https://sputnikglobe.com/20230831/jet-skiing-man-discovers-wwi-era-ship-once-the-size-of-a-football-field--1113006320.html
Jet Skiing Man Discovers WWI-Era Ship Once the Size of a Football Field
Jet Skiing Man Discovers WWI-Era Ship Once the Size of a Football Field
Sputnik International
Though the large wooden ships were modeled on ships from the 19th-century, these vessels were actually used in WWI as the US struggled with their steel supply.
2023-08-31T04:02+0000
2023-08-31T04:02+0000
2023-08-31T04:02+0000
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After a summer of heat and minimal rainfall in Texas, a jet skier in Evadale made a shocking discovery after coming across debris that belonged to a wooden ship dating back to World War I.Bill Milner was jet skiing on the Neches River, just north of Beaumont, Texas, when he found what he knew to be a very large vessel.Within moments, he informed the Ice House Museum in nearby Silsbee of his discovery, with the museum later contacting the Texas Historical Commission in Austin. Further analysis of the scene revealed that Milner had not only stumbled across one large wooden ship, but potentially five.When the US first entered WWI in 1917, officials established the Emergency Fleet Corporation which built 19th-century-style wooden ships powered by steam engines due to short supplies of steel, and because many of the active shipyards were completely full as they worked to build steel ships. The wooden ships, in any case, were only destined to make a one-way voyage to deliver supplies.However, with the war ending in 1918, the US government had no idea how to sell their 280-foot-long wooden ships. The US government later allowed the ships, which were built in Beaumont, to be abandoned or sold for its timber and iron for a 0.0040% of what the entire ship had cost to make.Citing an article from 1924, an official with the Ice House Museum indicated the five ships that were discovered by Milner caught fire that same year in the Neches River, burning down to their waterline.
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wwi shipwreck, wwi, history, shipwreck, sunken ship, texas, neches river
Jet Skiing Man Discovers WWI-Era Ship Once the Size of a Football Field
The Texas river in which the remains of the vessel was found is more than 400 miles long and acted as a shipping lane for barges and ferry boats during the 1800s. The waterway is now considered somewhat of a graveyard for World War I-era ships.
After a summer of heat and minimal rainfall in Texas, a jet skier in Evadale made a shocking discovery after coming across debris that belonged to a wooden ship dating back to World War I.
Bill Milner was jet skiing on the Neches River, just north of Beaumont, Texas, when he found what he knew to be a very large vessel.
Within moments, he informed the Ice House Museum in nearby Silsbee of his discovery, with the museum later contacting the Texas Historical Commission in Austin. Further analysis of the scene revealed that Milner had not only stumbled across one large wooden ship, but potentially five.
"The amazing story of these shipwrecks began in WWI, when German submarines were making more than a little headway sinking US merchant ships in the Atlantic," the
Ice House Museum said in a statement on social media. "There was a grave concern that the loss of these merchant ships would seriously impede their ability to get materials for the war, as well as food and other commodities needed by the American people."
When the US first entered WWI in 1917, officials established the Emergency Fleet Corporation which built 19th-century-style wooden ships powered by steam engines due to short supplies of steel, and because many of the active shipyards were completely full as they worked to build steel ships. The
wooden ships, in any case, were only destined to make a one-way voyage to deliver supplies.
However, with the war ending in 1918, the US government had no idea how to sell their 280-foot-long wooden ships. The US government later allowed the ships, which were built in Beaumont, to be abandoned or sold for its timber and iron for a 0.0040% of what the entire ship had cost to make.
"The reason that you find these in the Neches is because when the war ended, the ships sort of lost their purpose," said
Amy Borgens, the state marine archaeologist with the Texas Historical Commission. "And it was really difficult for the government to find buyers for wooden-hulled ships at that time. And so these vessels, many of which were constructed at a cost of $250,000 each, some of these were sold for just $1,000, just for the salvage of wood and iron."
Citing an article from 1924, an official with the Ice House Museum indicated the five ships that were discovered by Milner caught fire that same year in the Neches River, burning down to their waterline.
