Over the weekend, winter storm Kori sent record high waves smashing into the California coast. The National Weather Service said a new wave record was set as the Monterey Bay buoy recorded 34-foot waves. At Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, California, the storm waves tore the stern off the SS Palo Alto, a concrete ship built as a tanker in 1919, at the end of World War I. A storm last winter had rolled the ship to starboard and had cracked the hull. This weekend’s storm may have delivered the coup de grâce.
The SS Palo Alto had a strange but interesting career. Although she was built as a tanker, by the time she was delivered, World War I had ended, so the ship was laid up for a decade, until it was purchased as an “amusement” ship. The Palo Alto was towed to Aptos, California on Monterrey bay. In 1930, the ship was sunk in a few feet in the water off the beach and a pier was built to the ship. Operated by the Seacliff Amusement Corporation, she was refitted a dance floor, a swimming pool and a café.