SS Selma

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the SS Selma, right here on Galveston Bay. Now, most ships earn their legends out on the open water — storms, battles, distant ports. The SS Selma earned hers by never quite making it to any of them.

And she's still here to prove it. Cast your eyes out toward the bay. That shape sitting half-swallowed by the water — that's her.

The Selma. All seven thousand five hundred tons of her, and here's the twist: she's made of concrete. Steel was running short during World War I, and the United States, never short on big ideas, decided to build experimental ships out of concrete instead.

The Selma was the largest of them. She went up in Mobile, Alabama, and she was named in honor of Selma, Alabama — that city had run a successful wartime liberty loan drive, and this ship was its tribute. They launched her on June 28th, 1919.

Now hold that date in your mind a moment. June 28th, 1919 — the very same day Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I. The Selma slid into the water, the war ended, and just like that, a ship built for one world found herself floating in a completely different one.

She never entered the war. Instead, she was placed into service as an oil tanker in the Gulf of Mexico. She made it about a year before the bay had something to say about it.

On May 31st, 1920, in Tampico, Mexico, the Selma hit a jetty. Ripped a hole in her hull about sixty feet long. Sixty feet.

In a concrete ship. Attempts to repair her in Galveston failed. Efforts to sell her proved unsuccessful.

And so U.S. officials made their decision: they would scuttle her deliberately. They dug a channel — fifteen hundred feet long, twenty-five feet deep — out to a point just off the eastern shoreline of Pelican Island. And on March 9th, 1922, the SS Selma was laid to rest.

But she didn't stay quiet. Over the years, there were plans — failed plans, every one — to convert her into a fishing pier, a pleasure resort, an oyster farm. None of it took.

The Selma had apparently decided what she was and what she wasn't, and she wasn't going to be any of those things. What she has been, for a long time now, is a source of curiosity and local legend — and, remarkably, a subject of genuine scientific study. Researchers continued to examine aspects of her concrete construction long after everyone else had moved on.

In 1993 she was designated a State Archeological Landmark. In 1994 she was added to the National Register of Historic Places. And she has been designated the Official Flagship of the Texas Army.

A concrete ship. Launched the day the war ended. Holed in Mexico.

Scuttled off Pelican Island. Official Flagship. Some ships find glory.

The Selma found something stranger and, if you ask me, a whole lot more interesting — she found permanence. Right out there in Galveston Bay, exactly where they left her.

What the marker says

Steel shortages during World War I led the U.S. to build experimental concrete ships, the largest of which was the SS Selma, today partially submerged in Galveston Bay and visible from this site. It was built in Mobile, Alabama, and named to honor Selma, Alabama, for its successful wartime liberty loan drive. The ship was launched on June 28, 1919, the same day Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I. As a result, the 7,500-ton ship never entered the war, but instead was placed into service as an oil tanker in the Gulf of Mexico. In Tampico, Mexico, on May 31, 1920, the SS Selma hit a jetty, ripping a hole in its hull about 60 feet long. After attempts to repair the ship in Galveston failed and efforts to sell the ship proved unsuccessful, U.S. officials decided to intentionally scuttle the ship. A channel 1,500 feet long and 25 feet deep was dug to a point just off Pelican Island's eastern shoreline where on March 9, 1922, the ship was laid to rest. The Selma has since been the object of failed plans to convert it for use as a fishing pier, pleasure resort, and oyster farm. Long a source of curiosity and local legend, it remains important to scientists who continued to study aspects of its concrete construction. In 1993, the SS Selma was designated a State Archeological Landmark, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, and has been designated as the Official Flagship of the Texas Army. (1995)