History
Lost Washington: The Southland
The Southland was built in 1908 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. as the SS Southland. The steamer operated for the Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Co. on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, transporting passengers and freight between Washington, Alexandria, Old Point Comfort, and Norfolk.
The Southland was acquired by the War Shipping Administration in 1942 for transfer to the British Ministry of War Transport. She was returned in 1943 and converted to accommodate 544 passengers and chartered by the United States Navy, commissioned on 22 May 1944.
Southland was assigned to the 12th Fleet until 1945, when she was decommissioned and struck from the Navy list on August 13, 1945. Subsequently, the vessel was sold to Fu Chung International Corp., China, and operated as Hung Yung until scrapped in 1955.
Kent Boese posts items of historic interest primarily within the District. He's worked in libraries since 1994, both federal and law, and currently works on K Street. He lives in the Park View neighborhood, and is the force behind the blog Washington Kaleidoscope.  |
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@ggwash
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DC , contrary to popular misinformation, was a REAL PORT , had industry, yes- HEAVY INDUSTRY, and ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS.
Just becuase these things are not here now does not mean that they didn't exist at one time.
There were actually a number of steamship lines that operated out of the Washington Channel, and very large ocean going warships often called at the Washington Navy Yard until recent times, when the Anacostia was allowed to silt up .
As a boy, I can recall the old Wilson Line, which took revelers down to Indian Head where there was a large amusement park.
The rise of the car and the airplane has caused this city to turn it's back on our maritime heritage.
In addition to this, there were actually fishing boats that regularly went out from the Potomac and brought in fresh seafood every day.
Please post more great nostalgia like this.
If any attempt to bring back the underutilized waterways around here is ever seriously made, it should not just be pleasure boats and marinas- but real working boats with a purpose like this steamship line.
In America and in the DC area, we are wasting a fantastic resource and turning our backs to the main reason why DC was located here in the first place- we are the farthest inland navigable riverway to this country's heartland on the Northeastern seaboard.
by w on Jul 14, 2009 3:23 pm • link • report
by MPC on Jul 14, 2009 3:33 pm • link • report
by Daniel M. Laenker on Jul 14, 2009 4:10 pm • link • report
by ah on Jul 14, 2009 4:11 pm • link • report
by Alex B. on Jul 14, 2009 4:17 pm • link • report
the Naval Gun factory was the largest cast steel weapons facory in the world and it had numerous rail ines- a web of them in fact- you can see this if you look at maps from before 1963 when it closed- obviously the founding fathers thought this was a great place to have such a naval base- Baltimore does have a great port- but it is also not as close to the mountain passes as DC - no canal was built from Baltimore- it was built from DC- and the mainlne B&O railroad went up the Potomac River. The Anacostia was actually a superior port for quite some time- but runoff from clearing of the land caused it to silt up to the point where shipyard operations ceased pretty much after the Civil War- but the turning basin at the Navy Yard and it's blind spot / bending of the river above Haines Point protected it from potential sea borne attack in the eyes of the founders.
Is anyone aware that the first USA aircraft carrier was tested in the Anacostia in the 1920's ? the catapult was perfected during these tests. There were many advantages to locating a port in this area- rich agriculture, coal, as well as deep water. That it was not kept dredged is another matter.NYCity has also allowed it's docks to silt up. In general, much of our naitonal will to keep up our maritime assetts has gone down the tubes .
If any other country had a river like the Potomac- they would be taking advantage of it.
Some historians maintain that the reasons why DC did not stay a port and was kept from becoming a commercial sea destination was that the US Congress consistently voted down any attempt to give us any advantages here as they did not want to disadvantage their own states. We had no vote and no power to stop this. Jefferson himself wanted to build the world's largest drydock facility on the Anacostia but the members voted it down- they wanted it for themselves.
by w on Jul 14, 2009 4:28 pm • link • report
If we used the Potomac for major port facilities, I suspect they'd be Woodbridge or further down river (down river of 301 bridge).
by ah on Jul 14, 2009 4:49 pm • link • report
by Boots on Jul 14, 2009 5:31 pm • link • report
by Squalish on Jul 14, 2009 6:00 pm • link • report
I'm not sure how to tie that back into Washington except that there might be something to some kind of cruise to Virginia Beach. I'm not sure how one would go about proposing that sort of thing, tho, or if it would fly.
by Daniel M. Laenker on Jul 14, 2009 6:13 pm • link • report
Even if I-95S is clear the I-64 bottleneck through Newport News and then the HRBT can add hours on in a hurry by car/bus. If I remember correctly its about 120nm from DC to Norfolk, if you could do a 30kt average it might be a nice alternative. but that seems VERY fast for the Chesapeake...
I loved seeing the old postcard of the SOUTHLAND, and hearing all the history!
by Tony D on Jul 15, 2009 7:16 am • link • report
I keep looking for postcards, images of steamers in DC, but so far I keep coming up short...
by Richard Layman on Jul 15, 2009 10:17 am • link • report
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