Afrania and Flower Pot Wrecks

3D Model

This model interprets two sites, Afrania and the Flower Pot Wrecks. Afrania made one known trans-Atlantic voyage to Rouen, France and returned in 1919 to Norfolk, Virginia. The ship burned sometime in 1926 and was brought to Mallows Bay off Nanjemoy, Maryland. The ship’s present location is different from its original position, perhaps due to it drifting and later hauled nearshore and anchored to prevent future movement and from becoming a navigation obstruction. With its overgrown vegetation, the ship today offers habitat to an abundance of animals.

Two unidentified vessels are nicknamed “Flower Pots” for the dense and varied vegetation they contain including a number of flowering plants and shrubs. The hulls were weighted with rocks to restrict their movement and these collected sediment and seeds over time turning them into artificial islands. Both of these sites reside within the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary. Model by Ian Dunshee/NOAA.