AH-WR-0323

Accomac

Steamship · United States · Lost Abandoned and scuttled in the Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet in the 1920s-1930s. · Chesapeake Bay

One of the surplus World War I steamships abandoned and scuttled at Mallows Bay, now part of the Ghost Fleet's sprawling wreck field.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Accomac was one of hundreds of wooden and steel steamships built hastily for World War I under the Emergency Fleet Corporation program, many of which were never needed once the war ended. Surplus vessels including Accomac were towed to Mallows Bay on the Potomac River in the 1920s, where a scrapping company attempted to salvage their metal by burning the hulls. The effort largely failed, leaving the wrecks in place, and the site is now protected as the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary.

Vessel

Built: 1919
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Steel
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam
Owners: U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation

Loss

Date: Abandoned and scuttled in the Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet in the 1920s-1930s.
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Mallows Bay, Potomac River, Chesapeake Bay watershed
Water: Chesapeake Bay
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established