(By Greg Rourke) – In a little backwater on the Potomac River in Maryland lies the largest gathering of sunken ships in the US, and possibly the world. So how did this honor fall on Mallows Bay, Maryland?
It seems in World War One we were losing about half our supply ships to German U boats. President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 ordered 1000 steam powered wooden ships be constructed to supply the war effort. The deadline was 18 months, over 80 shipyards were tapped to begin construction. The deadline came, but only 134 were completed, about 200 were half done, and many hadn’t even been started. The war ended without a single ship heading to Europe as intended.
Ultimately, 290 were constructed, as the war ending didn’t stop construction. Only 76 were actually used for any purpose, as it was found the room needed for coal to power the steamers didn’t leave much room for cargo. They were also poorly constructed and leaked, always a bad feature in a boat. They all ended up stored at the governments expense.
Eventually they were sold to a company who planned to salvage the steel. They ended up in Mallows Bay, the plan was to burn the ships were they sat and whatever didn’t burn was salvaged. This plan worked for a while until they realized they were losing money getting scrap metal from wooden boats and the company went bankrupt. World War Two came along, scrap prices went up and another outfit took a crack at the remaining boats. They also failed, and the ships were all just left to return to the elements. Since so many had never actually gone anywhere, there was little environmental concern of coal or oil in the water.
So now we have a bunch of sunken vessels. Besides the original ships, a bunch of other stuff has accumulated in Mallows Bay, including what might be a Revolutionary War boat, and a steel car ferry. They have created their own ecosystem, and also a thriving tourist industry is happening.
hey, thanks for that – very interesting
One Saturday in the late 50’s we were headed up the west side of the Hudson River to West Point. At Bear Mountain were seemingly hundreds of Liberty and Victory ships moored side by side along the western shore. Many were repurposed during the Vietnam era or sent to the breakers. What a cool sight to a young Bangshifter. 🙂
Nice side trip when heading to Budd’s Creek (MDIR) turn West at Rt 6 in LaPlata follow signs.