Alpaco is a Ferris-type wooden cargo vessel built by the Hodge Ship Company, Moss Point, Mississippi. It was one of nearly 300 ships built during World War I between 1917 and 1919 for the U.S. Shipping Board as part of the U.S. Emergency Fleet. The war ended before the ships could be used. Many of the ships were taken to Mallows Bay in the Potomac River to be salvaged for scrap metal, such as engines, steam boilers, and propellers. Today, Alpaco rests on its keel (bottom) and is in an excellent state of preservation. The hull (frame) is overgrown with vegetation and is partially underwater.