Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake

By Donald G. Shomette

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued a national call to arms against Imperial Germany. What followed in the United States was a frenzied effort to build hundreds of merchant ships to replace those being destroyed in Germany's campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. The newly created U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation embarked on a course that, in the span of a few pivotal years in American history, came to exhibit mankind's genius, ignorance, avarice, drive--and folly--for the largest portion of that fleet came to rest on the muddy floor of Mallows Bay. In Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake, Donald G. Shomette recounts three fascinating tales of the wonders that lie beneath the bay. An accomplished underwater archaeologist, Shomette describes the cutting-edge technology used in the excavation of the steamship New Jersey, the underwater hunt for the earliest English colony in Maryland, and the story of the great fleet that now rests in eternal slumber beneath the waters of Mallows Bay.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870334808
• ISBN13: 9780870334801
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Three interesting Maryland historical investigations

Donald Shomette is an underwater archeologist and this book is about three archeological and historical "digs" made in Maryland since the mid '70s: 1. Robots Beneath the Chesapeake: about the investigation of the ship New Jersey, which sank carrying pottery and other items; the discovery of this wreck and its cargo led to a bill in Maryland that now protects underwater sites from vandals and poachers; 2. Melted Beads: about the location of the earliest settlement in Maryland, on Kent Island; 3. The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay: about a ship graveyard along the Potomac River where many WW I wooden steamships were scuttled. Shomette is an excellent writer and is thorough in his presentation. He looks at a great deal of information, on-site evidence and historical records, and lays out clearly and not too technically what it all means. I found the investigation of the oldest settlement in Maryland to be the most interesting, and the evidence is not at all clear-cut. Shomette looks at it all, however, and weighs various sites one against the other using the tools of history and archeology. A fascinating book.

Detailed History !

After reading just some of this book I went to Mallows Bay and canoed all through whats left of all these shipwrecks. While looking at the photos and reading some of what happened here I was hooked. There is so much history around that I will continue to read more about this area and go back for further visits!