Ahoy

A popular tourist attraction near Cape May, New Jersey, is the SS Atlantus, the remains of a cement ship built in 1918 for World War I - but built too late, actually. The war ended before the Atlantus was finished, but it did serve to bring some troops home from Europe and was being brought to Cape May to serve as part of a ferry dock when a storm broke it free from its moorings. What's left of it is still there, although it dwindles day by day.

In other shipping news from 1918, there was an iron boat being towed above Niagara Falls in August of that year which broke loose from a tugboat and wound up stuck in the mud and rocks ever since - until a storm came along last week which flipped it on its side.

Locals up there are waiting to see what will happen next to the boat called the "Iron Scow." "It looks secure at the moment, however, if there's severe weather that comes along, it may shift it some more," Niagara Parks CEO David Adames told the CBC.

There were two sailors aboard the scow when she ran aground, but they were rescued the next day. I'm glad they didn't decide to hang around until the boat started moving again; they would have missed the Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, World War II, the Korean and Viet Nam wars, the growth of television, the Internet, and the arrival of an exciting chicken sandwich at Popeye's.

There was a time, if you can recall, when a honeymoon at Niagara Falls was THE coolest thing in the world. This goes way back...

➵A woman named Theodosia Burr, whose father Aaron was the 3rd Vice President of the United States, spent her honeymoon in Niagara Falls in 1801.

➵In 1804, Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel. I'm sorry to spoil the outcome of the popular stage musical "Hamilton" for you, though.

➵Also in 1804, Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother, took a stagecoach from New Orleans and enjoyed a honeymoon in Niagara Falls.

➵Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were the only two presidents of the United States who were NEVER presidents of the United States.