getting rid of non-functional boats is a nationwide problem
getting rid of non-functional boats is a nationwide problem
The development of low-cost fiberglass boats in the 1960's was followed 50 years later by the challenge of disposing of old boats which did not decompose. The material in a fiberglass boat has little value for reuse; the cost for disposal exceeds the value of a worn-out boat, and the fine for unauthorized disposal is only $500.
The Executive Director of Clean Virginia Waterways summarized the challenge:1
Not surprisingly, many owners have simply abandoned their boats. Abandoned and Derelict Vessels (ADV's) have accumulated in marshes, along riverbanks, and even in marinas. The vessels create navigation hazards and environmental risks from petroleum products, paint, and plastics. The visibility and size of unusable boats draws attention, though the greatest percentage of marine debris consists of plastic items from land-based sources.2
most marine debris consists of small plastic items that do not biodegrade quicky, but abandoned and derelict vessels attract attention
Source: Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, 2021-2025 Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan (p.6)
Derelict boats are a form of marine trash. Disposing of that waste is easiest when an owner can be identified and contacted. The process is more challenging if no responsible party for disposal can be assigned the responsibility and cost of removal.
The Code of Virginia requires that most motorboats be registered and display a number issued by the Department of Wildlife Resources. By law, owners of motorized boats must notify that department if they abandon the boat:3
it is less expensive to abandon vessels rather than pay for proper disposal
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Abandoned and Derelict Vessels in Virginia
State law defines a legal mechanism for property owners to acquire ownership of abandoned boats. That process has value only if the boat has value.
The Department of Wildlife Resources administers the Marine Habitat and Waterways Improvement Fund, which finances removal of abandoned and derelict boats. In addition to state appropriations, the fund receives money from the sale of state-owned marine lands and from donations.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission also has the power to remove derelict and abandoned boats from public waterways. According to state law:4
Source: Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University, Abandoned & Derelict Vessels in Virginia: Impacts on Environment, Economy, and Navigational Safely
Relatively inexpensive fiberglass boats became widely available starting in the 1970's. After years of use, many were no longer worth the cost of repairs. The Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program, established in 1986 and led by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), included "Goal 4: Understand, Prevent and Mitigate the Impacts of Abandoned and Derelict Vessels" with eight action items, including creating a GIS-based inventory of derelict vessels to prioritize removals.
Virginia Marine Debris Summits were held in 2016 and 2019, and the Virginia Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Work Group was formed in 2020. The 2021-2025 Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan identified the need for an up-to-date database to inventory known Abandoned and Derelict Vessels in Virginia waters.5
finding recycling options for fiberglass and increasing capacity for removing boats are two action items in the 2021-2025 Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan
Source: Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program, 2021-2025 Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan (p.35)
The 2023 General Assembly provided $3 million to a grant program helping localities remove "Abandoned and Derelict Vessels." The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) administered the grant program.
Lynnhaven River NOW obtained a separate $3 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to remove 100 boats. To interrupt the expected pattern of boat removals being followed by abandonment of new vessels in the same area and perpetuating a boat graveyard, Lynnhaven River NOW and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission began to explore how to create a statewide boat recycling or buy-back program. A leader in Lynnhaven River NOW said in 2023:6
a site on the North Landing River next to the Chesapeake/Virginia Beach border has become a boat graveyard
Source: Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University, Abandoned & Derelict Vessels in Virginia: Impacts on Environment, Economy, and Navigational Safely
By the end of 2023, the Vessel Disposal Reuse Foundation in Hampton Roads had removed 29 boats and more than 300,000 pounds of debris from waterways. By the end of 2024, that had climbed to 70 boats and 675,000 pounds removed.
The non-profit organization, funded by donors, estimated in 2023 that there were still 200 abandoned and derelict vessels in Virginia. Most in the Hampton Roads region, particularly in boat graveyards in London Bridge Creek and the North Landing River. If a boat is not removed before it sinks, disposal costs typically increase 400%.
abandoned boat on the North Landing River
Source: Vessel Disposal & Reuse Foundation, WAVY 10 NLR Boat Graveyard
Cost of legal disposal, averaging about $14,000 per vessel, was the reason for most boats to be abandoned. The one landfill in Hampton Rads that accepted boats charged $150 per linear foot, so the larger the boat the greater the disposal costs. Boat owners were advertising that they would sell a boat for $1, in order to avoid the maintenance and liability costs.
The foundation's executive director recognized that boat owners without much disposable income had no feasible way to dispose of their vessel. Punishing such owners under the law would not remove boats from the water:7
Source: Vessel Disposal & Reuse Foundation, Abandoned
There are boat graveyards on the Potomac and James rivers that are now attractions for recreational boaters. At Dutch Gap on the James River, canoeists and kayakers can explore the remains of several wooden barges that once hauled sand and gravel, Decaying slowly next to them on the shoreline is an old metal tugboat. The National Park Service advertises the Lagoon Water Trail as an attraction for boaters on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.8
a site on the North Landing River next to the Chesapeake/Virginia Beach border has become a boat graveyard
Source: National Park Service, Paddle to Sunken Ships at Dutch Gap Conservation Area
On the Potomac River, boaters can see the "Ghost Fleet of the Potomac" at Mallows Bay. They are located within Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary, established by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2019.
