Count Them! FIVE Long-Lost Sunken Ships Can Be Seen in This Texas River

The Sabine River in Texas holds some thrilling mysteries if you just know where to look.

For example, long-lost shipwrecks.

Do I Have Your Attention?

A quick search on Google Maps (coordinates of 30.0639447, -93.7008067) yields an incredible view of no less than FIVE sunken ships in the murky waters of the Sabine River.

The Sabine River is the informal boundary line for Texas and Louisiana. This particular section is found near the city of Orange, Texas..

Locals in the area refer to this portion of the river as "Conway Bayou", and while you are only able to see 5 complete ships from above, it is said that there are 16 hulls from 16 incomplete ships on the bottom of the river as well.

Contrary to popular belief, these are not actual ship "wrecks" but rather, abandoned ships.

Orange, Texas was a mecca for shipbuilding back in the early 1900s and when steel ships became more common, the wooden ships were left to rot. It was cheaper and more economical to just leave them than it was to dismantle them or pay a storage fee somewhere to keep them.

You can find drawings of the wooden ships and a gallery of even more photos in this informative article by Mark Underhill. He dives into the history and mystery of the sunken ships on the Sabine River.

You can also explore this exact stretch of the Sabine River by scrolling around on the Google Maps below

Have you ever gone fishing near the ghost ships of Conway Bayou? Some say it's a popular fishing area now. I'm curious as to whether or not you can see any of the ships from shore.

Let me know in a comment wherever you find this article, or reach out to me at Chrissy.Covington@townsquaremedia.com. I'm thinking about planning a trip to check them out in person...

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