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Mallows Bay

{{short description|Bay in Maryland, US with many shipwrecks}}

{{about|the bay itself|the national marine sanctuary in which it lies|Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Mallows Bay-Widewater Historic and Archeological District

| nrhp_type = HD

| image = Mallows-bay-shipwreck.jpg

| image_size = 325px

| alt = A shipwreck at Mallows Bay, February 2011

| caption = A shipwreck at Mallows Bay, February 2011

| location= Off Sandy Point
Charles County, Maryland{{GNIS|585669}}

| coordinates = {{coord|38|28|21.4|N|77|16|6.9|W|type:waterbody_scale:10000|name=Mallows Bay, Potomac River, Maryland|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Maryland#USA

| architect OR builder =

| architecture =

| added = April 24, 2015

| area =

| mpsub =

| refnum = 15000173

}}

Mallows Bay is a small bay on the Maryland side of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The bay is the location of what is regarded as the "largest shipwreck fleet in the Western Hemisphere"{{cite journal |first=Donald G. |last=Shomette |title=The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay |journal=The Maryland Natural Resource |date=Winter 2001 |url=http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2001/ghostship.html |access-date=December 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420000902/http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2001/ghostship.html |archive-date=April 20, 2011 }}{{cite journal |first=Donald G. |last=Shomette |title=The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay |journal=Invention & Technology Magazine |volume=14 |issue=3 |date=Winter 1999 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1999/3/1999_3_12.shtml |access-date=December 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203140302/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1999/3/1999_3_12.shtml |archive-date=December 3, 2008 }} and is described as a "ship graveyard."{{cite book |title=United States Coast Pilot |url=http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/coastpilot_w.php?book=3 |access-date=May 5, 2010 |edition=43rd |volume=3 |year=2010 |publisher=National Ocean Service |location=Washington, D.C. |page=313}}

Mallows Bay is in the northeast corner of the Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated on September 3, 2019.{{cite web |date=9 September 2019 |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/09/26/2019-20608/designation-of-mallows-bay-potomac-river-national-marine-sanctuary-notification-of-effective-date|title=Designation of Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary|website=www.federalregister.gov}} The bay lies in the northeast corner of the {{convert|18|sqmi|0}} of Potomac River waters included in the sanctuary.Map at {{cite web |date= |url=https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/gallery/|title=Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary Photos and Videos|website=sanctuaries.noaa.gov|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration }}

Ghost fleet

The "Ghost Fleet" of Mallows Bay is a reference to the hundreds of ships whose remains still rest in its relatively shallow waters.{{cite news|last1=Lutz|first1=Lara|title=Ghost fleet may go from wrecks to recreation|url=http://www.bayjournal.com/article/ghost_fleet_may_go_from_wrecks_to_recreation|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214230638/http://www.bayjournal.com/article/ghost_fleet_may_go_from_wrecks_to_recreation|publisher=Bay Journal|date=10 September 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/04/18/the-ghost-fleet-of-mallows-bay/|title=The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay|first=Sometimes|last=Interesting|date=18 April 2013|access-date=23 March 2017}} In total, 230 United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation ships are sunken in the river.{{cite book|last=Peck|first=Garrett|title=The Potomac River: A History and Guide|year=2012|publisher=The History Press|location=Charleston, SC|isbn=978-1609496005|pages=145}} More than 100 of the vessels are wooden steamships, part of a fleet built to cross the Atlantic during World War I. 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.

The U.S. Navy did not want the ships, which were stored in the James River – at the cost of $50,000 a month – so they were sold to the Western Marine & Salvage Company. The company moved the ships to the Potomac River at Widewater, Virginia and in 1925, they were towed to Mallows Bay. Western Marine went bankrupt and the ships were burned and remained where they lay. During World War II, Bethlehem Steel built a salvage basin to recover metal from the abandoned ships. Wrecks of various civilian boats are also present at the site.

Access to the ships is through Mallows Bay Park, operated by the county, located at 1440 Wilson Landing Road in Nanjemoy, Maryland. A {{convert|0.8|mi|adj=on}} 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 to canoe or kayak among the ship ruins; the ships form a reef that hosts an array of wildlife.{{cite web |url=http://southernmarylandliving.com/new-boat-ramp-in-mallows-bay/ |title=New Boat Ramp in Mallows Bay |work=Southern Maryland Living |date=May 12, 2010 |access-date=December 22, 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.dnr.state.md.us/boating/pdfs/BoatingAccessInformationCharles6.pdf |title=Mallows Bay |publisher=Maryland Department of Natural Resources |date=July 19, 2010 |access-date=December 22, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110419221822/http://www.dnr.state.md.us/boating/pdfs/BoatingAccessInformationCharles6.pdf |archive-date=April 19, 2011 }}

The bay was listed as an archaeological and historic district on the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 2015,{{Cite web |title="Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary Designation," Federal Register, Vol. 84, No. 30, pp. 32586–32606 |url=https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/media/docs/84fr32586.pdf |date=July 8, 2019 |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=sanctuaries.noaa.org|publisher=Federal Resgister}} and was included in the Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary on September 3, 2019.

