SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010 of the ghost fleet of Mallows Bay
ships that once languished on the Potomac. He feels hemust close the chapter on these ves- sels with the story of themost massive assemblage of its kind: the ghost fleet ofMallows Bay. It is a story that includesmis-
A
guided government contracting, environmental degradation and rebirth, and floating brothels. In 1917, German U-boats were
wreaking havoc with transatlan- tic shipping, dispatching tons of much-needed supplies destined for the Allies to the bottomof the ocean. America could ill af- ford to lose these ships. That year, an engineer named Fred- eric Eustis proposed construct- ing hundreds of wooden steam- ships, using a design and build- ingmethod that would ensure they could be turned out quick- ly.
WilliamDenman, chairman
of the United States Shipping Board, announced plans to build 1,000 ships. This “almost endless chain of boats” (as The Washington Post put it) would overwhelmthe Kaiser’s subma- rines. Boatyards across the country
started churning out wooden steamships. But there was a problem: The ships weren’t very good. “They were obsolete be- fore they even set sail,” said Don Shomette, amarine historian and author of “The Ghost Fleet ofMallows Bay.” “They were too small to carry any real weight, even though some were 300 feet long.” Plus, the GreatWar had end-
ed. What to do with these lousy
boats, which totaledmore than 200? “They tried to give themto Uruguay, and they didn’t want them,” Don said. It is a sad day, indeed, when
even Uruguay won’t take leaky wooden steamships off your hands. The ships cost a total of al-
most $1 billion to build. “They ended up selling the entirety of the fleet for $175,000 at auc- tion,” Don said. The buyer wasWesternMa-
rine and Salvage Co., a firmin Alexandria that berthed the ships atWidewater, Va. The plan was to tow themone by one to the wharf in Alexandria and burn the ships to reveal metal fittings that could be sold for scrap. “The first one up in Alexandria caught fire and burned the waterfront down,” Don said. “It wasn’t a good start.” The whole thing was snake-
bit. In 1924, 214 hulls were towed toMallows Bay, an area on Charles County’s Nanjemoy Peninsula, across fromQuanti- co. Said Don: “You could literal- ly walk amile without touching the water, they were packed so tightly.” Though local watermen pro-
tested that the ships would ruin the waters they depended on, the salvage company got per- mission to start burning the fleet. The Post reported hordes of squealing rats leaving the
JAMES M. THRESHER/THE WASHINGTON POST
Burned to the waterline on the Potomac River decades ago, a ship’s hull rests on the bottom ofMallows Bay. In 1924, 214 hulls were towed toMallows Bay, on Charles County’sNanjemoy Peninsula.
ships as they were set on fire. When the price of scrap dropped during the Depression, the Alexandria firmsort of washed its hands of the affair and entrepreneurs set up shop. “It became a free-for-all down
there,” Don said. “Because of Prohibition, the ships became excellent places for erecting stills. . . . The upshot was that the area became a place where a lot of unemployedmen worked trying to round up whatever scrapmetal they could take off. Youmight have 75 to 200men in different boats.” Where there are singlemen
and booze, prostitutes naturally follow. At least 20 Potomac “riv- er arks” — houseboats that served as floating brothels — dropped anchor. BecauseMal- lows Bay is directly across from theMarine base at Quantico, it is not inconceivable thatMa- rinesmay have indulged in the illicit offerings. The ships are still there, now
barelymore than the outlines of their hulls. Nature has taken
over. Trees as high as 50 feet sprout fromsome ships, and an- imals havemade themselves at home. “There are beaver, river otter,
an incredible population of bass,” Don said. “I once saw six bald eagles at one time.”
Children’s Hospital If it truly is better to give
than receive, I hope you will take amoment to donate to Children’s NationalMedical Center. Your gift will help pay the bills of underinsured chil- dren. Tomake your tax-deductible
donation, send a check ormon- ey order (payable to “Children’s Hospital”) toWashington Post Campaign, P.O. Box 17390, Balti- more,Md. 21297-1390. To donate online with a credit card, go to
www.washingtonpost.com/chil- drenshospital or call 301-565- 8501.
Have a question? Write
answerman@washpost.com
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nswerMan has spent the past three Sundays telling the stories of derelict
JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON The sordid rise and fall
KLMNO
EZ SU
C3
Digging down to the roots of corruption ROBERTMCCARTNEY
mccartney from C1
approach from a politician to a developer would be, “You give money to this civic group that I’min charge of, and I’ll see what I can do about you. Otherwise, your project’s not going through.” Another is, “You hiremy guy to help with community outreach. Then I’ll agree to meet with you and move your project,” he said. It’s typical for campaign con- tributions to be requested as a quid pro quo. Sometimes out- right payoffs are sought.
