WEBVTT

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[Shannon Ricles] All right. Well, hi everyone.

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Thank you so much for joining us today

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for our webinar, We Rescued the Monitor.

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And we are glad you are here with John Broadwater.

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I'm Shannon Ricles,

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the education and outreach coordinator

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for Monitor and Mallows Bay National Marine Sanctuaries.

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And I will be your host today.

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And joining us is Mark Losavio.

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He is the media and outreach coordinator

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for Monitor and Mallows Bay.

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This webinar is brought to you by NOAA's

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Monitor National Marine Sanctuary,

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in collaboration with the North Carolina

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Office of State Archeology.

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Partnering since 1975,

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NOAA and the State of North Carolina

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work to research, honor, and protect

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the hallmarks in North Carolinas,

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underwater cultural research,

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I mean heritage, which is shipwrecks.

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These shipwrecks hold information

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about the ever-changing technologies

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and cultural and physical landscapes.

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They serve as uniquely accessible underwater museums

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and memorials for generations of mariners

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who lived, died, worked and fought off our shores.

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This is one of the many webinars

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that we'll be hosting in the coming months

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for this Submerged North Carolina webinar series

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in collaboration with

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the North Carolina office of State Archeology.

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One of 15 National Marine Sanctuaries

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and two Marine National Monuments

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in the National Marine Sanctuary System.

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Now this system encompasses more than 620,000 square miles

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of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington State

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to the Florida Keys and from Lake Ontario to American Samoa.

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Now, during the presentation,

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all attendees will be in listen only mode.

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You're welcome to type questions for the presenter

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into the question box at the bottom of the control panel

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on the right hand side of your screen.

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This is the same area that you can let us know

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about any technical issues you may be having

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and we'll try to help you just as soon as we can.

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We'll be Monitoring incoming questions

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and we'll be feeding them to John at the end,

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but go ahead and feel free to type them in.

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as you think of them.

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Now, we are recording the session

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and we'll share the recording with registered participants

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via the webinar archive page.

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And a URL for this webpage will be provided

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at the end of the presentation.

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So today, we welcome Dr. John Broadwater,

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who is the President and Founder of Spritsail Enterprises,

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and he was the former Manager

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of Monitor National Marine Sanctuary from 1992 to 2005.

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So John, I'm gonna change screens and give it to you.

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And it is all yours. You got it?

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[John Broadwater] I think I've got it.

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Let me see here.

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Can you see my screen?

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<v Shannon>Not yet, John.</v>

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<v John>All right, let's see.</v>

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Hang on.

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<v Shannon>There we go. Perfect.</v>

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<v John>Got it now?</v>

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<v Shannon>Yes.</v>

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<v John>Okay.</v>

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Well thank you, Shannon and welcome everyone.

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Thanks for tuning in today.

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I wanted talk to you about how we rescued Monitor.

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It was primarily a NOAA-led team

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but we had really important partners

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at The Mariners Museum and Park and especially the US Navy

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who did all the heavy lifting, quite literally.

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So, I'm gonna start with

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just a real quick rundown on how we got

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to the point where Monitor sank.

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But I think most of you know,

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the history well enough that I don't need

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to spend a lot of time on it.

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And I wanna save all my time for talking

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about all the recovery expeditions.

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So as you probably know,

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this escalation of naval power

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sort of started with the conversion of the Union ship,

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USS Merrimack to CSS Virginia.

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And that was really a result of necessity.

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The South had very little capability for ship building

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and they had very few ships when the Civil War began.

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And so in 1861, they raised the old damaged hull

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and burned out hull of the Merrimack

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and saved enough of the lower hull

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to convert it to this armored casemate warship

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that was unlike anything that had been seen before.

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It didn't have the usual wooden sides and sail and masts

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that were typical of warships of the day.

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But the North was concerned enough about this,

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that they formed an Ironclad Board in the Navy Department

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and looked for proposals for someone to build a ship,

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to combat this new southern menace.

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And through a long process that I wish

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I had time to talk more about,

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the Swedish-American inventor, John Erickson,

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received a contract for this really radical vessel.

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A lot of the admirals on the board

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were not happy with this decision

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because here's a ship so different from anything

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that they considered to be a powerful warship,

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which was something that had huge wooden sides

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and bristled with 90 to 100 guns.

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And here's this little vessel that when fully loaded,

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only has a foot and a half of freeboard.

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In other words, everything else is submerged.

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And this little tiny revolving turret in the center

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that had only two guns.

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And so, they didn't think this could stand up

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against the ships of the day.

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And as I say, it was very controversial,

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but nevertheless Erickson promised

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that he could deliver this in 90 days

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to meet the schedule anticipated for the Virginia.

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And so, he got the contract.

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And he never made the deadline but he came very close.

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A little over a hundred days, he delivered this ship.

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And while they were trying to still do sea trials

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and get the Monitor ready,

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the Virginia was the first one to take action.

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On March 8th, 1862, she steamed out into Hampton Roads

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and literally laid waste to the Union fleet there.

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She sank the Cumberland first as shown here,

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and then the Congress and a number of auxiliary vessels

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before the tide fell so far

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that she had to go back and take shelter

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in deeper water waiting for the next day

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to come to finish off the fleet.

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So here, in just one day, the whole warfare system,

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Naval warfare system was upset

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by this new Confederate rebel monster as it was called.

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But in a series of events that could only be dreamed up

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by a fiction writer, that night,

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while the Congress was still burning on shore,

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Monitor, navigated into Hampton Roads

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and pulled up alongside the Minnesota

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and reported that she was here to do

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what she could to help defend the fleet.

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And everybody was pretty dubious 'cause here was this thing.

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Nobody had ever seen it before.

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And here's this thing that looked like

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a barge with a water tank on it, as it was described.

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But in any case, the following morning,

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it was a beautiful Sunday morning.

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People were coming down from church

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in their finery to look into this huge arena

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of Hampton Roads where this battle was to take place.

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And sure enough, the Virginia came out

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hoping to finish off the Minnesota and the other ships.

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And this little cheese box on a raft

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sailed into its path, the battle ensued.

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It was like two heavyweights,

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slugging it out. For four hours

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they battled each other.

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And even though there's a lot of controversy

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about who won, who lost,

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the bottom line here is that neither could sink the other.

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And so this was the message

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that was transmitted around the world

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that the day of the wooden worship had ended

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and it was now gonna be steam and iron that ruled the waves.

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So this battle was an amazing event.

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It was witnessed by a lot of people

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and ships from foreign lands.

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But it was not to have such a great ending

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for either one of these two ships.

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Within two months,

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the Confederates had to destroy the Virginia

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because they had lost their home port.

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They had no place to go.

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Virginia drew too much water to make it up to Richmond,

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to help defend the capital.

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She wasn't considered seaworthy enough

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to go out into open ocean.

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So really, she had no place to go

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and the crew had to abandon her.

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The Monitor hung around all summer

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in the sweltering Virginia heat on the James River.

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But in December, she was ordered to head south under tow

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by a paddle wheel steamer to reinforce the Confederate

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or the Union blockade of Confederate ports there.

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But on New Year's Eve of 1862,

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the Monitor was caught in

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one of the all too well known Hatteras gales.

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And she took on so much water that she sank out there

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and way offshore in a position that was unknown at the time.

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And as paymaster William Keeler stated,

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"What the fire of the enemy failed to do,

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the elements have accomplished.

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The Monitor is no more."

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And so fortunately, the boat crews from the Rhode Island,

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the tow ship, managed to pull off all

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but 16 of Monitor's crew.

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But 16 perished that night on New Year's Eve.

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People looked for the Monitor for years without success

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until finally in August of 1973,

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a team from Duke University Marine Lab,

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operating with information

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collected by Retired Captain Ernest Peterkin

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of the Naval Research Lab,

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explored a rectangle where Peterkin

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thought the Monitor should lie.

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And sure enough, they discovered the Monitor

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near the top of this circle.

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But it wasn't really known to be the Monitor for sure

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at the time. There was a big question about it

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because the technology of the day for remote sensing,

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they lowered a camera, still and video cameras down

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and they had sonar,

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but all of these produced images that were not conclusive.

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Plus everybody was looking to find a

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flat surface with the turret on top.

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And only later did they realize that the Monitor

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had turned over as she sank and the turret was underneath.