Among the most prominent ships seen at Mallows Bay is the S.S. Accomac.{{cite web|url=https://www.eyeem.com/p/31103079|title=This is the S.S. Accomac which began its career as....|date=|website=EyeEm|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224175259/https://www.eyeem.com/p/31103079|last=Flint|first=Peter}}{{cite web|url=http://npschesapeakebay.net/images/itineraryimages/Mallows_Bay_Paddle_Guide.pdf|title=A Paddler's Guide to Mallows Bay|publisher=Charles County, Maryland|access-date=10 March 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://marinesanctuary.org/blog/8-sights-to-see-in-mallows-bay-potomac-river-national-marine-sanctuary|title=8 SIGHTS TO SEE IN MALLOWS BAY-POTOMAC RIVER NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY|website=National Marine Sanctuary Foundation|date=19 August 2020|access-date=10 March 2023}}

Gallery

File:Maryland - Little Falls through Mallows Bay crop.jpg|Aerial photograph 1936. Mallows Bay on Potomac River below Quantico and between Sandy Point and Liverpool Point. (Full image)

File:Mallows Bay Park Feb 20, 2017, 11-37 AM edit (32820786620).jpg|Valuable maritime heritage

File:Mallows Bay Park Feb 20, 2017, 10-46 AM edit (33138058115).jpg|Almost submerged shipwrecks, February 2017

File:Mallows Bay shoreline.PNG|Aerial view of the shoreline of Mallows Bay looking toward the {{nowrap|Potomac River}}

File:Mallows Bay-Potomac River NMS water quality buoy map.PNG|Overhead photo of Mallows Bay indicating the location of a buoy moored in 2018 that monitors water quality. Shipwrecks also are visible.

See also

References

Notes

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Shomette, Donald (1996) Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers. {{ISBN|0870334808}}. {{OCLC|35103126}}.

External links

{{commons category|Mallows Bay}}

  • [http://www.charlescountyparks.com/parks/mallows-bay-park Mallows Bay Park, 1440 Wilson Landing Road, Nanjemoy, MD 20662]
  • {{MHT url|id=1641|title=Mallows Bay-Widewater Historic and Archeological District}}, at Maryland Historical Trust
  • [https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-bay/ Mallows Bay - Potomac River: A Proposed National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries]
  • [https://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov/nationalsystem/ NOAA. National System of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)]
  • [https://marinesanctuary.org/blog/ghost-fleet-fast-facts/?gclid=CjwKCAiA8P_TBRA9EiwAJrpHM3aDIs-gIfYfCaMpLDXe9TAR_sMy3vWo6F6LZXrAu8xFf1X8bWEKbxoCBYUQAvD_BwE Ghost Fleet Fast Facts. Oct 31, 2017. National Marine Sanctuary Foundation]
  • [http://friendsofmallows.org Friends of Mallows Potomac National Marine Sanctuary in Nanjemoy, Maryland]
  • [https://www.facebook.com/friendsofmallowsbay/ Friends of Mallows Potomac National Marine Sanctuary Facebook page]
  • [http://chesapeakeconservancy.org/apps/mallows/ Mallows Bay - Potomac River: A Proposed National Marine Sanctuary. Chesapeake Conservancy]
  • [https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/maryland_dc/explore/ghost-fleet-of-mallows-bay.xml?gclid=CjwKCAiA8P_TBRA9EiwAJrpHM4UWb9pnqrk-7YvLtxwWq-eq91erT7byhfAC3ggBmDrWeM5jL1Ms2RoCrwkQAvD_BwE The Nature Conservancy - Passport to Nature: Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay]
  • [https://savingplaces.org/places/ghost-fleet#.WoCpmlKZNNI The National Trust for Historic Preservation. National Treasures. Ghost Fleet of the Potomac. Location: Charles County, Maryland]
  • [https://savingplaces.org/stories/the-ghosts-of-these-historic-ships-float-on#.WqRdWVKZNxp 'The Ghosts of These Historic Ships Float On'. Named a National Treasure. The National Trust for Historic Preservation. Preservation Magazine, Winter 2018]
  • [http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/12288.shtml NOAA Nautical Chart 12288 - Potomac River]
  • {{cite gnis |id=585669 |name=Mallows Bay}}
  • [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/?p=default&b=base1&x=-8601522.84294187&y=4646359.559693141&l=17&sc=&v=TNM_Large_Scale_Imagery_Overlay%3A2%3B3 Aerial imagery of Mallows Bay] from The National Map
  • [http://www.fossilguy.com/sites/potomac/mallow.htm Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet along the Potomac River - from fossilguy]
  • [http://www.pbs.org/video/mpt-specials-secrets-chesapeake/ 'Secrets of the Chesapeake'. Maryland Public TV (MPT) Specials. PBS. 56:50]
  • [http://www.mpt.org/stationrelations/secretsofchesapeake/ PBS 'Secrets of the Chesapeake': Mallows Bay WWI shipwrecks. Broadcast April 18, 2012. Includes Photos Mallows Bay 1 & 2.]
  • {{cite news |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/know-ghost-fleet-mallows-bay-151357023.html |first1=Jennifer |last1=Hansler |publisher=ABC News |title=What We Know About the Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay |format=Video |date=October 26, 2016 |access-date=October 27, 2016}}

{{Maryland waters}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Bays of Maryland

Category:Bodies of water of Charles County, Maryland

Category:Potomac River

Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland

Category:Shipwrecks in the Chesapeake Bay

Category:Shipwrecks in rivers

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Charles County, Maryland

Category:Ship graveyards

Category:United States in World War I

Category:United States in World War II

Category:Modern ruins