YOUR ARTICLE “THE GHOST FLEET of Mallows Bay” (by Donald G. Shomette, Winter 1999) brought back memories. When my family lived in the Washington, D.C., area many moons ago, one favorite family pastime was the Sunday afternoon auto ride. Sometimes we would drive down the bank of the Potomac. This was before National Airport was dredged up out of that river and before the Pentagon was erected on Roosevelt Field. Farther down, in one of the inlets of the river, we could see rows of wooden ships tied up and apparently abandoned.

When I asked about them, my father, who had had three brothers in the World War I Navy, would reply that the ships were decommissioned minesweepers waiting for a buyer. He would say, “If you had ten dollars, you could probably have one.” As a young lad I would wish I had that ten dollars. As an older lad I have wondered what happened to those magnificent ghosts. Now, thanks to you, I know.

Perry Mason
Topping, Va.