MOOSABEE

3D Model

Moosabee is a Ferris-type wooden cargo vessel built for the U.S. Emergency Fleet in a massive shipbuilding effort between 1917-1919 as part of America’s engagement in World War I. The vessel type was named after the design by Theodore E. Ferris, a senior architect for the United States Shipping Board. Ferris’s idea was to standardize these emergency ships with similar designs that could be built at yards all across the United States. Each Ferris-type ship measured approximately the same, 282 feet long, and grossing 3,500 deadweight tons.

Moosabee is now part of a group of three shipwrecks called “The Three Sisters,” within Mallows Bay - Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary. “The Three Sisters” include the sites of Moosabee, Dertona, and an unidentified wreck. The bow of Moosabee is in an excellent state of preservation, and lies only 3 feet from the bluff shoreline. The remains of Moosabee are resting on its keel and is a popular site for kayakers to visit. Model by Allyson Ropp/NOAA.