Comparing Ferris-Type Ships at Mallows Bay, Maryland: An Examination of the Congruence of 18CH506 and 18CH511 to EFC Design #1001

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the summer of 2022, the Program in Maritime Studies held its annual summer field school in the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary. The project focused efforts on recording Maryland shipwrecks 18CH506 and 18CH511 (previously identified as Aowa and Bayou Teche, respectively). Corresponding to wooden-hulled cargo ships built for the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) over the period 1918-1919 and built according to naval architect Theodore E. Ferris’s design (EFC Design #1001), these ships would be deliberately scuttled with dozens of others at Mallows Bay (on the Potomac River) in the 1920s. This paper outlines the construction features of both vessels to assess the congruence and deviation from plans provided to builders across the United States during the First World War. Comparing construction traits has the potential to illuminate variation in regional and yard-specific efforts to mass-produce wooden steamers in the United States during the early 20th century.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow