Hawai'i lab begins analysis of Monitor remains
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Remains of crew members from the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor are being stabilized at the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i, officials said yesterday.
Advertiser library photo • Aug. 5, 2002
Meanwhile, a lab archaeologist headed back to the East Coast last weekend to determine the best way to recover remains of a second, and possibly third, crew member from the 140-year-old shipwreck's gun turret.
The turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor is lifted onto a work barge off Cape Hatteras, N.C. The Army's Central Identification Laboratory hopes to identify human remains found inside the turret
A "fairly complete" skeleton was recovered while raising the Monitor's revolving turret off Cape Hatteras, N.C., on Aug. 5, according to John Broadwater, director of the Monitor marine sanctuary.
Ginger Couden, a spokeswoman for the Hawai'i lab, said the remains were being stabilized in water at the Hickam Air Force Base lab. "They've been in salt water for 140 years, so we're flushing the bones of salt using fresh water," Couden said.
Radiologists from Tripler Army Medical Center recently were asked to X-ray a skull recovered from the Monitor. A CT scan also was performed to see whether any brain matter remained that could help with DNA analysis, the hospital said.
"The skull was transported to our department in ice-cold water to maintain the same temperature in which it was found at the bottom of the sea," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Stephen O'Connor, who examined the remains.
No brain matter was found. The hospital concluded there was no evidence of external trauma. Officials said the identification lab has determined only that the crew member was a white man.
Broadwater said the remains of a second, and possibly a third, sailor had been found in the 9-foot-tall, 20-foot diameter turret after it was raised from 240 feet of water.
The 150-ton turret, placed in a 32-foot tank at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., contains hardened concretion that will be broken down by running electric current through the water.
Lab archaeologist Eric Emery, who spent 30 days on a recovery barge at the Monitor site, is in Newport News to assist with the other remains.
"He's out there to determine what will be the best method to remove remains without damaging them," Couden said.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
