The City Of Washington was built in 1877 as a passenger cargo steamer for the Ward Line. She was built by J. Roach & Son of Chester, Pennsylvania, was 300.5 feet long, had a 38.4 foot beam and displaced 2,410 gross tons. 

Around 1911 she was sold and cut down to be used as a barge. On July 10, 1917, while being towed by the Edgar F. Luckenbach, she was stranded on Elbow Reef. The City Of Washington was dynamited because she was a hazard to navigation, so today her wreckage is low lying and scattered. She is now resting just north of the Elbow tower, very close to the wreck of the Tonawanda in shallow water. According to Stephen Frink's book, UNDERWATER GUIDE TO THE FLORIDA KEYS, this wreck is home to a pair of large green moray eels named Melba and Perry.
Photo:  The passenger cargo steamer City Of Washington was built in 1877. Photo courtesy Steamship Historical Society, University of Baltimore Library.

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