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But the decision was finally resolved the following April

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when the Alcoa Seaprobe,

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which was a vessel unique in its own right,

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was used to lower an instrument pod with cameras,

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take pictures and identify the Monitor

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by producing a photomosaic.

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Now, a lot of us know about photomosaics in today's world.

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It's all a digital thing.

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It's really neat that almost does its own work.

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And you get a mosaic by pushing some buttons.

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Back then, we were actually taking 35 millimeter negatives

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and processing them into positives,

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cutting them out and pasting them on a large table

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to produce this mosaic.

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But crude though it was, it was convincing enough.

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It was easy for people to see the double-ended shape

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of the Monitor's hull and the turret sticking out underneath

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where the little arrow is, kind of at your lower left.

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Well, so now what to do?

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The Monitor is 16 miles off shore.

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It's in international waters.

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They're no laws to protect shipwrecks out there.

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But yet it's in 235 feet of water, which is deep,

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but recent advances in diving technology

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has made it possible for scuba divers

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using technical techniques to get out

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to depths of the Monitor.

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And so, there was a big concern

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that the Monitor was gonna be damaged and looted.

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And it took a lot of investigating,

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but something really amazing happened,

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something that Shannon will probably talk a lot about later.

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and that is in that year,

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the National Marine Sanctuary Act was created,

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creating a program that could protect areas

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of significant national interest.

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And there was nothing in there that limited them

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to a three mile territorial sea.

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And so, in January 30th, 1975,

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the Monitor became the first National Marine Sanctuary.

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And as Shannon said at the beginning,

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the program has grown tremendously.

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00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:42.420
And we're now up to 15 sanctuaries

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and two national monuments.

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00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.120
And I can't resist the temptation here,

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00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.340
to just stop real quick and say,

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00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:53.610
congratulations to NOAA and the Sanctuary program,

273
00:13:53.610 --> 00:13:57.390
this October, they will celebrate 50 years

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00:13:57.390 --> 00:14:00.570
of protecting our important marine resources.

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00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:03.603
So guys, I'm proud to have been a part of it.

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This is a picture that was taken this summer

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00:14:08.010 --> 00:14:10.410
on a NOAA expedition showing

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00:14:10.410 --> 00:14:13.200
how beautiful it is to dive on the Monitor.

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00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.200
You can see all the fish and the colorful corals

280
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.610
and all of that growing on the hull.

281
00:14:20.610 --> 00:14:21.600
But if you look closely,

282
00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:24.810
you can also see that the hull is very badly damaged.

283
00:14:24.810 --> 00:14:27.180
And that was of immediate concern

284
00:14:27.180 --> 00:14:29.340
when NOAA took over responsibility

285
00:14:29.340 --> 00:14:31.953
for managing and protecting the site.

286
00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:35.400
Here's a couple of views from the side.

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00:14:35.400 --> 00:14:38.130
They were taken during that time period.

288
00:14:38.130 --> 00:14:40.770
And you can see that a lot of the hull plating

289
00:14:40.770 --> 00:14:43.500
has already dropped off the lower hull

290
00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:45.330
and the stanchions have bent,

291
00:14:45.330 --> 00:14:47.010
allowing the hull, lower hull

292
00:14:47.010 --> 00:14:49.500
with the engine and everything attached

293
00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:51.420
to collapse down onto the hull

294
00:14:51.420 --> 00:14:54.798
and start to compress things, damage things.

295
00:14:54.798 --> 00:14:58.560
And once the hull opened up like that,

296
00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:00.150
it allowed the strong currents

297
00:15:00.150 --> 00:15:03.390
from the Gulf Stream to wash in

298
00:15:03.390 --> 00:15:08.390
and the salt water corrosion and the forces of the currents

299
00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:10.863
were really taking their toll on the wreck.

300
00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:14.910
The lower picture, you can see that Monitor's hull

301
00:15:14.910 --> 00:15:16.380
is propped up on the turret,

302
00:15:16.380 --> 00:15:19.530
which means that a lot of the hull is not supported.

303
00:15:19.530 --> 00:15:22.560
And some of the plating was coming off the hull

304
00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:24.963
and the hull structure was being weakened.

305
00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:29.850
We watched the deterioration over the years

306
00:15:29.850 --> 00:15:34.850
from the discovery all the way up to the 1990s.

307
00:15:34.920 --> 00:15:38.970
And it was apparent that there had been

308
00:15:38.970 --> 00:15:43.140
a tremendous increase of rate of deterioration.

309
00:15:43.140 --> 00:15:47.850
And that Monitor was reaching a really crisis stage.

310
00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:52.320
It was at a point where it could begin to have critical,

311
00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.760
catastrophic collapses of the different hull components.

312
00:15:56.760 --> 00:15:58.380
And we were worried that really,

313
00:15:58.380 --> 00:16:01.110
nothing recognizable would be left.

314
00:16:01.110 --> 00:16:02.460
The turret itself you'd think

315
00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:05.940
was strong enough to withstand any of the forces of nature,

316
00:16:05.940 --> 00:16:08.340
but it was actually laminated.

317
00:16:08.340 --> 00:16:11.760
And it was armored but it was eight layers

318
00:16:11.760 --> 00:16:13.830
of one inch iron bolted together.

319
00:16:13.830 --> 00:16:15.210
And we could see that the bolts

320
00:16:15.210 --> 00:16:17.460
were starting to deteriorate,

321
00:16:17.460 --> 00:16:20.100
and we were afraid that even the turret itself

322
00:16:20.100 --> 00:16:24.333
couldn't stand the forces of having the hull lying on top.

323
00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:26.493
So, what to do?

324
00:16:27.390 --> 00:16:29.700
NOAA realized that there was a problem,

325
00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:33.420
but that the first goal would be to make sure

326
00:16:33.420 --> 00:16:36.240
everyone else agreed that there was a problem.

327
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:40.060
And so, we had to define the threat to the Monitor

328
00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:45.210
and prove that that threat was actually imminent

329
00:16:45.210 --> 00:16:48.183
and then to propose a viable solution.

330
00:16:50.130 --> 00:16:52.830
So, we developed a long-range preservation plan

331
00:16:52.830 --> 00:16:55.530
called "Charting a New Course for the Monitor."

332
00:16:55.530 --> 00:16:59.760
And of our major conclusions, these are the important ones.

333
00:16:59.760 --> 00:17:01.320
If left on the sea floor,

334
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:05.493
Monitor will disintegrate at an increasingly rapid rate.

335
00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:11.760
Complete recovery of the hull contents is not viable.

336
00:17:11.760 --> 00:17:12.990
This one hurt.

337
00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:15.990
Everyone wanted to recover the Monitor intact,

338
00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:19.500
in its entirety and treat everything.

339
00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:23.760
But a number of our engineering studies showed that

340
00:17:23.760 --> 00:17:27.150
there just wasn't enough money available

341
00:17:27.150 --> 00:17:31.440
even on our wildest streams to do that kind of a recovery.

342
00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:36.440
And so instead, we proposed that we do hull stabilization,

343
00:17:36.540 --> 00:17:40.290
followed by selective recovery of the key components,

344
00:17:40.290 --> 00:17:42.330
And that it needed to start soon

345
00:17:42.330 --> 00:17:45.480
if anything important was to be saved.

346
00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:48.480
So this was our challenge, to try to, first of all,

347
00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:52.140
convince everyone that this was important enough to pursue.

348
00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:54.450
And then to try to gather up the resources

349
00:17:54.450 --> 00:17:55.623
to actually do it.

350
00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:01.650
Our preservation strategy consisted of six phases

351
00:18:01.650 --> 00:18:05.130
of onsite work, both archeology and engineering.

352
00:18:05.130 --> 00:18:08.340
And the foremost important ones were these.

353
00:18:08.340 --> 00:18:10.890
First of all, to recover the skeg and propeller there

354
00:18:10.890 --> 00:18:15.890
on the very end of the hull on the left hand side there,

355
00:18:16.050 --> 00:18:18.540
because they were hanging out in space

356
00:18:18.540 --> 00:18:21.720
and not really well supported.

357
00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:25.350
And so, they were producing real stresses on the hull

358
00:18:25.350 --> 00:18:27.390
and needed to come out first.

359
00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:28.650
The other good thing was that,

360
00:18:28.650 --> 00:18:31.170
that was a fairly light thing, the propeller,

361
00:18:31.170 --> 00:18:33.150
compared to the other components.

