AH-WR-0627

North Bend

Wooden Steam Cargo Ship · United States · Lost Brought to Mallows Bay for scrapping in the 1920s · Chesapeake Bay

The first wooden Emergency Fleet Corporation steamer ever completed, built in a record 120 days, now barely visible in Mallows Bay's shallows.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

North Bend, named for a town in Oregon, was the first wooden steamship completed and certified under the U.S. Shipping Board's wartime Emergency Fleet program, built in just 120 days. Her rapid completion was publicized nationally and spurred fierce competition among shipyards to build faster. She later carried general merchandise in the Pacific Coast-Hawaiian Islands trade. After her working life ended she was brought to Mallows Bay on the Potomac River for scrapping, where her remains lie today, only minimally visible even at low tide.

Vessel

Built: 1918
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, single screw
Owners: United States Shipping Board; later Pacific Coast-Hawaiian Islands trade

Loss

Date: Brought to Mallows Bay for scrapping in the 1920s
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: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Within Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary and the Mallows Bay-Widewater National Register Historic District

Position

Coordinates: 38.47° N 77.27° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Mallows Bay, Charles County, Maryland
Region: Chesapeake Bay

General area only: coordinate of Mallows Bay from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.