American star
One of the last remnants of a crashed ship now acts as a statue in a touristy town.
Since its launch in 1939, the SS America has had a storied history. Designed by William Francis Gibbs for the United States Lines, it was once a symbol of luxury and American pride, but it has many roles after that including as a soldier transport in WW2, and a ferry after that. Just before it became a hotel and restaurant in Thailand, tragedy struck and instead this ship became a wreck.
The America Star was one of the many names that this ship has, but the last one before its tragic end. It was stripped down and painted to become a hotel in Thailand after over 50 years of service. It was not allowed in the suez canal dus to its age and size, and therefore had to go around Africa the long way. However, it never made it that far as a storm made it drift away from its tow boats and smash onto the sandy cliffs of Fuerteventura. As discussions were underway about saving it, the currents managed to break it in half in less than 48 hours, making it impossible to move.
Here the ship has been since 1992, visible to tourists until 2008, at which point it completely fell apart and sank to the bottom of the sea, whre it is now an artificial reef that gets visted by divers.
However, there are easier ways to see a part of this ship, all thanks to a canarian artist who secured and displayed one of the ships propellers on the walkway to the beach in El Medano.
It offers a great story known by only very few, as it is not even displayed on the island that it crashed near.
Know Before You Go
The ship is hard to reach, but the propeller is freely available.
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