Construction of 734 new ships was ordered in 1917 by the United States Shipping Board as the United States entered World War I, in anticipation of an urgent need to transport soldiers and supplies to Europe. 87 separate shipyards received contracts for building wooden ships, 240-300 feet in length, based on a standard design. When the war ended on November 11, 1918, only 134 had been completed and 98 of the ships had been delivered; none had crossed the Atlantic Ocean to deliver cargo for the war effort.
After World War I there was no demand for poorly-built wooden ships fueled by coal; the cargo business desired steel ships fueled by diesel. In 1920, the US Navy stored 285 of the unneeded ships in the James River. They were anchored next to Camp Eustis, which is now part of Joint Base Langley-Eustis.
In 1922 an Alexandria company, Western Marine & Salvage Company, purchased 233 of the inactive and incomplete wooden ships in order to salvage the metal from them. The company was authorized to hauul the hulls to a mooring area on the Potomac adjacent to Widewater in Stafford County. The company towed a few ships to Alexandria where machinery would be removed for scrap.
The stripped hulls were towed back to Widewater and burned, so nails and other remaining metal could be stripped and recycled. The plan was for the burned hulks to be pushed into marshland on the shoreline, where dredge spoil would ultimately cover them.
Watermen objected strenuously that the shad and herring fishery would be damaged. There were 123 hulls stored at Widewater, with nearly 80 more scheduled to be moved, when Western Marine & Salvage Company chose to relocate. It bought land adjacent to Mallows Bay in Charles County, Maryland and towed all the boats there. The company still hauled boats, a few at a time, to Alexandria to strip off the major metal parts. The wooden remainders were towed back to Mallows Bay and burned.
Western Marine & Salvage Company ultimately moved 169 ships to Mallows Bay. Not all had been processed and burned before salvage efforts stopped during the Great Depression; the company went into bankruptcy in March of 1931. Local residents recovered metal and also used the ships for floating brothels and making moonshine whisky. In 1942-44, during World War II, scrap recovery was performed by the government-organized Metals Reserve Company.
Source: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered, The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay
After the war a local utility, PEPCO, secretly purchased the adjacent land in Charles County, Maryland. It lobbied to have the derelict hulls removed, but local opponents to construction of an electricity generating plant blocked the utility's plans. The Federal government determined that the Ghost Fleet could remain in place. Maryland funded marine archeology that documented the ship graveyard also includes a derelict menhaden boat, car ferry, workboats, barges, and even a possible Revolutionary War longboat.
Only one wooden hull is still above water, while vegetation grows on many of the hulks. Plants and aquatic creatures have taken advantage of the shade and structure that the derelict ships provide.
Source: NOAA Sanctuaries, Explore the Blue: 360° Mallows Bay Ghost Fleet
Today the site is a floating forest. Designation of Mallows Bay as a National Marine Sanctuary happened finally in 2019, and was delayed by opposition from watermen who feared Federal restrictions in their harvest seasons and operations. Many historians, conservationists, and boaters now consider the wrecks to be a "mistake turned ecological treasure." As described by the president of the Chesapeake Conservancy:9
the Ghost Fleet at Mallows Bay ended up as a tourist attraction
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Mallows Bay - NOAA Marine Sanctuary Potomac River Nanmejoy (MD) 2023 (by Ron Cogswell); Aerial footage of Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary
Another ghost fleet is located in the Nansemond River, within the boundaries of the City of Suffolk. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has designated the Nansemond Ghost Fleet as an historic site, 44SK0631.
The cluster of wooden vessels was discovered in 2017 near the Main Street Bridge. A marine archeology program has found 13 vessels of various types:10
the remains of 13 abandoned vessels in the Nansemond Ghost Fleet are now a historic site
Source: Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), The Nansemond Ghost Fleet (p.84 and Figure 25)
After World War II, another excess of ships ended up being mothballed. They were stored at the site where the wooden ships had been anchored after World War I. Those ships were designated as the James River Reserve Fleet. It is now managed by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), which is part of the US Department of Transportation:11
The Maritime Administration is responsible for disposal of Federal ships that are at least 1,500 gross tons and no longer useful for defense or aid missions. Some are sunk in the SINKEX program, used at-sea live-fire training exercises by the US Navy. Because the salvage value of dismantling/recycling ships is lower than the cost in US shipyards that must meet worker safety and environmental regulations, the Maritime Administration typically must pay shipyards to dispose of old ships.12
The James River Reserve Fleet (JRRF), the first of eight National Defense Reserve Fleets, is one of three fleets that is still active. It includes decommissioned U.S. Navy ships and obsolete commercial vessels:13
part of the James River Reserve Fleet in 1990
Source: Wikipedia, James River
Further upstream on the James River, the Lagoon Water Trail at what is now the Dutch Gap Conservation Area is a tourist attraction for boaters. Barges and at least one tugboat that once hauled sand and gravel were abandoned, creating a "graveyard" of sunken ships.14
barges that one hauled sand and gravel now form an underwater graveyard at Dutch Gap on the James River
Source: RESRI, ArcGIS Online