AH-WR-0542

Dungeness

Cargo Steamship · United States · Lost Early-to-mid 1920s, part of the mass scrapping and abandonment of the 'Ghost Fleet' · Chesapeake Bay

A World War I emergency wooden steamship abandoned and burned at Mallows Bay after the war made it obsolete before use.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Dungeness was among the standardized wooden steam cargo ships rushed to completion under the Emergency Fleet Corporation program during World War I. Finished too late to serve the war effort, it was declared surplus and sold to a scrapping firm operating at Mallows Bay on the Potomac River. Stripped of usable metal, its hull was abandoned there, joining what became known as the Ghost Fleet.

Vessel

Built: 1919
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: 281 ft
Beam: 46 ft
Tonnage: 3500
Propulsion: Steam, single screw
Owners: U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation

Loss

Date: Early-to-mid 1920s, part of the mass scrapping and abandonment of the 'Ghost Fleet'
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Mallows Bay, Potomac River, Maryland
Water: Potomac River / Chesapeake Bay
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established