AH-WR-1085

S.S. William Foster Cowham

Concrete Cargo Ship · United States · Lost Scuttled in December 1948 to form a breakwater · The Potomac & the Virginia Chesapeake

Named for a cement-industry engineer, this concrete cargo steamer was scuttled with eight sisters to build the unusual Kiptopeke breakwater.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

William Foster Cowham was built in November 1944 by McCloskey and Company of Tampa, Florida, one of the U.S. Maritime Commission's wartime fleet of reinforced-concrete cargo ships. She served as an Army training ship in the South Pacific during World War II. In December 1948 she was towed to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and scuttled with eight sister ships to form a breakwater protecting the Little Creek-Cape Charles ferry terminal, where her hull remains today within Kiptopeke State Park.

Vessel

Built: 1944
Builder: McCloskey and Company
Yard: Tampa, Florida
Material: Composite
Length: 366 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam
Owners: U.S. Maritime Commission

Loss

Date: Scuttled in December 1948 to form a breakwater
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Kiptopeke, Northampton County, Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay
Water: Chesapeake Bay
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Partially submerged as part of the fixed nine-ship breakwater line; specific hull condition not separately documented
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Within Kiptopeke State Park, Virginia

Position

Coordinates: 37.17° N 76.00° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Kiptopeke State Park, Cape Charles, Virginia
Region: The Potomac & the Virginia Chesapeake

Coordinates are the general position of the Kiptopeke State Park breakwater; individual ship positions within the line are not separately published.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (76/100)

Virginia State Parks ("The Lure of Kiptopeke")
Ship name, builder, wartime role, and 1948 scuttling as breakwater
Historical Marker Database, Concrete Ships marker, Kiptopeke State Park
Confirms vessel name among the nine-ship breakwater roster
concreteships.org
Confirms individual ship identification and general McCloskey-class vital statistics