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On a bitter January morning, the passenger-freighter Monroe was groping northbound through a thick fog off the Virginia Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, the southbound Nantucket was stumbling along also and the two vessels collided head-on. The Nantucket penetrated the Monroe's hull, sealing her fate; as the Nantucket backed away, water was allowed to rush in an fill the crippled vessel. The Monroe quickly began listing over to starboard at a rapidly increasing angle. Many passengers were thrown into the frigid water; eventually, 41 people died or were unaccounted for. The masts of the wreck still protruded from the surface after she settled on the bottom in 85' of water. Due to this hazard to navigation, the Monroe was leveled later that year with explosives.

The site is extensively broken up with debris spread far from the core of the hull. Portholes, their swing plates recovered, still adorn many areas of the hull. The stern rises high from the bottom. Typically during the summer, the wreck of the Monroe is visited by an abundance of summer flounder. Being offshore, most are doormat size. I was amazed by the numbers; while gigging a large flounder, I would always spook 3-4 other fish nearby.