University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Archaeology and Anthropology, South Carolina Faculty & Staff ubP lications Institute of
3-2005 South Carolina Naval Wreck Survey Completed James D. Spirek University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected]
Christopher F. Amer University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected]
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Publication Info Published in Legacy, Volume 9, Issue 1-2, 2005, pages 29-31. http://www.cas.sc.edu/sciaa/ © 2005 by The outhS Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology
This Article is brought to you by the Archaeology and Anthropology, South Carolina Institute of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty & Staff ubP lications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. South Carolina Naval Wreck Survey Completed By James Spirek and Christopher F. Amer
Among the countless wrecked and results of watercraft in South Carolina waters the project. lies a body of naval vessels spanning The project
the years from the American Revolu was conducted South Carolina tion to modern times. The manage in two phases. ment of these sunken naval vessels in The first phase State waters and throughout the focused on world falls under the responsibility gathering of the Department of the Navy historical, Range of USN Shipwrecks in SC \.'Vaters
(DoN), with the Underwater Archae archaeological, Chariesto,, ector ology Branch of the Naval Historical and environ Center (NHC) as the main arbiter of mental informa issues affecting these cultural tion concerning resources. The DoN maintains the shipwrecks ..,.., ai Ching custody of all its ships and planes, claimed by the
whether seemingly abandoned, Navy. The • Kingfisher • CNeen of France regardless of last operational use, or second phase Beaufort lost in United States, foreign, or concentrated on international waters. Only an act of implementing _Marcia i-481 Stono (~ Smith) Congress can divest the DoN of its remote sensing ® ,@),' 2nd Stone Floot USN Shipwrecks in SC P,"",<»= • titles or claims to this property. operations on ®Known Housatonic • Unknown, ger~eral area e<;...boat• No. 157 Under the aegis of the Department of selected KQOk~ @ 6 0 6 ' 2 Miles Defense Legacy Resource Manage shipwrecks and --=-- lobert•B. Howtett 8 a 8 '!6 Kilometers 1st Stone Aeet ment Program, the NHC has turned naval activity -.;;;;~ Fig. 1: Map showing distribution of US Navy shipwrecks in South to the states as co-stewards to help in sites from the Carolina waters. (SCIAA photo) developing management plans for Civil War. To begin the project, the separated by various categories into these national treasures. In Septem NHC provided the MRD with an new lists in the appendices, for ber 1998, the Maritime Research inventory of 96 ship losses reportedly example, Confederate warships and Division (MRD) received funding lying in South Carolina waters. The blockade runners or Foreign war from a Department of Defense shipwreck inventory consisted of ships. Legacy Resource Management Grant British warships, South Carolina Historical and archaeological to develop a management plan for naval vessels, Army vessels, blockade research in the first phase centered navy-owned shipwrecks in South numers, and lmidentified ship on two complementary avenues, 1) to Carolina waters. The grant funded wrecks. Findings from our research develop an historical context of the the MRD to implement historical and were used to discriminate and select U.S. naval presence in South Carolina archaeological research, remote only 46 USN shipwrecks in the final from the birth of the Nation to recent sensing surveys, and to prepare a inventory. Of these 46 shipwrecks, times, and 2) to prepare individual report and a GIS database of naval 31, or 67 percent of the total list, were histories of each shipwreck. In ship losses in state waters. In April associated with the First and Second addition to developing the "life" 2004, the MRD completed the report Stone Fleets the Federals used to history of each shipwreck, research "A Management Plan for Known and blockade the shipping channels into also focused on the "death" history Potential United States Navy Charleston Harbor. Only one of the archaeological remains. Shipwrecks in South Carolina," and a shipwreck was added to the inven Typically, post-mortem activities GIS database of archaeological tory, Robert B. Howlett, a lightship included contemporary salvage of information related to the USN used by the Federal Navy off the wreck shortly after sinking. In shipwrecks. The following article Charleston (Fig. 1). Shipwrecks not Charleston Harbor, the majority of provides a brief synopsis of the scope included in the final inventory were Federal shipwrecks from the Civil
See NAVAL WRECK SURVEY, Page 30