362
00:18:33.150 --> 00:18:35.310
And so, it would be a good way for us to prove

363
00:18:35.310 --> 00:18:38.703
that we were capable of actually doing these lifts.

364
00:18:39.540 --> 00:18:41.430
And second, we needed to support the hull

365
00:18:41.430 --> 00:18:42.900
before doing anything else.

366
00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:45.510
And so, we needed to come up with a way

367
00:18:45.510 --> 00:18:48.513
to fill that void underneath the hull.

368
00:18:49.620 --> 00:18:52.890
Then three, Monitor's steam engine was another one

369
00:18:52.890 --> 00:18:54.737
of John Erickson's patented devices.

370
00:18:54.737 --> 00:18:58.050
It was a special, low-profile steam engine

371
00:18:58.050 --> 00:19:01.493
that made it possible to put all the machinery

372
00:19:01.493 --> 00:19:04.890
below the deck space where it could be protected.

373
00:19:04.890 --> 00:19:08.580
And so, we wanted to recover the steam engine intact.

374
00:19:08.580 --> 00:19:12.000
And then finally, the big enchilada was the turret.

375
00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.830
Everyone thought that the turret

376
00:19:13.830 --> 00:19:18.830
with the first such turret, first such gun enclosure,

377
00:19:19.170 --> 00:19:21.660
and it's still used as you can see

378
00:19:21.660 --> 00:19:23.550
by looking at modern warships.

379
00:19:23.550 --> 00:19:28.550
It was the prototype for all Naval gunnery for the future.

380
00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:30.480
So, we wanted to recover the turret

381
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:32.550
and make sure we could recover it intact.

382
00:19:32.550 --> 00:19:35.313
So that was a big tall order.

383
00:19:36.870 --> 00:19:39.270
So, we started out with the propeller recovery.

384
00:19:39.270 --> 00:19:40.650
And fortunately here,

385
00:19:40.650 --> 00:19:44.790
our partnership with the Navy came in to being.

386
00:19:44.790 --> 00:19:46.470
We had already developed a partnership

387
00:19:46.470 --> 00:19:51.470
with the Monitor, with The Mariners' Museum

388
00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:58.640
for a Monitor partnership for accepting the objects

389
00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:03.030
that we recovered and eventually placing them on exhibit.

390
00:20:03.030 --> 00:20:06.618
But the Navy was able to allocate their training budget

391
00:20:06.618 --> 00:20:10.500
in 1998 to recovering the propeller

392
00:20:10.500 --> 00:20:13.020
as a training operation to test

393
00:20:13.020 --> 00:20:16.680
their new flyaway deep diving dive system.

394
00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:19.053
So, that was how this all came together.

395
00:20:20.100 --> 00:20:23.250
And so in June of '98,

396
00:20:23.250 --> 00:20:27.003
the propeller and 11 feet of the shaft were recovered.

397
00:20:29.070 --> 00:20:30.630
There's a whole story behind this.

398
00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:34.200
It was not by any means, a simple job

399
00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:37.290
but the Navy pulled it off in fine style.

400
00:20:37.290 --> 00:20:40.200
And this allowed us to go back

401
00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:44.643
and assess our capabilities for the next phases.

402
00:20:45.780 --> 00:20:48.303
There's the propeller after conservation.

403
00:20:49.170 --> 00:20:52.023
You can see it at The Mariners' Museum and Park.

404
00:20:55.170 --> 00:20:57.540
So the next step was to stabilize the hull

405
00:20:57.540 --> 00:20:59.550
before we did any more damage,

406
00:20:59.550 --> 00:21:02.190
or try to remove any more components.

407
00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:04.620
And we did that in the year 2000.

408
00:21:04.620 --> 00:21:07.620
And the method chosen for stabilizing the hull,

409
00:21:07.620 --> 00:21:10.410
filling that void underneath, was to actually

410
00:21:10.410 --> 00:21:14.400
place these huge reinforced bags underneath the hull

411
00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:16.140
called grout bags.

412
00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:18.030
And they were filled from the surface

413
00:21:18.030 --> 00:21:20.880
with a cement like mixture called grout.

414
00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:23.970
And the grout eventually hardened up.

415
00:21:23.970 --> 00:21:28.970
And so, with enough of the grout bags laid along the hull,

416
00:21:29.340 --> 00:21:34.050
we now had a supporting structure that would allow us

417
00:21:34.050 --> 00:21:36.720
to do the recoveries that we planned to do

418
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:39.960
without worrying about the hull collapsing

419
00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:42.663
while we were doing all our work.

420
00:21:43.740 --> 00:21:46.380
Another clever thing that looks simple enough,

421
00:21:46.380 --> 00:21:50.850
but doing that off Cape Hatteras with all the rough seas we

422
00:21:50.850 --> 00:21:54.510
had and in 235 feet of water, not simple.

423
00:21:54.510 --> 00:21:55.953
Navy did a great job.

424
00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.120
Now we're getting into the big stuff.

425
00:22:00.120 --> 00:22:03.750
The engine weighed about 35 tons

426
00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:06.715
and it was inside the hull.

427
00:22:06.715 --> 00:22:10.320
Even though that hull had deteriorated in that area,

428
00:22:10.320 --> 00:22:12.480
there was still a hull structure

429
00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.060
to be dealt with to get to the engine.

430
00:22:15.060 --> 00:22:18.480
So again, here's a look at it.

431
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.660
Those three vertical beams towards the stern,

432
00:22:21.660 --> 00:22:23.310
that's the engine room.

433
00:22:23.310 --> 00:22:26.310
You can see those beams are no longer connected to anything.

434
00:22:26.310 --> 00:22:28.410
So, the hull is collapsed

435
00:22:28.410 --> 00:22:30.180
and the engine has dropped

436
00:22:30.180 --> 00:22:32.553
on to the rest of the hull structure.

437
00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.230
We did a lot of work to estimate the weights.

438
00:22:37.230 --> 00:22:42.060
All these computer aided drawings helped us estimate weights

439
00:22:42.060 --> 00:22:45.390
and centers of gravity and all of that.

440
00:22:45.390 --> 00:22:50.390
Plus we had help from various groups of private divers,

441
00:22:50.550 --> 00:22:54.060
technical divers, who had permits to dive on the Monitor.

442
00:22:54.060 --> 00:22:57.060
And they were able to even get inside and get pictures

443
00:22:57.060 --> 00:22:59.250
like the one in the upper right.

444
00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:02.520
Particularly helpful was the Cambrian Foundation.

445
00:23:02.520 --> 00:23:07.520
So this was how we got ourselves organized to do the work.

446
00:23:08.070 --> 00:23:11.580
But then question is, here it is.

447
00:23:11.580 --> 00:23:14.130
Here's the engine down here.

448
00:23:14.130 --> 00:23:18.420
How do you raise a 35 ton steam engine?

449
00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:20.340
Well, I can't remember who actually came up

450
00:23:20.340 --> 00:23:22.440
with the design that we used.

451
00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:27.060
But I come from the Hills of Kentucky and the way I saw it,

452
00:23:27.060 --> 00:23:30.240
the plan that was derived looked very much

453
00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:32.497
like the way hillbillies take a engine

454
00:23:32.497 --> 00:23:35.370
out of their pickup truck.

455
00:23:35.370 --> 00:23:38.280
So the Kentucky redneck model, as I call it,

456
00:23:38.280 --> 00:23:40.230
look something like this,

457
00:23:40.230 --> 00:23:42.150
you get the kids swing set,

458
00:23:42.150 --> 00:23:44.970
I don't know how you explain that to the kids,

459
00:23:44.970 --> 00:23:46.680
but you reinforce it a little bit.

460
00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:48.480
You drag it over to your vehicle

461
00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:50.520
and you put a chain fall on there

462
00:23:50.520 --> 00:23:52.890
and you slide the chain fall back and forth

463
00:23:52.890 --> 00:23:56.970
across the top of the A-frame, the swing set.

464
00:23:56.970 --> 00:23:59.170
And you hook the engine up and you raise it.

465
00:24:00.150 --> 00:24:01.200
Well, guess what?

466
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:03.870
That's what we came up with for the Monitor,

467
00:24:03.870 --> 00:24:06.510
the engine recovery structure.

468
00:24:06.510 --> 00:24:07.653
See the similarity?

