Drought Reveals WWI Shipwreck Hidden In East Texas River

It’s one of many wooden-hulled vessels that we abandoned in the area after WWI.

A combination of high temperatures and low rainfall recently revealed a “hidden shipwreck” at the bottom of the Neches River in East Texas.

A man named Bill Milner was jet skiing on August 18 when he came across the wrecks of five “very old wooden boats,” according to a Facebook post by the Ice House Museum in Silsbee.

The museum contacted the Texas Historical Commission, which informed them that they’ve been aware of the site since the 2000s. The commission confirmed that the wreck discovered by Milner is one of more than a dozen WWI vessels formerly operated by the U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) that were built and later abandoned in the Beaumont area at the conclusion of the war.

Nearly 40 wooden-hulled vessels from EFC are in east Texas rivers, the commission said on Facebook, making them "one of the largest collections of WWI vessel abandonment sites in the United States."

Many of these vessels were unfinished and some either converted to barges or sold for scrap material when the government no longer had use for them. A portion of them, however, were left to succumb to the elements.

“The large wooden hulls, designed as steamships, were of the Ferris type and nearly 282-feet long when constructed,” the commission explained. “The unutilized vessels were eventually abandoned in the Neches River and in Sabine River near Orange in the 1920s. Orange and Beaumont, along with Houston and Rockport, were the shipbuilding centers in Texas for EFC vessels built under government contracts.”

The commission warned that anyone who finds a shipwreck or other underwater wreckage should "play it safe and leave it alone." Many sites are protected by state and federal laws, and those who disturb or visit them without the proper permissions can face penalties and fines. The wrecks can also be dangerous for amateur visitors who lack proper equipment and training.

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