AH-WR-0630

Aowa

Wooden Steam Cargo Ship · United States · Lost Date not established · Chesapeake Bay

One of the best-preserved hulls at Mallows Bay, a New York-built wartime steamship whose sister ship rests in Florida's Keys.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Aowa was completed in 1918 by the Johnson Shipyard Company of New York for the United States Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet program. She never entered the overseas cargo service she was built for. After the war she was retired and towed to Mallows Bay on the Potomac River, where surveys now describe her as one of the best-preserved wooden steamship wrecks in the sanctuary, though her outer position makes her one of the harder wrecks to reach.

Vessel

Built: 1918
Registry: Maryland archaeological site 18CH506
Builder: Johnson Shipyard Company
Yard: New York, New York
Material: Wood
Length: 259.5 ft
Beam: 46.5 ft
Tonnage: 3500
Propulsion: Steam, single screw
Owners: United States Shipping Board

Loss

Date: Not established
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Mallows Bay, Potomac River
Water: Potomac River, Chesapeake Bay watershed
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Oriented east to west with bow facing shore; propeller shaft tunnel well preserved with at least five shaft casing mounts; four bulkheads discernible; considered among the best preserved hulls in the sanctuary.
Orientation: East-west, bow toward shore
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Within Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary and the Mallows Bay-Widewater National Register Historic District