Chesapeake Bay
A great bay with shallow edges
The largest estuary in the country carried tobacco, grain, oysters and coal on shallow, crowded water.
The bay looks forgiving and is not: broad shoals, a narrow deep channel, squalls that arrive without warning in summer, and ice in hard winters. Add the traffic of Baltimore and Norfolk, wartime activity from the Revolution through the Civil War, and a fleet of working craft with little freeboard, and the bottom holds everything from bay schooners to ironclads.
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Records in These Waters
AvailableAccomac
AH-WR-0323Mallows Bay, Maryland
Abandoned and scuttled in the Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet in the 1920s-1930s. · Steamship
AvailableAfrania
AH-WR-0626Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Present at Mallows Bay by 1952 aerial photography; may have since drifted from original position · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableAlanthus
AH-WR-0543Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Early-to-mid 1920s, part of the mass scrapping and abandonment of the 'Ghost Fleet' · Cargo Steamship
AvailableAowa
AH-WR-0630Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Date not established · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableBayou Teche
AH-WR-0625Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Present at Mallows Bay by the late 1920s · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableBenzonia
AH-WR-0324Mallows Bay, Maryland
Abandoned and scuttled in the Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet in the 1920s-1930s. · Steamship
Historical ListingBetsy
AH-WR-0201Yorktown, Virginia
September 1781; the precise day is not documented in the sources reviewed · Sailing Ship · 20 ft deep
Historical ListingBlack Diamond
AH-WR-0194Colton's Point, Maryland
1865 · Steamship · About 25 to 40 feet deep
AvailableBoone
AH-WR-0624Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Present at Mallows Bay by at least 1929 · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableCasmalia
AH-WR-0637Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Brought to Mallows Bay for scrapping in the 1920s · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
Historical ListingChesapeake Flotilla Gunboat No. 137
AH-WR-0976St. Leonard's Creek, Calvert County, Maryland
June 1814, following the actions at St. Leonard's Creek · Gunboat
Historical ListingChesapeake Flotilla Gunboat No. 138
AH-WR-0977St. Leonard's Creek, Calvert County, Maryland
June 1814, following the actions at St. Leonard's Creek · Gunboat
AvailableColumbus
AH-WR-0870Smith Point, Virginia
1850 · Steamboat · 60 ft deep
Historical ListingCSS Drewry
AH-WR-0975Trent's Reach, James River, Virginia
1865 · Gunboat
Historical ListingCSS Fredericksburg
AH-WR-0197Richmond, Virginia
1865 · Ironclad · 20 ft deep
Historical ListingCSS George Page
AH-WR-0978Evansport (Quantico), Virginia
1862 · Gunboat
Historical ListingCSS Jamestown
AH-WR-0633Drewry's Bluff, Virginia
1862 · Sidewheel Gunboat
Historical ListingCSS Patrick Henry
AH-WR-0632Richmond, Virginia
1865 · Sidewheel Gunboat
Historical ListingCSS Richmond
AH-WR-0196Richmond, Virginia
1865 · Ironclad · About 15 to 25 feet deep
Historical ListingCSS Virginia
AH-WR-0195Norfolk, Virginia
1862 · Ironclad · Less than 10 feet deep
Historical ListingCSS Virginia II
AH-WR-0198Richmond, Virginia
1865 · Ironclad · 20 ft deep
AvailableDertona
AH-WR-0628Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Present at Mallows Bay since 1929 · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableDungeness
AH-WR-0542Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Early-to-mid 1920s, part of the mass scrapping and abandonment of the 'Ghost Fleet' · Cargo Steamship
AvailableExpress
AH-WR-0634Point Lookout, St. Mary's County, Maryland