469
00:24:08.700 --> 00:24:12.000
But it consisted of a huge bridge structure,

470
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:14.310
a spreader bar that could slide back and forth

471
00:24:14.310 --> 00:24:15.930
across the bridge.

472
00:24:15.930 --> 00:24:18.510
And then the engine lifting frame,

473
00:24:18.510 --> 00:24:21.420
which could be lowered down from the spreader

474
00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:22.980
until it was perfectly aligned

475
00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:24.600
over the Monitor's engine room

476
00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:26.523
and then the engine could be rigged.

477
00:24:27.854 --> 00:24:28.950
A lot of weight? Yeah.

478
00:24:28.950 --> 00:24:32.280
It was about three times as heavy as the engine itself.

479
00:24:32.280 --> 00:24:35.400
But cause of the constant movement of the surface,

480
00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:37.710
there was no way to lower a cable down

481
00:24:37.710 --> 00:24:39.570
and hook directly up to the engine.

482
00:24:39.570 --> 00:24:43.050
So, this was the best solution we could come up with.

483
00:24:43.050 --> 00:24:45.243
It sure works for trucks back in the hills.

484
00:24:47.370 --> 00:24:51.090
Well, we did all this and it worked remarkably well,

485
00:24:51.090 --> 00:24:55.320
but only because of a lot of behind the scenes work.

486
00:24:55.320 --> 00:24:58.140
We had people working on the funding,

487
00:24:58.140 --> 00:24:59.940
trying to get special appropriations

488
00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:02.310
for the Navy to do this recovery.

489
00:25:02.310 --> 00:25:04.140
And we also worked on the dive system.

490
00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:08.010
At that point, the Navy divers were going down on stages

491
00:25:08.010 --> 00:25:09.660
like you see in that center picture.

492
00:25:09.660 --> 00:25:12.930
Two divers at a time, lowered down right through

493
00:25:12.930 --> 00:25:15.540
all these strong currents in the Gulf Stream.

494
00:25:15.540 --> 00:25:19.440
And they had to fight their way pulling against the current

495
00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.660
all the way over to the wreck, only to have

496
00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:25.290
maybe 15 to 20 minutes of actual work time on the bottom

497
00:25:25.290 --> 00:25:27.150
before they had to come back up

498
00:25:27.150 --> 00:25:30.940
and spend several hours in the decompression process

499
00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:35.940
before they could even relax and get ready for another dive.

500
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.273
So this was slow and arduous.

501
00:25:40.260 --> 00:25:42.300
And it just wasn't gonna get the job done.

502
00:25:42.300 --> 00:25:43.530
We did calculations.

503
00:25:43.530 --> 00:25:46.170
It would not give us the time we needed.

504
00:25:46.170 --> 00:25:50.280
So, through a whole series of negotiations and arguments,

505
00:25:54.870 --> 00:25:59.220
the Navy was able to get approval the first time

506
00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:02.250
to use a commercial saturation system,

507
00:26:02.250 --> 00:26:07.250
to be used by the Navy in an operational environment.

508
00:26:07.320 --> 00:26:10.380
What is saturation? And why was it important?

509
00:26:10.380 --> 00:26:11.760
With saturation diving,

510
00:26:11.760 --> 00:26:13.890
the divers go into a pressure chamber,

511
00:26:13.890 --> 00:26:15.990
like the one on the lower left.

512
00:26:15.990 --> 00:26:17.070
They're sealed up in there.

513
00:26:17.070 --> 00:26:19.470
And they actually stay at the pressure

514
00:26:19.470 --> 00:26:24.120
equivalent to the bottom for up to a week or two at a time.

515
00:26:24.120 --> 00:26:26.520
And that way, when they actually go outside

516
00:26:26.520 --> 00:26:29.190
to dive on the Monitor and do work,

517
00:26:29.190 --> 00:26:32.190
they're already at the same pressure.

518
00:26:32.190 --> 00:26:34.140
And when they finished and they can stay out

519
00:26:34.140 --> 00:26:36.630
for hours at a time literally,

520
00:26:36.630 --> 00:26:39.210
they go back in and they're still at pressure.

521
00:26:39.210 --> 00:26:40.908
They go back to the chamber.

522
00:26:40.908 --> 00:26:43.080
They have a meal,

523
00:26:43.080 --> 00:26:46.350
they have a night's sleep,

524
00:26:46.350 --> 00:26:49.080
and then they're ready for the rotation the next day.

525
00:26:49.080 --> 00:26:51.810
That gave us so much extra time.

526
00:26:51.810 --> 00:26:53.850
You can see the statistics there on the bottom.

527
00:26:53.850 --> 00:26:56.970
We basically work 24/7.

528
00:26:56.970 --> 00:26:58.710
And the Navy divers that year logged

529
00:26:58.710 --> 00:27:01.890
666 hours of bottom time,

530
00:27:01.890 --> 00:27:05.010
70% of which was by the saturation divers.

531
00:27:05.010 --> 00:27:07.200
So, they were critical.

532
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:08.100
And that's not to say

533
00:27:08.100 --> 00:27:10.740
the surface supplied divers weren't important.

534
00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:11.940
They were critical, also.

535
00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:14.730
They did a lot of work all through.

536
00:27:14.730 --> 00:27:19.140
So, with the teams all working together,

537
00:27:19.140 --> 00:27:22.380
things really came together better than we'd hoped.

538
00:27:22.380 --> 00:27:24.090
Not to be outdone.

539
00:27:24.090 --> 00:27:27.450
I helped organize a NOAA sponsored team.

540
00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:30.330
We got approval for the first time for NOAA divers

541
00:27:30.330 --> 00:27:33.060
to get technical dive certification

542
00:27:33.060 --> 00:27:35.460
and to make untethered dives.

543
00:27:35.460 --> 00:27:37.140
The Navy thought we were a little crazy,

544
00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:40.590
which I can't really say is not true,

545
00:27:40.590 --> 00:27:42.303
but it worked out well.

546
00:27:43.203 --> 00:27:44.620
We had great mobility

547
00:27:45.570 --> 00:27:48.660
and we could get around to places quickly.

548
00:27:48.660 --> 00:27:50.460
And we were able to make measurements,

549
00:27:50.460 --> 00:27:52.770
keep an eye on the Navy divers

550
00:27:52.770 --> 00:27:56.580
and report back to the top side team.

551
00:27:56.580 --> 00:28:01.580
So, that was another first for diving offshore.

552
00:28:03.300 --> 00:28:04.950
Well, this all worked.

553
00:28:04.950 --> 00:28:09.840
July 16th, 2001, the entire engine recovery structure

554
00:28:09.840 --> 00:28:13.410
was brought to the surface by a huge crane barge

555
00:28:13.410 --> 00:28:17.730
and set onto a barge next to it.

556
00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:21.633
And this was over a hundred ton lift counting the frame.

557
00:28:22.710 --> 00:28:26.310
It was all barged back to The Mariners' Museum,

558
00:28:26.310 --> 00:28:29.010
taken to a pre-prepared tank and lowered in,

559
00:28:29.010 --> 00:28:32.220
in a tank right next to the propeller tank.

560
00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:33.660
And all of this was available

561
00:28:33.660 --> 00:28:37.530
for the public to come and see, which is what museums do.

562
00:28:37.530 --> 00:28:41.733
And the reason we wanted to have the museum for a partner.

563
00:28:44.370 --> 00:28:48.780
Okay. We've moved up from a few tons to 35 tons.

564
00:28:48.780 --> 00:28:50.370
And now, we're talking about a turret.

565
00:28:50.370 --> 00:28:52.140
We don't know what it weighs

566
00:28:52.140 --> 00:28:55.080
because it's filled up with silt over the years.

567
00:28:55.080 --> 00:28:56.970
We think the guns are still inside.

568
00:28:56.970 --> 00:28:59.220
We've actually confirmed that.

569
00:28:59.220 --> 00:29:02.760
So the two big Dahlgren cannons are inside the turret.

570
00:29:02.760 --> 00:29:04.320
We don't know how much the silt weighs.

571
00:29:04.320 --> 00:29:07.083
We can estimate that. We had engineers doing that.

572
00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:12.930
But how do you recover this gun turret without damaging it?

573
00:29:12.930 --> 00:29:16.350
As I mentioned before, it's actually a laminated structure.

