Mysterious ‘ghost ship’ which emerged during storm was actually a floating Mafia brothel
A mysterious "ghost ship" that emerged from the waves near California – which locals claimed was full of ‘cannibal rats’ – has turned out to have a colourful past.
Researchers from the Science Channel initially believed it might be a "lost" Russian cruise ship but it’s actually a "floating brothel" that had Mob ties before it sank in 1937, experts believe.
It’s also a rather unique vessel, one of very few ships made from concrete, and which initially worked as an oil tanker.
The ship is believed to have been the SS Monte Carlo, a ship which parked three miles offshore, where it was officially in international waters, and offered gambling and prostitution to California locals.
Locals would sail out in small boats and water taxis to the vessel, which launched as an oil tanker in 1921 as the SS McKittrick.
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In its "second job", the tanker was weighed down with more concrete, to keep it in place, and anchored near Coronado Beach, in San Diego, where it sank in a storm in 1936.
