Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake [Hardcover]

Donald G. Shomette (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: Tidewater Pub; 1st edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870334808
• ISBN-13: 978-0870334801
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #622,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three interesting Maryland historical investigations, November 13, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake (Hardcover)

Donald Shomette is an underwater archeologist and this book is about three archeological and historical "digs" made in Maryland since the mid '70s:

1. Robots Beneath the Chesapeake: about the investigation of the ship New Jersey, which sank carrying pottery and other items; the discovery of this wreck and its cargo led to a bill in Maryland that now protects underwater sites from vandals and poachers;

2. Melted Beads: about the location of the earliest settlement in Maryland, on Kent Island;

3. The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay: about a ship graveyard along the Potomac River where many WW I wooden steamships were scuttled.

Shomette is an excellent writer and is thorough in his presentation. He looks at a great deal of information, on-site evidence and historical records, and lays out clearly and not too technically what it all means. I found the investigation of the oldest settlement in Maryland to be the most interesting, and the evidence is not at all clear-cut. Shomette looks at it all, however, and weighs various sites one against the other using the tools of history and archeology. A fascinating book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed History !, September 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake (Hardcover)

After reading just some of this book I went to Mallows Bay and canoed all through whats left of all these shipwrecks. While looking at the photos and reading some of what happened here I was hooked. There is so much history around that I will continue to read more about this area and go back for further visits!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author Uncovers the Details That Lead to the Ghost Fleet, June 29, 2010

By 

Eugene Schwope (Woodbury, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake (Hardcover)

For many years I have heard rumors and stories of a burned and looted fleet of World War I ships that lay at the bottom of the Potomac river, near Washington DC. Recently, I found this so called "Ghost Fleet" on Google Earth, and this lead to an Internet search for printed information.

On Amazon, I discovered Donald Shomette's book, "Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay." Shomette is a writer, historian, and underwater archaeologist, who put together the largest, and most detailed, examination of the Ghost Fleet that has ever been accomplished.

Shomette, and his team, provide a history of the Potomac River from 1776 until the present day. They pour over the records of the War Department, Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, Department of the Navy, and everyone else connected with this boondoggle, that built, and abandoned, hundreds of ocean going ships, 30 miles from the Nation's Capitol.

Some of the Ghost Fleet is beached, and some is in very shallow water, at Mallows Bay. It is easily reached by small boat, and is now accessable at a new State Park that Maryland is scheduled to open the summer of 2010.

In addition to the Ghost Fleet, this fine book also explores the sinking of the steamship New Jersey in Chesapeake Bay, and describes an archaeological investigation of Kent Island, the first permanent European settlement in Maryland.

This is all fascinating reading, and I whole heartedly recommend Donald Shomette's authoritative book.