574
00:29:16.350 --> 00:29:19.110
And we were afraid if the bolts had been weakened so much

575
00:29:19.110 --> 00:29:23.760
that if we put stresses on one side or the other side,

576
00:29:23.760 --> 00:29:27.060
that the whole thing might just delaminate into a pile.

577
00:29:27.060 --> 00:29:29.220
And instead of having the Monitors turret,

578
00:29:29.220 --> 00:29:32.583
we'd have a turret kit with some assembly required.

579
00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:37.230
So again, we did our homework.

580
00:29:37.230 --> 00:29:39.300
There are a few photographs that show the turret,

581
00:29:39.300 --> 00:29:42.030
their drawings that Ericsson did.

582
00:29:42.030 --> 00:29:44.970
And we did our usual computer drawings

583
00:29:44.970 --> 00:29:48.660
and estimated tons and so forth.

584
00:29:48.660 --> 00:29:53.220
But the biggest problem was okay, so you got all this done.

585
00:29:53.220 --> 00:29:54.780
First of all, how do you get at it?

586
00:29:54.780 --> 00:29:57.900
We knew we had to remove part of the armor belt.

587
00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:00.990
But then we had to have some way of lifting the turret

588
00:30:00.990 --> 00:30:03.990
without putting all these side stresses on it.

589
00:30:03.990 --> 00:30:05.550
And I could tell you,

590
00:30:05.550 --> 00:30:09.270
we spent months going over various proposals.

591
00:30:09.270 --> 00:30:12.690
Each one didn't pass the test until finally,

592
00:30:12.690 --> 00:30:15.180
an engineer at Phoenix International,

593
00:30:15.180 --> 00:30:18.870
the Navy's salvage contractor, came up with something

594
00:30:18.870 --> 00:30:23.553
we all felt like we'd finally come upon the right plan.

595
00:30:24.390 --> 00:30:26.100
Here's looking down on the site.

596
00:30:26.100 --> 00:30:28.890
You can see how the damaged armor belt

597
00:30:28.890 --> 00:30:31.530
is still lying across the top of the turret.

598
00:30:31.530 --> 00:30:33.123
That had to be removed.

599
00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:35.880
And again, we had our three teams,

600
00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:37.800
saturation, surface supplied

601
00:30:37.800 --> 00:30:41.610
and the NOAA free diving technical team.

602
00:30:41.610 --> 00:30:45.303
We went back out to the site. Here was our objective.

603
00:30:46.620 --> 00:30:47.940
And the first problem,

604
00:30:47.940 --> 00:30:52.380
the project was extended effort to remove the armor belt

605
00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:54.330
from over top of the turret.

606
00:30:54.330 --> 00:30:58.260
As badly damaged as it was, it still put up quite a fight.

607
00:30:58.260 --> 00:31:00.090
After, well over a century,

608
00:31:00.090 --> 00:31:03.870
I can only imagine how well it turned away cannon balls.

609
00:31:03.870 --> 00:31:06.693
So, that was successfully completed.

610
00:31:08.070 --> 00:31:12.033
And there's the turret without anything overhead.

611
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:14.760
We found out sure enough,

612
00:31:14.760 --> 00:31:16.920
it was full of silt right up to the very top.

613
00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:18.990
And so the Navy divers

614
00:31:18.990 --> 00:31:21.600
got to become archeologists for a while.

615
00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:23.938
They conducted excavation under the direction

616
00:31:23.938 --> 00:31:27.660
of our archeology team up on the barge.

617
00:31:27.660 --> 00:31:32.130
And we were able to keep track of how much silt was removed.

618
00:31:32.130 --> 00:31:36.210
Our Phoenix engineer, Jim Kelly, was sitting at a laptop,

619
00:31:36.210 --> 00:31:38.760
constantly changing those numbers

620
00:31:38.760 --> 00:31:41.317
and constantly shaking his head and saying,

621
00:31:41.317 --> 00:31:42.780
"Still too heavy.

622
00:31:42.780 --> 00:31:45.720
Still too heavy. The crane can't lift it."

623
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:48.540
So, we had to excavate down further and further,

624
00:31:48.540 --> 00:31:52.800
further than we wanted to but we had no choice.

625
00:31:52.800 --> 00:31:54.573
We had to go with the engineers.

626
00:31:56.310 --> 00:31:58.620
What did we come up with for the recovery device?

627
00:31:58.620 --> 00:32:01.800
Well, here it is, the spider and the platform.

628
00:32:01.800 --> 00:32:06.210
The spider is a huge steel eight-legged device

629
00:32:06.210 --> 00:32:09.870
where the legs can be pushed out about 15 degrees,

630
00:32:09.870 --> 00:32:13.050
like an open fist.

631
00:32:13.050 --> 00:32:16.560
You spread your fingers, you lower this thing down,

632
00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:19.080
you place it over the turret,

633
00:32:19.080 --> 00:32:20.700
and then you close these fingers,

634
00:32:20.700 --> 00:32:22.773
you close these eight legs up

635
00:32:22.773 --> 00:32:25.080
underneath the lip of the turret.

636
00:32:25.080 --> 00:32:27.630
and that grasps it steadily.

637
00:32:27.630 --> 00:32:30.270
And then, because the turret's upside down,

638
00:32:30.270 --> 00:32:32.310
the top of the turret isn't well secured.

639
00:32:32.310 --> 00:32:35.370
And so, we didn't wanna dump everything out of the turret.

640
00:32:35.370 --> 00:32:40.321
So, the spider would be picked, moved just a few feet over

641
00:32:40.321 --> 00:32:43.803
to where the platform would be lying on the bottom.

642
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:48.360
And once the turret was aligned,

643
00:32:48.360 --> 00:32:50.580
it would be lowered onto the platform.

644
00:32:50.580 --> 00:32:53.640
The platform and spider would be secured together.

645
00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:57.237
And here is what the lift would look like.

646
00:32:57.237 --> 00:33:00.900
The turret suspended nice and safely

647
00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:02.853
inside this lifting structure.

648
00:33:03.900 --> 00:33:07.664
All looks good on paper but what a job this was.

649
00:33:07.664 --> 00:33:09.963
What a task we had before us.

650
00:33:11.220 --> 00:33:13.530
So, here's a frame grab of video.

651
00:33:13.530 --> 00:33:17.460
We constantly watched with a remotely piloted vehicle

652
00:33:17.460 --> 00:33:22.460
and another video camera and the saturation divers,

653
00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:26.850
all watching as this spider came down,

654
00:33:26.850 --> 00:33:29.520
was aligned over the turret.

655
00:33:29.520 --> 00:33:31.950
We picked the calmest day we could pick.

656
00:33:31.950 --> 00:33:33.900
There's still a little bit of surface motion,

657
00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:38.790
but just able to ease this spider structure

658
00:33:38.790 --> 00:33:41.880
over the turret, lower it down.

659
00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:44.910
And after a few obstructions were cleared at the bottom,

660
00:33:44.910 --> 00:33:47.520
Navy divers used hydraulic rams

661
00:33:47.520 --> 00:33:50.310
to push each leg in sequence

662
00:33:50.310 --> 00:33:53.283
up underneath the lift of the turret and secure it.

663
00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:56.730
And on lift day,

664
00:33:56.730 --> 00:33:58.530
again, we picked as calm of a day as we could,

665
00:33:58.530 --> 00:34:00.810
but we were running out of options.

666
00:34:00.810 --> 00:34:03.180
The money was just about gone.

667
00:34:03.180 --> 00:34:05.700
We had a storm predicted to hit us

668
00:34:05.700 --> 00:34:08.790
within the next 24 to 48 hours.

669
00:34:08.790 --> 00:34:12.240
We had to be ready and everybody was ready.

670
00:34:12.240 --> 00:34:14.073
The initial lift took place.

671
00:34:15.750 --> 00:34:18.990
The spider was connected to the platform,

672
00:34:18.990 --> 00:34:22.320
And on August 5th, late in the afternoon,

673
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:24.480
the turret broke the surface.

674
00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:26.793
Everything worked just like it should.

675
00:34:28.170 --> 00:34:32.280
There was a huge yell that went up from the barge

676
00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:34.740
and from the boats carrying visitors

677
00:34:34.740 --> 00:34:37.350
and VIPs and press people.

678
00:34:37.350 --> 00:34:39.330
And it was a day that none of us

679
00:34:39.330 --> 00:34:41.163
who were there will ever forget.

