CASMALIA

3D Model

Casmalia was built in 1918 by the American Shipbuilding Company of Brunswick, GA, for the United States Shipping Board as a Ferris-type wooden cargo vessel. Following the end of the war, wooden cargo vessels, like Casmalia, were still entering service to be part of coastal and transoceanic commerce. In short order, however, the need for these vessels waned as the decline in world commerce and consequent depression in shipbuilding during the early 1920s resulted in a vast withdrawal of both wooden and steel vessels from active service. Vessels were pulled from service and simply tied up, moored in places like the James River, Virginia. The move to dispose of the wooden steamship fleet formally began on April 15, 1920. Casmalia was eventually taken over by the Western Marine Salvage Company, moved to Mallows bay, Maryland, and has been in the same general location since 1929. Casmalia now sits within Mallows Bay - Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary. Model by Allyson Ropp/NOAA.