Mallows Bay Shipwreck Trail in Nanjemoy, MD

Mallows Bay Shipwreck Trail, Nanjemoy, MD

The Mallows Bay Shipwreck Trail is a 3.28-kilometer water trail located in Nanjemoy, Maryland, featuring the remains of over 100 wooden steamships from World War I known as the "Ghost Fleet." This unique maritime heritage site offers kayakers and paddlers close-up views of partially submerged vessels that now serve as artificial reefs, supporting diverse wildlife and providing exceptional photography opportunities.

3.28 km MD

Points of Interest

Welcome!

Welcome to the Terrain360 virtual tour of Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary. <ul><li>Click or tap the screen to navigate along the trail.</li><li>Click or tap orange hotspots for more information.</li><li>Use the mini-map (upper left) to navigate or skip ahead.</li><li>Use the "View" button to reorient and find the next hotspot.</li></ul>

Pilings

The pilings in Mallows Bay were originally placed to keep the Ghost Fleet from floating away. Now they serve as a resting spot for birds, including osprey and cormorants that perch to look for fish. A double-crested cormorant can sometimes be seen drying its wings in the sun.

Accomac

Built as the Virginia Lee in 1928 at Quincy, Massachusetts, the ship served WWII convoy escort duty and carried war materials, then worked as a Boston-Plymouth-Provincetown ferry. It was damaged off Cape Hatteras, then repaired and refit for 70 cars and 1,200 passengers. A 1964 fire made further repair impossible, and around 1973 it was brought to Mallows Bay. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/accomac.html">Learn more</a>

Benzonia

Benzonia, a wooden-hulled Ferris-type cargo steamship, was built by G.M. Standifer Construction Company on the Columbia River, Washington, for the U.S. Shipping Board during World War I. It launched July 13, 1918, too late for wartime service, was sold in 1922 to Western Marine Salvage, and arrived at Mallows Bay in 1929. In 2003, Hurricane Isabel shifted its wreck atop the ship Caribou; it is now considered the most impressive wreck in the Ghost Fleet. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/benzonia.html">NOAA: Benzonia</a>

Caribou

The Caribou was a Ferris-type wooden supply ship built by St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company in South Jacksonville, Florida, one of nearly 300 wooden warships built for the U.S. Emergency Fleet in World War I. The war ended before it saw use, and it was sent to the Potomac's "Ghost Fleet," where it was partially salvaged for scrap metal from the 1920s to the 1940s. It now provides habitat for plants and animals.

Aowa

The Aowa, wrecked since 1929, is one of the sanctuary's best-preserved wooden steamship wrecks, notable for its propeller shaft tunnel with five shaft casing mounts still intact. Lying outside the other wrecks, it is often exposed to rough water and covered at high tide, making it one of the hardest sites to access.<a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/aowa.html">More on the Aowa</a>

Namecki

Namecki is a Ferris-type wooden ship, part of the Ghost Fleet in Mallows Bay. Ferris-type ships, designed by USSB senior architect Theodore E. Ferris, measured about 282 feet long and 3,500 tons. Namecki was the first of four such vessels built at the Tampa Dock Company and has rested at this site since 1929; it is now fully submerged. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/namecki.html">Learn more about this vessel</a>.

Mono

Built during World War I, Mono was a Hough-type vessel, designed by San Francisco naval architect Edward S. Hough to carry maximum cargo with simple construction, using young yellow pine lumber more adaptably than Ferris-type ships. It was one of eight basic wooden emergency fleet vessel designs and is now fully submerged. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/mono.html">Mono</a>

Alanthus

Built in 1918 in Newark, NJ, for the U.S. Shipping Board, the Alanthus was one of roughly 300 WWI-era ships built but never used. Sold for scrap in 1922, it burned at Alexandria, VA, and its hull was towed to Widewater, then Mallows Bay, where it has remained since 1929. In 2022, it was chosen with the U.S. Postal Service to represent Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary for NOAA's 50th anniversary.

Yawah

Yawah was a cargo ship built at the Shattuck Shipyard near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during a World War I shipbuilding boom driven by the U.S. Emergency Fleet Corporation. Nearly 8,000 workers traveled by rail to the shipyard, working day and night with a strong sense of community pride. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/yawah.html">Learn more about this vessel</a>.