680
00:34:43.530 --> 00:34:45.423
And there's Monitor's turret,

681
00:34:46.980 --> 00:34:49.800
safely secured and brought on board

682
00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:52.950
and then back to the museum again.

683
00:34:52.950 --> 00:34:55.470
And this time it was brought by barge

684
00:34:55.470 --> 00:34:58.290
and offloaded in a very clever method,

685
00:34:58.290 --> 00:35:00.840
right on the beach at the museum grounds.

686
00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:03.510
And trucked back to a waiting tank

687
00:35:03.510 --> 00:35:07.410
where it was closed up, filled up with water.

688
00:35:07.410 --> 00:35:10.983
And after a considerable period of time,

689
00:35:12.030 --> 00:35:15.450
we were able to get inside and continue the excavation

690
00:35:15.450 --> 00:35:18.123
as terrestrial archeologists might do.

691
00:35:19.530 --> 00:35:20.970
And here's what it looked like.

692
00:35:20.970 --> 00:35:23.610
A bit muddy, but what fun it was

693
00:35:23.610 --> 00:35:26.430
to get in there and actually get a chance

694
00:35:26.430 --> 00:35:29.913
to do our own excavation inside Monitor's turret.

695
00:35:31.290 --> 00:35:34.230
And before long, The Mariners Museum

696
00:35:34.230 --> 00:35:36.390
had built the Monitor Center,

697
00:35:36.390 --> 00:35:40.170
a whole separate wing to house the Monitor artifacts,

698
00:35:40.170 --> 00:35:42.210
tell the Monitor story.

699
00:35:42.210 --> 00:35:47.190
And a full scale replica had been contributed

700
00:35:47.190 --> 00:35:50.400
by the apprentice shop at Newport News Shipbuilding

701
00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:52.233
just down the road from the museum.

702
00:35:53.190 --> 00:35:54.630
So, you can go there now.

703
00:35:54.630 --> 00:35:56.140
You can see the whole story

704
00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:01.140
and see as the artifacts come out of treatment.

705
00:36:01.140 --> 00:36:04.269
They go on exhibit in the museum.

706
00:36:04.269 --> 00:36:07.980
It's the way archeology needs to be done.

707
00:36:07.980 --> 00:36:11.730
If we recover things from archeological sites

708
00:36:11.730 --> 00:36:13.560
and never share them with the public,

709
00:36:13.560 --> 00:36:15.270
then we really haven't done our job.

710
00:36:15.270 --> 00:36:18.180
So, our partnership with the museum has now

711
00:36:18.180 --> 00:36:22.293
come into the forefront for conservation and exhibition.

712
00:36:23.940 --> 00:36:25.170
Just gonna go quickly through

713
00:36:25.170 --> 00:36:27.240
with the little time we have left

714
00:36:27.240 --> 00:36:29.913
some of the work that's now going on at the museum,

715
00:36:31.410 --> 00:36:33.030
conserving these huge,

716
00:36:33.030 --> 00:36:36.003
over a hundred tons of iron from the Monitor.

717
00:36:37.020 --> 00:36:38.880
I think actually over 200 tons

718
00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:42.570
total iron delivered to the museum.

719
00:36:42.570 --> 00:36:46.530
Here's the engine undergoing initial deconcretion.

720
00:36:46.530 --> 00:36:48.390
It was covered with this huge

721
00:36:48.390 --> 00:36:51.270
corrosion product called concretion.

722
00:36:51.270 --> 00:36:53.220
That's been slowly removed.

723
00:36:53.220 --> 00:36:55.080
We had a little bit of information

724
00:36:55.080 --> 00:36:59.969
from other Monitor engines to help us along with that.

725
00:36:59.969 --> 00:37:01.290
It had to go into a tank

726
00:37:01.290 --> 00:37:04.050
where this process called electrolysis

727
00:37:04.050 --> 00:37:07.230
is used to use electricity to help pull out

728
00:37:07.230 --> 00:37:10.620
the chloride ions that are gonna be

729
00:37:10.620 --> 00:37:14.223
the potential problem for longterm preservation.

730
00:37:15.120 --> 00:37:18.030
And here's a whole sequence of pictures of the turret

731
00:37:18.030 --> 00:37:22.953
as the deconcretion and conservation progressed.

732
00:37:24.060 --> 00:37:26.160
And it's just amazing now,

733
00:37:26.160 --> 00:37:27.840
how much more it looks like an engine,

734
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:31.173
but the work is still a long way from finished.

735
00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:34.470
Look at that? Really impressive.

736
00:37:34.470 --> 00:37:37.350
It's still upside down too, so is the turret.

737
00:37:37.350 --> 00:37:38.643
More work to be done.

738
00:37:41.010 --> 00:37:44.883
Then, the turret was also being treated at the same time.

739
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:49.020
You can see heavy concretion on everything there too,

740
00:37:49.020 --> 00:37:51.480
on the guns, the gun carriages

741
00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:53.673
and other components found inside.

742
00:37:55.350 --> 00:37:58.740
And you can see now that that work is progressing

743
00:37:58.740 --> 00:38:02.910
and it's starting to look just like the turret.

744
00:38:02.910 --> 00:38:05.830
You can see some of the dents that the Virginia's guns

745
00:38:07.410 --> 00:38:10.263
left their mark on the turret by.

746
00:38:12.060 --> 00:38:14.943
Again, this work is all still ongoing.

747
00:38:15.810 --> 00:38:17.910
And then, one of the things we discovered

748
00:38:17.910 --> 00:38:20.520
not long before the turret was lifted,

749
00:38:20.520 --> 00:38:22.260
was that two of the Monitors crewman

750
00:38:22.260 --> 00:38:24.600
had been trapped inside the turret

751
00:38:24.600 --> 00:38:28.530
and were found just at the very bottom of the excavation.

752
00:38:28.530 --> 00:38:32.910
And we immediately shifted gears.

753
00:38:32.910 --> 00:38:36.225
The Navy divers, treated these human remains

754
00:38:36.225 --> 00:38:40.053
with respect and dignity as they were trained to do.

755
00:38:41.568 --> 00:38:45.613
These, these two men were immediately dubbed our crewmen,

756
00:38:46.541 --> 00:38:50.760
our partners in the Navy.

757
00:38:50.760 --> 00:38:55.760
And so, it was quite an impressive scene to see

758
00:38:55.800 --> 00:39:00.150
how much respect these Navy divers showed.

759
00:39:00.150 --> 00:39:03.120
And when they got back to the museum,

760
00:39:03.120 --> 00:39:04.140
the same thing was done.

761
00:39:04.140 --> 00:39:08.730
We had specialists from the JPAC Lab out in Hawaii

762
00:39:08.730 --> 00:39:13.730
that handles human remains from all military sites.

763
00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:16.650
They came and helped remove the remains,

764
00:39:16.650 --> 00:39:19.530
took them back to their forensics lab.

765
00:39:19.530 --> 00:39:23.340
And not only cleaned the bones up and analyzed them,

766
00:39:23.340 --> 00:39:25.563
but were able to get DNA samples.

767
00:39:27.660 --> 00:39:30.030
We also found a number of personal possessions

768
00:39:30.030 --> 00:39:32.943
associated with the crew inside,

769
00:39:33.810 --> 00:39:38.040
comb, buttons, shoes, boots,

770
00:39:38.040 --> 00:39:40.530
a coat, an officer's coat.

771
00:39:40.530 --> 00:39:43.530
And one of the crewmen still had this wedding ring

772
00:39:43.530 --> 00:39:48.530
on his finger, which was a very poignant find for us.

773
00:39:50.430 --> 00:39:55.320
The forensics gave us DNA but through a process

774
00:39:55.320 --> 00:39:57.330
that's become familiar to most of us now

775
00:39:57.330 --> 00:40:00.570
through CSI type programs on TV,

776
00:40:00.570 --> 00:40:03.000
we wanted to do facial reconstructions.

777
00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:08.000
And a lab in Louisiana produced these wonderful recreations

778
00:40:09.600 --> 00:40:12.240
of what these men probably looked like.

779
00:40:12.240 --> 00:40:16.080
So, you're staring into the eyes of two crewmen

780
00:40:16.080 --> 00:40:18.210
who were not able to escape

781
00:40:18.210 --> 00:40:22.653
from the Monitor on that night in December of 1862.