Legacy, Vol. 9, Nos. 1/2, March 2005 29 NAVAL WRECK SURVEY, From Page 29 War underwent extensive salvage since their si!i·king. The operations by the U.s. Army Corps of scuttled First and Engineers in the1870s to improve Second Stone Fleets, harbor navigation. Noted also were however, skew the more recent salvage 'operations under analy~is to ~harat teriz license from SCIAA, as well as the iDg U.s. Navy ship only archaeological investigatiDn wre cks 1(), t~is observa carried out in South Carolina on a tion-. Ignoring these U.s. Navy shipwreck, Housatonic, -by purposefully sunk SCIAA, NHC, and National P-ark vessels, and the scuttled Service underwater archaeologists in Queen of France frOl!,! the 1999 . . Revolutronary War and To develop potential research and YP-481 fromWINU, management'options, the shipwre2submarine. A Examination of the circumstances second area of survey was Port Royal and environments of the navy Sound, which was the operational shipwrecks in the inven tory offer a headquarters of the South Atlantic management tool by which to Blockading Squadron. Several areas prioritize and direct resources for were surveyed and a number of future archaeological inquiry by magnetic and acoustic anomalies South Carolina and Navy submerged ground-truthed to determine their cultural resource managers. sources. A search was also made to The second phase of th e project loca te the remains of the USS George included conducting remote sensing Washington, an Army gunboat sunk operations on a limited number of in Whale Branch River. Additionally, shipwrecks and areas of naval preliminary site plans were prepared activity sites from the Civil War. for two Shipwrecks: the Skull Creek Archaeological and environmental Wreck, previously discovered by information obtained during this SCIAA in 1985 and possibly related phase helped to assess and to prepare to Confederate or Federal naval a baseline of a site's condition for activity, and the Station Creek Wreck, future reference by researchers and newly-discovered during the course Fig. 2: Sonogram showing wreckage of USS Boston in Ashepoo River. (SCIAA managers. The primary area of of this survey, and thought to photo)
30 Legacy, Vol. 9, Nos. 1/2, March 2005 represent the remains of a whaling revealed portions of the ship's All of the results of the electronic vessel destined for the Stone Fleet structure, aiding in determining the data, probing, ground-truthing and but diverted for use as a floating structural integrity of the site, geo-referenced historical charts were machine shop (See Port Royal Sound notably on the Patapsco, Bas/on, Skull incorporated into a GIS project for Survey article in this issue, pages 25 Creek and Sta tion Creek wrecks (Fig. analytical and archival purposes. 28, for additional information about 2). At the Harvest Moon, Dai Ching, The combination of the written operations in this area). A third and at several magnetic anomalies report and the GIS database will survey area was in the ACE basin potentially associated with George provide submerged cultural resource (Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto Rivers) Washington, the MRD used magnetic managers convenient access to the to gather information about two Civil data to guide hydraulic probing project's findings for making timely War vessels: USS Dai Ching, a navy operations to determine th e amount management decisions regarding the gunboa t sunk by a Confederate of overburden and the exten t of sunken naval legacy in South battery, and USS Boston, an army surviving structure (Figs. 3 and 4). Carolina. Additionally, the GIS transport sunk during a combined Visual inspection by MRD staff project can swiftly incorporate new operation with the navy. data from future The fourth area centered on research endeavors. the Civil War wreck of the The report and USS Harvest Moon, Admiral project concluded wi th John Dahlgren's flagship, several recommenda sunk by a torpedo in tions to guide future Winyah Bay. work concerning the All of the four areas navy shipwrecks were examined using the including, continuing MRD's ADAP-III marine fieldwork, maintaining remote sensing ensemble. the GIS database, and Electronic information developing other obtained included mag partnerships with the netic, acoustic, and bathy NHC. Hopefully, the metric data. Between the information obtained three sets of data, the during the project will information sought to serve to direct Federal characterize each site and State managers as included: to delimit the co-stewards as they extent of the site, to Probe Legend chart a plan to preserve determine orientation of the o iron and protect the sunken o wood main ship structure, to () irOlVwood naval legacy in South image exposed features, • unidentified Carolina waters. For S negative and to record the environ @ smokestack those wishing to obtain mental setting. Magnetic 10 gamma contours a copy of the report, a data revealed the location PDF-version will be 10 o 10 Yam of the shipwrecks, of which i i available in the near the majority were buried 10 o 10 -.. future. Our thanks to under several feet of the NHC, especially Dr. sediments. Analysis Fig . 4: Map showing results of hydraulic probing operations and Bill Dudley, director and projected centerline of USS Harvest Moon. (SCIAA photo) attempted to determine the his staff, Dr. Robert main orientation of the shipwreck concentrated on magnetic and Neyland, Barbara Voulgaris, and and to take into account the scatter of acoustic anomalies in Port Royal Wendy Coble, as well as staff at USC structure during salvage activities, Sound at two naval activity sites and SCIAA, and others for their especially for Keokuk, Weehawken, and including the repair facility in Station assistance in implementing and Housatonic. Acoustic imagery Creek and the T-dock on Bay Point. completing this project.
Legacy, Vol. 9, Nos. 1/ 2, March 2005 31