracted to build barge
ships. These too were large vessels, but they lacked engines to
propell them. Instead, they were used for storage and towed around
by other ships.
After the war, several of the ships were turned
into a floating breakwater in Canada and ten more were sunk as a
breakwater in Virginia.
Although the end of WWII marked the end of
large-scale concrete ship building, to this day, smaller
recreational boats are still being made from concrete.