The sums of money involved
range from thousands to hun- dreds of thousands of dollars.A campaign contribution from an individual is usually $4,000.A developer might have to hire a lobbyist to get a politician’s sup- port, at a cost of $60,000 to $90,000 a year. In a civil suit filed this year, de-
veloper Arun Luthra alleged that three different individuals—a real estate broker, a lobbyist and a council member—sought pay- ments or contributions totaling more than $400,000 in exchange for support getting approvals for an office leasing deal inNewCar- rollton. Luthra made a $4,000 donation and hired a lobbyist, but didn’t get the deal. The case
is still in court. In such a climate, no one was surprised that a federal real es- tate corruption probe led to the arrests of former county execu- tive Jack Johnson and his wife, newCounty CouncilMember Leslie Johnson. The only real source of amazement was that the Johnsons were so clumsy in allegedly flushing a $100,000 check down the toilet and con- cealing nearly $80,000 in her bra. Acounty businessman said
there was a “thin line” between soliciting campaign contribu- tions and bribery. Some politi- cians “do things and want cam- paign contributions. Others are a little more direct,” the business- mansaid. “I admit I was some- what shocked by how blatant this [Johnson case] appears to be. I thought the guy was more so- phisticated than that.” How did it get so bad? Corrup-
tion in PrinceGeorge’s has been a problem on and off for decades, even as the county has evolved from a mostly rural and working- class white community to be- come one of the nation’s wealthi- est black-majority jurisdictions. Anotorious case in the 1960s was the conviction of the chairman of county commissioners for taking a tractor as a bribe from a devel-
oper. “We were sort of an old-boy
network back in the heyday. Even though the actors changed, the culture remained,” a Prince George’s elected official said. Another reason is an informal
code of silence, a powerful reluc- tance to make public anything that would tarnish the image of a county wheremany residents al- ready feel unfairly denigrated. “What is endemic to Prince
George’s politics is this sort of complicity in the sense of, ‘I’m not going to tell on you, so you don’t tell on me,’ ” the elected of- ficial said. Finally, the county has lacked
an effective watchdog when it comes to ethics.Until now, the U.S. Attorney’s office has focused more on the Baltimore region where it’s based. The county eth- ics commission is barely heard from. Baker, who promised in his campaign to end the “pay to play” culture, plans to create an independent inspector general’s office.His supporters express confidence that he’ll appoint trustworthy officials and signifi- cantly raise expectations for hon- esty in government. It can’t happen soon enough.
mccartneyr@washpost.com
Montgomery police probing attacks on women BY HENRI E. CAUVIN Police in Montgomery County
say they are investigating a string of nighttime attacks onwomen in theAspenHill-Wheatonarea. Detectives are not certain that
the crimes that occurred this fall areconnected,but theyareexplor- ing that possibility and are asking the public for assistance, includ- ing from a Good Samaritan who interruptedaDec. 4 attack. Inthreeof theattacks,anassail-
ant sexually assaulted the victim, and in one instance awomanwas raped, according to police. In all but one of the attacks, the victim hadjust exitedabuswhenshewas accosted, according topolice. Following are details provided
bypolice about eachincident: • About 11 p.m. onOct. 26, near
ConnecticutAvenueandIndepen- dence Street, a 30-year-old wom- an was dragged into a wooded area where she was sexually as- saulted before escaping and call- ingpolice. • About 1 a.m. onNov. 20, near
Georgia Avenue and Hewitt Ave- nue, a 52-year-old woman was on foot and forced into a wooded area. She was raped and the sus- pect fledonfoot. • Between 7 and 8 p.m. on Dec.
1, a 42-year-old woman exited a bus near Georgia Avenue andHe- witt Avenue and walked north on Georgia. At the intersection of Ralph Road she was sexually as- saultedbyamanwhotriedtoforce her into a wooded area. She es-
capedandsummonedhelp. • Just before 7:30 p.m. on Dec.
4,nearClaridgeRoadandSeaport Way, a 27-year-oldwomanwas as- saulted. A passerby came to the victim’s aid, a police spokesman said. But that person had left the scene by the time officers arrived and investigators are asking him tocome forwardwithinformation about the assailant. The suspect has generally been
described as a white male of His- panic descent who is between 25 and 30 years old, about 5-feet-6, witha thinto average build. Anyone with information is
asked to call the Montgomery County Police Major CrimesDivi- sion at 240-773-5070 or Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
cauvinh@washpost.com
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