The "Ghost Fleet" of Mallows Bay is a reference to the hundreds of ships whose remains still rest in its relatively shallow waters.[7][8] In total, 230United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation ships are sunken in the river.[9] More than 100 of the vessels are woodensteamships, part of a fleet built to cross the Atlantic duringWorld War I.[7] Because they were built of wood due to a lack of available steel, most of these ships were obsolete upon completion after the end of the war.[7]
The U.S. Navy did not want the ships, which were stored in theJames River – at the cost of $50,000 a month – so they were sold to the Western Marine & Salvage Company.[7] The company moved the ships to the Potomac River atWidewater, Virginia and in 1925, they were towed to Mallows Bay.[7] Western Marine went bankrupt and the ships were burned and remained where they lay.[7][10]
During World War II,Bethlehem Steel built a salvage basin to recover metal from the abandoned ships.[9] Wrecks of various civilian boats are also present at the site.[7]
Access to the ships is through Mallows Bay Park, operated by the county, located at 1440 Wilson Landing Road inNanjemoy, Maryland. A 0.8-mile (1.3 km) trail loops around the park and the salvage basin. In 2010, a boat ramp and pier for recreational use was constructed to provide access to the Potomac River. It is popular tocanoe orkayak among the ship ruins; the ships form areef that hosts an array of wildlife.[11][12][9]
^Shomette, Donald G. (Winter 1999)."The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay".Invention & Technology Magazine.14 (3). Archived fromthe original on December 3, 2008. RetrievedDecember 19, 2010.
^United States Coast Pilot. Vol. 3 (43rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Ocean Service. 2010. p. 313. RetrievedMay 5, 2010.
^"Mallows Bay"(PDF). Maryland Department of Natural Resources. July 19, 2010. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on April 19, 2011. RetrievedDecember 22, 2010.
Shomette, Donald (1996)Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers.ISBN0870334808.OCLC35103126.
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