782
00:40:25.740 --> 00:40:28.920
We have not been able to identify them by name,

783
00:40:28.920 --> 00:40:33.920
but they were given their final resting place

784
00:40:34.170 --> 00:40:38.250
at a formal ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery.

785
00:40:38.250 --> 00:40:39.990
And there they will rest.

786
00:40:39.990 --> 00:40:42.570
There's still some hope that someday,

787
00:40:42.570 --> 00:40:47.130
we'll be able to add names to their unmarked graves.

788
00:40:47.130 --> 00:40:50.970
But this, this again was a very moving ceremony

789
00:40:50.970 --> 00:40:54.150
and a wonderful way to sort of,

790
00:40:54.150 --> 00:40:57.040
culminate the recovery operations

791
00:40:57.900 --> 00:41:01.653
and acknowledge the crew who lost their lives that night.

792
00:41:03.210 --> 00:41:06.000
Greenville Weeks, Monitor's surgeon,

793
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.437
said of this a hull event,

794
00:41:08.437 --> 00:41:10.680
"Their names are for history.

795
00:41:10.680 --> 00:41:13.740
And so long as we remain a people,

796
00:41:13.740 --> 00:41:17.220
so long will the work of the Monitor be remembered

797
00:41:17.220 --> 00:41:20.463
and her story told to our children's children.

798
00:41:21.330 --> 00:41:25.170
The little cheese box on a raft has made herself a name,

799
00:41:25.170 --> 00:41:29.970
which will not soon be forgotten by the American people."

800
00:41:29.970 --> 00:41:34.293
And thanks to our partners, to NOAA, to the museum.

801
00:41:35.160 --> 00:41:37.620
I think you can see that we're making sure

802
00:41:37.620 --> 00:41:39.153
that they won't be forgotten.

803
00:41:40.650 --> 00:41:41.850
You can read more about this.

804
00:41:41.850 --> 00:41:44.220
I had to get in a shameless plug at the end.

805
00:41:44.220 --> 00:41:46.140
You can read more about the Monitor

806
00:41:46.140 --> 00:41:51.140
and the effort to recover these components in my book.

807
00:41:51.840 --> 00:41:54.810
And thank you very much for your attendance today.

808
00:41:54.810 --> 00:41:57.180
And we have a big event coming up

809
00:41:57.180 --> 00:42:00.420
at the museum this weekend on Saturday.

810
00:42:00.420 --> 00:42:02.880
We'll have the 20th anniversary

811
00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:05.190
of the recovery of Monitor's turret.

812
00:42:05.190 --> 00:42:06.870
And hope we'll see you there.

813
00:42:06.870 --> 00:42:07.703
Thank you.

814
00:42:10.260 --> 00:42:12.000
<v Shannon>All right. Thank you, John.</v>

815
00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:15.180
Let me take the screen back from you now.

816
00:42:15.180 --> 00:42:19.650
And right.

817
00:42:19.650 --> 00:42:23.670
So, if you have any questions

818
00:42:23.670 --> 00:42:25.320
that you haven't had a chance yet

819
00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:28.410
to write them into the chat box, please do so.

820
00:42:28.410 --> 00:42:32.070
Also, if you haven't downloaded John's bio in the chat box,

821
00:42:32.070 --> 00:42:33.810
you might want to do that now.

822
00:42:33.810 --> 00:42:36.090
And in that bio, you're gonna find some more information

823
00:42:36.090 --> 00:42:39.570
about John and the links that might be of interest to you.

824
00:42:39.570 --> 00:42:44.570
So, we welcome you to check out the, the Q and A box,

825
00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:48.930
but also to let us know what you might want

826
00:42:48.930 --> 00:42:51.150
to have him answer today.

827
00:42:51.150 --> 00:42:52.890
All right, Mark, do you have a question

828
00:42:52.890 --> 00:42:55.830
that you can start off with as I try to figure out

829
00:42:55.830 --> 00:42:57.690
where my chat box is at?

830
00:42:57.690 --> 00:42:58.560
<v Mark>Yes.</v>

831
00:42:58.560 --> 00:43:00.870
I'm actually quite interested in this myself,

832
00:43:00.870 --> 00:43:05.250
but you made a lot of mention of the conditions

833
00:43:05.250 --> 00:43:08.640
like the currents and the weather during the mission.

834
00:43:08.640 --> 00:43:11.640
Can you give us a little more of a sense of just how bad,

835
00:43:11.640 --> 00:43:13.290
how strong were the currents on like,

836
00:43:13.290 --> 00:43:15.900
a normal day on those dives?

837
00:43:15.900 --> 00:43:18.930
<v John>Oh, well, if you've ever read anything</v>

838
00:43:18.930 --> 00:43:21.873
about the conditions at Hatteras,

839
00:43:22.825 --> 00:43:26.640
as you may know, just geology wise,

840
00:43:26.640 --> 00:43:28.560
it protrudes out from the coast

841
00:43:28.560 --> 00:43:30.150
further than any other point.

842
00:43:30.150 --> 00:43:34.410
And so for centuries, ships have had to give a wide birth

843
00:43:34.410 --> 00:43:37.350
to that part of North Carolina's coast.

844
00:43:37.350 --> 00:43:40.200
But one of the problems there is that

845
00:43:40.200 --> 00:43:43.630
the cold Labrador Current flows down from the north

846
00:43:44.670 --> 00:43:46.410
and meets right at Hatteras

847
00:43:46.410 --> 00:43:49.050
meets the Gulf Stream coming north.

848
00:43:49.050 --> 00:43:51.690
And the Gulf Stream is warm.

849
00:43:51.690 --> 00:43:53.790
And the two currents meet and swirl.

850
00:43:53.790 --> 00:43:56.010
And depending on conditions,

851
00:43:56.010 --> 00:43:57.960
one might be stronger than the other.

852
00:43:57.960 --> 00:44:01.350
So, the current interface moves north,

853
00:44:01.350 --> 00:44:03.960
it moves south, inshore, offshore.

854
00:44:03.960 --> 00:44:05.670
And it creates all these different

855
00:44:05.670 --> 00:44:10.470
and very difficult to predict weather patterns.

856
00:44:10.470 --> 00:44:14.340
And very often, that turbulence of the two currents meeting

857
00:44:14.340 --> 00:44:18.330
creates storm conditions that can come up very suddenly

858
00:44:18.330 --> 00:44:21.240
as they did on the night the Monitor sank.

859
00:44:21.240 --> 00:44:24.480
And in talking to the various Navy personnel

860
00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:28.980
out at the Monitor site over the years,

861
00:44:28.980 --> 00:44:31.087
I've had more than one of them tell me,

862
00:44:31.087 --> 00:44:33.090
"John, it's no different now,

863
00:44:33.090 --> 00:44:35.340
we still give Hatteras a wide birth."

864
00:44:35.340 --> 00:44:40.260
So even with our modern ships and modern technology,

865
00:44:40.260 --> 00:44:42.450
there's still a lot of respect

866
00:44:42.450 --> 00:44:45.060
for the dangers posed by this area.

867
00:44:47.700 --> 00:44:50.370
<v Shannon>That is so true.</v>

868
00:44:50.370 --> 00:44:51.203
Okay.

869
00:44:51.203 --> 00:44:52.627
Another question that we had come in, John, it said,

870
00:44:52.627 --> 00:44:54.600
"How long did it take for the Navy divers

871
00:44:54.600 --> 00:44:57.750
to learn how to communicate using helium mixed gas

872
00:44:57.750 --> 00:45:00.177
as their voices were very much changed?"

873
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:04.650
<v John>Yes, that's an interesting thing.</v>

874
00:45:04.650 --> 00:45:08.550
I'm not sure you can say that it's been resolved even now.

875
00:45:08.550 --> 00:45:11.640
One thing we found out on our first NOAA dives

876
00:45:11.640 --> 00:45:15.303
to the site in 1979,

877
00:45:16.260 --> 00:45:18.450
this was a civilian archeologist,

878
00:45:18.450 --> 00:45:21.720
Gordon Watts, myself, and Richard Lawrence,

879
00:45:21.720 --> 00:45:24.660
trying all this new technology for the first time.

880
00:45:24.660 --> 00:45:29.660
And we had helium atmosphere just like the Navy divers used.

881
00:45:32.250 --> 00:45:35.610
And it jacks your voice up of couple of octaves.

