Ght Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lt Chesapeake (Hardcover, 1st ed)

In this archaeological trilogy, Donald G. Shomette provides a tour of the treasures beneath the Chesapeake Bay. Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay, a companion volume to Tidewater Time Capsule, continues the author's quest to uncover the Bay's hidden history. New Jersey, a steamship that sank in the waters of the Chesapeake in 1870, is the subject of the first part of this absorbing narrative. The wreck became the scene of large-scale relic hunting, but also of cutting-edge technology. Events surrounding the exploration of the wreck were instrumental in the creation of the first state-sponsored underwater archaeology agency in Maryland. In part two Shomette describes the history and archaeological investigation of Kent Island, where the remains and relics of the earliest permanent European settlement in Maryland were excavated. Part three chronicles a fascinating yet little-known chapter in American history. During World War I, the U.S. government created an emergency program to build hundreds of wooden steamships to replace merchant vessels being destroyed in Germany's campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. Most of these ships never saw the European Theater and now lie beneath Mallows Bay off the Potomac. The bay also holds the remnants of countless other vessels, making it the largest ship graveyard in the United States - and perhaps the world.