Human remains from Monitor bound for Hawai'i
Associated Press
HATTERAS, N.C.— Strong undersea currents and shifting winds delayed an attempt yesterday to raise the 120-ton revolving gun turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor.
Associated Press
However, remains of a skeleton believed to be that of one of the Monitor's sailors were removed from inside the turret yesterday. The remains will be taken to the Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawai'i for analysis.
Nautical archeologist Eric Emery loads a container of human remains at the USS Monitor's 1862 wreck site off Hatteras, N.C. The bones will be analyzed in Hawai'i.
"After 140 years at depth, the preservation is amazing," Army archaeologist Eric Emery said.
Sixteen officers and crew members died Dec. 31, 1862, when the Union ship sank during a storm, landing upside-down in 240 feet of water, 16 miles off Hatteras, N.C. The wreckage was discovered in 1973.
Undersea currents and shifting winds delayed an operation by Navy divers, who were to put in place a heavy cable sling to lift the turret.
A crane aboard a barge moored above the Monitor wreckage 16 miles off Cape Hatteras was to then be pulled up the turret and its twin cannons.
Two- to 4-foot waves rocked the work barge, and a tug was moving its anchors, said Cmdr. Bobbie Scholley, the Navy's commander for the expedition. Once the anchors are repositioned, expedition leaders were to decide when they could raise the turret.
Scholley said the lift could take place early today.
"If we've got favorable conditions, once the barge has moved, we're going to want to take advantage of the opportunity," Scholley told reporters during a conference call from the barge.
Scholley said a storm is forecast tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday. "That could shut us down for several days," she said.
Winds were 15 to 20 mph yesterday afternoon and needed to be calmer before the lift could be made, she said.
The sling will be connected to a custom-made steel claw that divers previously attached to the iron turret.
Expedition leaders will then decide whether conditions are good enough to take the next step and move the claw, turret and sling onto a platform on the ocean floor. The entire platform then will be pulled to the surface.
The Monitor and the Confederate ship CSS Virginia revolutionized naval warfare when they fought to a draw on March 9, 1862, near Newport News, Va. It was the first battle of ironclads — ships covered in iron plates to repel cannon balls. Most fighting ships until then were wooden.
While the Virginia had banks of guns, the entire ship had to be moved to get the best firing angles. The Monitor's innovative revolving cylindrical turret allowed the crew to maneuver the ship for safety while maintaining accurate fire by adjusting the turret.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with the Navy and the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., on the $6.5 million project to raise the turret.
Raising the turret is the last big job in a five-year effort to save the ship's unique features. The entire vessel is too fragile to be raised.
The turret will be taken to the museum to be preserved and displayed along with hundreds of other artifacts that already have been recovered.
