One of our best low tides of the year in January always draws folks to the wreck of the SS Monte Carlo. It was a gambling ship that was anchored off shore in international waters to avoid the no gambling laws that were in effect back in the 1930’s. On New Years day 1937, it broke loose during a storm and ran aground at the south end of what is now the Coronado Towers. Lots of tales of things being found there both back when it ran aground, and today. Efforts to refloat it back then failed mainly because the owners didn’t want to claim the ship since it’s gambling and prostitution use made them worried about legal problems. Without funding to get it at sea again, it became a permanent fixture gradually decomposing in the surf.