Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay and Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake (Hardcover)

by Donald G. Shomette (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: Tidewater Publishers; 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
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #833,569 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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!