October 1878, during the great hurricane of October 21-24, 1878 · Passenger Steamboat
AvailableFort Stevens
AH-WR-0541Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Early-to-mid 1920s, part of the mass scrapping and abandonment of the 'Ghost Fleet' · Cargo Steamship
AvailableGuilford
AH-WR-0544Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Early-to-mid 1920s, part of the mass scrapping and abandonment of the 'Ghost Fleet' · Cargo Steamship
Historical ListingHMS Charon
AH-WR-0970Yorktown, Virginia
1781 · Frigate
Historical ListingHMS Fowey
AH-WR-0972Yorktown, Virginia
October 1781, during the Siege of Yorktown · Frigate
Historical ListingHMS Guadeloupe
AH-WR-0971Yorktown, Virginia
1781 · Frigate
AvailableLa Paix
AH-WR-1416Lynnhaven Bay, Virginia
1700 · Sloop
AvailableLevin J. Marvel
AH-WR-0052North Beach, Maryland
1955 · Ram Schooner
AvailableLion of Baltimore
AH-WR-1453Bodkin Creek, near Bodkin Point, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
1814 · Privateer Schooner
AvailableM/V J.B. Eskridge
AH-WR-0869Tower Reef, near Chesapeake Light Tower, Virginia
October 2002 · Tugboat · 42-60 deep
AvailableMono
AH-WR-0325Mallows Bay, Maryland
Abandoned and scuttled in the Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet in the 1920s-1930s. · Steamship
AvailableMoosabee
AH-WR-0629Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Present at Mallows Bay since 1929; migrated between 1952 and 1986 · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableNorth Bend
AH-WR-0627Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Brought to Mallows Bay for scrapping in the 1920s · Wooden Steam Cargo Ship
AvailableSS Columbus
AH-WR-0113Smith Point, Virginia
1850 · Side-Wheel Steamer · 60 ft deep
AvailableSS New Jersey
AH-WR-0322Chesapeake Bay
Date not established · Steamship
AvailableTartar
AH-WR-1441Cape Henry, Virginia
1813 · Privateer Schooner
AvailableThelma
AH-WR-1833Old Point Comfort, Virginia
1927 · Fishing Seiner
Historical ListingU-1105
AH-WR-0540Piney Point, Maryland
1949 · Submarine · 90 ft deep
AvailableUnidentified pirate sloop (1793, Chesapeake Bay)
AH-WR-1415Chesapeake Bay
1793, exact date not established · Sloop
Historical ListingUSCGC Cuyahoga
AH-WR-0868Triangle Reef, Chesapeake Bay entrance, Virginia
1978 · Patrol Boat / Cutter · 100 ft deep
Historical ListingUSS Commodore Jones
AH-WR-0199Deep Bottom, Virginia
1864 · Steamboat · About 10 to 15 feet deep
Historical ListingUSS Congress
AH-WR-0050Newport News, Virginia
1862 · Sailing Frigate
Historical ListingUSS Cumberland
AH-WR-0049Newport News, Virginia
1862 · Sailing Frigate
Historical ListingUSS Katahdin
AH-WR-0867Windmill Point, Virginia
September 1909 · Harbor-Defense Ram · 28 ft deep
Historical ListingUSS Reliance
AH-WR-0973Port Royal, Virginia
1863 · Gunboat
Historical ListingUSS San Marcos
AH-WR-0791Tangier Island, Virginia
1911 · Battleship
Historical ListingUSS Satellite
AH-WR-0974Port Royal, Virginia
1863 · Gunboat
Historical ListingUSS Scorpion
AH-WR-0636Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland
1814 · Self-Propelled Floating Artillery Battery
Historical ListingUSS Shawsheen
AH-WR-1481Turkey Island, Henrico County, Virginia
1864 · Sidewheel Gunboat
Historical ListingUSS Smith Briggs
AH-WR-0631Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia
1864 · Gunboat
Historical ListingUSS Tulip
AH-WR-0051Ragged Point, Maryland
1864 · Gunboat
AvailableVirginia
AH-WR-0321Chesapeake Bay
1919 · Steamboat
AvailableWawaset
AH-WR-0114Chatterton's Landing, Potomac River, Virginia
1873 · Side-Wheel Steamer
AvailableWidgeon
AH-WR-0635St. Leonard's Creek, Calvert County, Maryland
Abandoned or sunk sometime between 1939 and 1952, based on comparison of aerial photographs · Centerboard Schooner
AvailableYawah
AH-WR-0326Mallows Bay, Maryland
Abandoned and scuttled in the Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet in the 1920s-1930s. · Steamship
