Events - Event View

Paddle the newest Marine Sanctuary in the nation. 


Kathleen Sengstock on Mallows Bay

See the WAMU article on the Ghost Fleet

The trip start time was selected to coincide with low tide when the shipwrecks are most visible. Bring lunch and something to drink. You may also want to bring your fishing gear (I hear the bay is full of striped bass) or your binoculars for bird watching. Afterwards, we usually go to a restaurant for cold beer. The beer is optional.

Mallows Bay is most renowned for its “Ghost Fleet,” the partially submerged remains of more than 100 wooden steamships that were built in response to threats from World War I-era German U-boats that were sinking ships in the Atlantic. Although the ships never saw action during the war, their construction at more than 40 shipyards in 17 states reflected the massive national wartime effort that drove the expansion and economic development of communities and related maritime service industries. The fleet was brought to the Potomac River to be salvaged for scrap metal by a company in Alexandria, Virginia, not far from the sanctuary site.