Mallows Bay - High tide shoreline

Mono was a “Hough” type built vessel, differing from the majority of “Ferris” type vessels that were built for the war effort. Edward S. Hough, a San Francisco naval architect devised a vessel design that was intended to be a maximum cargo carrier of simplest construction and was far more adaptable to use of young, yellow pine lumber than was the “Ferris” ship. Due to resource constraints, no fewer than eight basic wooden vessel types and one composite vessel type were utilized to produce the wooden emergency fleet vessels.

Namecki is a “Ferris” built vessel, one of many that make up the Ghost Fleet. A “Ferris” built vessel gets its name from Theodore E. Ferris, a senior architect for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). The idea was to standardize these emergency ships with similar designs that could be built at yards all across the United States. Each “Ferris” ship measured approximately the same, 282 feet long, and grossing 2,556 tons. Four of these vessel types were built at the Tampa Dock Company, with Namecki being the first.

The short work lives of vessels like Casmalia demonstrates that sometimes the necessities of war do not always fit into peacetime operations. The perceived need for the large number of cargo vessels to move war material across to Europe, never materialized in the fashion leaders envisioned, as the war drew to a close before the effectiveness of this emergency fleet could be realized. These wooden cargo vessels were not intended for long commercial careers, rather, they were designed to meet an immediate military need, using abundant available resources (wood) that did not affect other war production, and in that regard, their usage could be considered a success.

<div><span>At the northern extremity of the Mallows embayment, two&nbsp;ship's remains have created a landmass known as Grady’s Spit, which provides a welcomed landing destination for the weary paddler to get out and stretch legs on a small beach. Use caution, as the beach is usually covered with driftwood at the high tide mark as well as iron and wood projections from the wrecks lying beneath it. Swimming from the spit is not recommended due to the submerged debris in and around the beach areas. </span><br></div><div></div>

The story of Yawah may not be lengthy, but it is telling of the industrial boom that resulted due to the shortage of cargo vessels at the outset of the war. With the implementation of the U.S. Emergency Fleet Corporation, contract orders were sent out all across the country to build up the cargo fleet. Seemingly overnight, small towns with waterfront access were turned into massive shipyards. At the Shattuck Shipyard near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Yawah was built, close to 8,000 workers came together, by rail from towns over, to work on these vessels. Laboring day and night, a sense of community and pride was felt by the workers.