Casmalia

Casmalia had a short working life: wartime needs didn't match peacetime use, and planned large-scale war-materials shipments to Europe never fully materialized before the war ended. As a wooden ship, its construction drew resources away from other war efforts. The vessel now lies fully submerged, providing habitat for aquatic animals and plants.

Buckhorn

Buckhorn is a Ferris-type wooden cargo vessel built by R.J. Chandler in Washington, California, for the United States Shipping Board's World War I shipbuilding effort. Like many Mallows Bay shipwrecks, it was brought here in the 1920s for salvage. It now rests on its keel with a well-preserved hull, light plant growth at bow and stern, and freshwater clams colonizing its aft peak bulkhead.

Alpaco

The Alpaco, a Ferris-type wooden cargo ship, was built by the Hodge Ship Company in Moss Point, Mississippi, one of nearly 300 vessels made 1917-1919 for the U.S. Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet during World War I. The war ended before it saw use, and it was later taken to Mallows Bay on the Potomac River for scrapping. Today it rests on its keel in good condition, its hull overgrown with vegetation and partly underwater.

Grady's Spit

At the northernmost edge of Mallows Bay, the remains of what appears to be a Ferris vessel have created a landmass known as Grady's Spit. This small beach is a landing spot for paddlers to get out and stretch their legs. The beach is often covered at high tide with driftwood and iron and wood wreck debris; swimming from the spit is not recommended because of submerged debris in and around the beach areas.

Bayou Teche

The Bayou Teche was a wooden-hulled Ferris-type cargo steamship built in 1918 by the Jahncke Shipbuilding Corporation at its Madisonville, Louisiana shipyard on the Tchefuncte River for the U.S. Shipping Board's World War I effort. The yard employed nearly 2,200 workers and built six such ships. Madisonville remained a shipbuilding center after the war, though wartime demand never returned.<a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/bayou-teche.html">NOAA: Bayou Teche</a>

Moosabee

The Moosabee is part of "The Three Sisters," a group of three shipwrecks in Mallows Bay along with the Dertona and an unidentified wreck. It arrived in 1929 and was moved several times between 1952 and 1986. Its well-preserved bow now lies just 3 feet from the bluff shoreline. It is a Ferris-type wooden cargo ship, built 1917–1919 for the U.S. Emergency Fleet during World War I and named for designer Theodore E. Ferris of the U.S. Shipping Board.<a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/moosabee.html">NOAA: Moosabee</a>

Dertona

The Dertona is a wooden cargo ship built 1917-1919 for the U.S. Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet during World War I. It was brought to Mallows Bay in the 1920s for salvage. It is part of "The Three Sisters," a group of three wrecks including Dertona, Moosabee, and an unidentified vessel. Dertona lies parallel to shore with its stern aground; its hull remains well preserved though overgrown. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/dertona.html">Learn more</a>

North Bend

The Emergency Fleet Corporation, formed by the U.S. Shipping Board in World War I, contracted shipyards on the East Coast, West Coast, and Great Lakes to rapidly build a cargo fleet. The steamship North Bend, the first completed, took just 120 days, sparking fierce competition among coastal communities to build ships faster.

Flower Pot Wrecks

These two unidentified ships are called the Flower Pot Wrecks because of the thick flowering plants and shrubs that cover them. When the ships were placed in Mallows Bay, rocks were put in their hulls to keep them from moving. Over time the rocks collected sediment, and seeds turned them into artificial islands. On one ship, a cable is trapped in an overgrown donkey engine from a long-gone marine railway.

Afrania

Afrania was a cargo ship built for the U.S. Shipping Board during World War I. It made one trans-Atlantic trip to Rouen, France, before returning to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1919. It burned in 1926, was brought to Mallows Bay, and later moved closer to shore and anchored. It now rests on its keel, partially submerged, bow facing north, with a wood hull, screw propulsion, brick mounds amidships, and sediment-filled remains supporting plant growth and wildlife habitat. <a href="https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/shipwrecks/afrania.html">NOAA: Afrania</a>

Boone

Built in 1918, Boone was among 95 U.S. Shipping Board steamships launched nationwide on July 4, 1918, in the "Tidal Wave," the greatest ship-launching day in history. Of those ships, 53, including Boone, were part of the wooden cargo fleet; Bayou Teche, Mono, and Cumberland, also in Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary, took part too.<a href="https://mallowsbay.marinesanctuary.org/shipwrecks/boone/">Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary</a>

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Mallows Bay Shipwreck Trail

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