Mallows Bay :: High Tide

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson ok'd the production of a wooden, 'emergency' fleet. The expendable wooden fleet, of douglas fir and yellow pine was to stand in for any naval ships damaged by the Imperial Army. The plan was 1,000 wooden ships were to be assembled throughout 87 shipyards, averaging 3500 tons cargo capacity. Politics and power struggles delayed the project which continued to push forward, though not within the original 18months initially planned. By 1919, only 264 were in service, 195 actually crossed the Atlantic.

1920-1922, the wood ships were useless, and had cost American tax payers about $1 million for each stationary boat. The Western Marine and Salvage Co. purchased the fleet for scrapping. The plan all along was to scrap them, burn them, tow the debris for burying in nearby marsh of Alexandria, Va. Prolonged protests arose as the WM&SC botched numerous scrapping jobs on the ships, accidental fires and sinking in the Widewater tract, an important stretch on the Potomac for watermen. 126 ships already sunk, impeding navigation on the Widewater, WM&SC purchased property and set up shop along Mallows Bay, MD, which didn't take long to upset the Maryland watermen. 

The fleet, to this day, can be seen from Google's satellites. Hundreds of sunken, deteriorating hulls scattered beside and atop each other in the shallow little bay. The market crashed in 1929, and WM&SC went under in 1931, abandoning the disposal of the fleet.

What hadn't been picked by scavengers by WWII, was picked through once again during the war effort's call for metals. Bethlehem Steel Corp. was contracted by the government to excavate through the wooden fleet at Mallows Bay. In 1944, Bethlehem Steel Corp. had little success for the money spent rooting through through the Potomac silt, and called it quits.



There would continue to be unsuccessful, sketchy, and habitat-invading operations to move, and remove the wrecks at Mallows Bay. In 1993, the focus was research, identifying the remains, and the affects on the ecosystem from the irresponsible dealings with the scrap. Hundreds of hulls still lie in the bay today, visible by Google's satellites.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2001/ghostship.html

I'd YouTubed pretty much everything there was on the Internet about Mallows Bay prior to our own trip. I was expecting a bunch of rotting, rusty ship ruins, many now ship-shaped vegetation and habitat. I was hoping to see tons ship skeletons protruding from the water. I was hoping to see what these guys saw http://www.fossilguy.com/sites/potomac/mallow.htm , http://boneinitsteeth.blogspot.com/2011/07/mallows-bay-ghost-fleet-of-potomac.html
In our defense, we were more concerned about the water conditions, which is why we overlooked checking the water level.

So here it is, our paddle-about Mallows Bay, at high tide:

 The first ship you see is an old steel ferry, the Accomac. Which I'd seen in the satellite image, but was unsure what it was until I read several blogs after the adventure.

"The S.S. Accomac began her career as the steamer Virginia Lee shortly after being built in 1928. She was purchased by the US Navy for service in World War II and sold to the Virginia Ferry Corporation in 1951 . She was 291 Feet long ,powered by twin steam engines, (later changed to diesels) and continued in service until 1964 when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was opened. The Accomac was being refitted in a Portsmouth shipyard in 1964 when she burned."http://www.esva.net/~rwest/ferries.html
http://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux/APB/APB41-p.html

Turns out the wooden fleet is not alone, also identified in 1993, were the remains of log canoes, schooners, misc. work boats, and possibly a Revolutionary War longboat.

Since we weren't afforded much exploring, we paddled about the many hazards, and snapped a few memories, before packing it in. Until next time!

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