882
00:45:35.610 --> 00:45:38.820
And you sound like Donald Duck

883
00:45:38.820 --> 00:45:40.890
trying to communicate down there.

884
00:45:40.890 --> 00:45:44.130
And not only is it humorous on the one hand,

885
00:45:44.130 --> 00:45:46.320
but it's problematic on the other hand

886
00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:49.380
because it distorts your voice enough

887
00:45:49.380 --> 00:45:52.800
that sometimes you can't be understood.

888
00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:57.210
So, we have to learn to speak very slowly and deliberately.

889
00:45:57.210 --> 00:46:01.710
Some people have deeper voices and better enunciation,

890
00:46:01.710 --> 00:46:06.710
and they're more readily understood.

891
00:46:06.870 --> 00:46:09.210
I'll never forget, we had Gordon Watts

892
00:46:09.210 --> 00:46:12.360
who was the chief archeologist out there

893
00:46:12.360 --> 00:46:14.400
on those early expeditions.

894
00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:18.510
And Gordon is a good old Southern boy from North Carolina.

895
00:46:18.510 --> 00:46:20.430
And none of us could understand him.

896
00:46:20.430 --> 00:46:23.400
And one of the people from the Harbor Branch Foundation

897
00:46:23.400 --> 00:46:27.990
who was in charge of the Harbor Branch submarine operations

898
00:46:27.990 --> 00:46:30.360
that allowed us to get out to the site,

899
00:46:30.360 --> 00:46:33.810
he said, "You know, Gordon, we've got helium unscramblers

900
00:46:33.810 --> 00:46:36.930
that are electronic devices that convert your voice

901
00:46:36.930 --> 00:46:39.390
back to a normal range so we can understand you.

902
00:46:39.390 --> 00:46:41.640
But none of them have been programmed

903
00:46:41.640 --> 00:46:43.260
for North Carolina accent."

904
00:46:43.260 --> 00:46:47.490
So, even today that's turned out to be a bit of a problem

905
00:46:47.490 --> 00:46:50.670
although most of the Navy divers have had enough practice

906
00:46:50.670 --> 00:46:55.170
that first of all, they're very good at enunciating.

907
00:46:55.170 --> 00:46:57.330
And the top side folks are very good

908
00:46:57.330 --> 00:46:59.223
at understanding what they're saying.

909
00:47:00.660 --> 00:47:01.680
<v Shannon>Okay.</v>

910
00:47:01.680 --> 00:47:03.600
Mark, do you have another question?

911
00:47:03.600 --> 00:47:05.130
<v Mark>Yeah. This is a good question.</v>

912
00:47:05.130 --> 00:47:08.523
What is your favorite memory from diving on the Monitor?

913
00:47:10.020 --> 00:47:12.453
<v John>Oh boy, there's so many.</v>

914
00:47:15.120 --> 00:47:17.040
I guess I'd have to say number one

915
00:47:17.040 --> 00:47:20.010
is the day the turret came up.

916
00:47:20.010 --> 00:47:22.410
But as far as my dives on the Monitor,

917
00:47:22.410 --> 00:47:25.170
it would have to be my very first dive.

918
00:47:25.170 --> 00:47:29.220
As I mentioned, we went out before the Navy was involved,

919
00:47:29.220 --> 00:47:33.993
we went out with Harbor Branch and it was 1979.

920
00:47:34.890 --> 00:47:35.723
Excuse me.

921
00:47:35.723 --> 00:47:40.723
And our goal was to place some reference markers

922
00:47:40.830 --> 00:47:43.500
near the side of the hull so we could start to make

923
00:47:43.500 --> 00:47:46.470
archeological measurements and map the site.

924
00:47:46.470 --> 00:47:50.169
And so my first dive, I was supposed to leave the submarine,

925
00:47:50.169 --> 00:47:54.870
which was a four person submarine and walk a short distance

926
00:47:54.870 --> 00:47:59.870
to where the first big marker was to be put in,

927
00:48:00.690 --> 00:48:05.690
which was a big piece of two inch plastic pipe, PVC pipe.

928
00:48:06.720 --> 00:48:08.640
And we'd done rehearsals

929
00:48:08.640 --> 00:48:12.330
and we'd gone through the procedures quite a bit.

930
00:48:12.330 --> 00:48:16.320
And so I got out and I was really nervous,

931
00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:17.760
my first dive on the Monitor

932
00:48:17.760 --> 00:48:20.040
and wanted to do everything right.

933
00:48:20.040 --> 00:48:23.130
So I start walking in the direction they directed me

934
00:48:23.130 --> 00:48:26.850
and I found the pipe and I started to jet it.

935
00:48:26.850 --> 00:48:30.360
We used a stream of water to jet it into the bottom.

936
00:48:30.360 --> 00:48:33.390
So I'm jetting the pipe down.

937
00:48:33.390 --> 00:48:38.390
And I look back to where the submarine was sitting.

938
00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:39.990
And I couldn't see it.

939
00:48:39.990 --> 00:48:44.990
It was just barely a faint glow in the distance.

940
00:48:45.210 --> 00:48:47.400
And I looked back in front of me

941
00:48:47.400 --> 00:48:49.860
and there was this dark shape.

942
00:48:49.860 --> 00:48:54.480
And it, I realized, wow, this is the Monitor's turret.

943
00:48:54.480 --> 00:48:57.780
And I didn't confess this for a long time afterwards,

944
00:48:57.780 --> 00:49:01.140
but I left the jetting operation

945
00:49:01.140 --> 00:49:02.910
and took the two or three steps

946
00:49:02.910 --> 00:49:04.860
over to the Monitor's turret.

947
00:49:04.860 --> 00:49:06.870
And just with great reverence,

948
00:49:06.870 --> 00:49:10.200
I reached out and I laid my hands on the turret

949
00:49:10.200 --> 00:49:13.980
and let my imagination just range back

950
00:49:13.980 --> 00:49:15.660
to the Battle at Hampton Roads

951
00:49:15.660 --> 00:49:17.760
and to the night of the sinking.

952
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:21.060
And it's just, even now,

953
00:49:21.060 --> 00:49:23.370
it still just makes my hair stand up.

954
00:49:23.370 --> 00:49:25.353
So that has to be number one.

955
00:49:26.430 --> 00:49:27.780
<v Shannon>Very cool.</v>

956
00:49:27.780 --> 00:49:29.220
Well John, a little bit more

957
00:49:29.220 --> 00:49:31.350
about the conservation techniques.

958
00:49:31.350 --> 00:49:33.870
Do you know what the conservation techniques

959
00:49:33.870 --> 00:49:36.873
were used for the propeller and was it made out of bronze?

960
00:49:37.770 --> 00:49:42.360
<v John>The propeller was actually a single casting of iron.</v>

961
00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:45.720
And engineers have now analyzed the propeller

962
00:49:45.720 --> 00:49:49.950
and said that it's one of the most exact castings.

963
00:49:49.950 --> 00:49:51.960
They couldn't believe how precise it was.

964
00:49:51.960 --> 00:49:55.350
They said that for modern ships today,

965
00:49:55.350 --> 00:49:58.050
you don't need to meet standards that precise.

966
00:49:58.050 --> 00:50:03.050
So kudos to the engineers of the 19th Century.

967
00:50:03.390 --> 00:50:06.960
But yes, for all iron objects,

968
00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:09.180
this corrosion product that I mentioned earlier,

969
00:50:09.180 --> 00:50:11.130
forms on the outside,

970
00:50:11.130 --> 00:50:14.160
but it actually penetrates into the iron as well.

971
00:50:14.160 --> 00:50:17.379
And castings like the Monitor's propellor

972
00:50:17.379 --> 00:50:21.150
can have damage that goes quite deep.

973
00:50:21.150 --> 00:50:26.150
And as the chlorides in the salt water seep into the iron,

974
00:50:27.930 --> 00:50:29.400
you would think iron is impermeable,

975
00:50:29.400 --> 00:50:31.950
but at a molecular level, it's not at all.

976
00:50:31.950 --> 00:50:36.120
These ions get inside and they have to be brought out

977
00:50:36.120 --> 00:50:39.030
because if they're allowed to dry out,

978
00:50:39.030 --> 00:50:41.820
they can crystallize and create internal pressures

979
00:50:41.820 --> 00:50:45.600
that literally will damage the surface of the metal

980
00:50:45.600 --> 00:50:48.840
or even caused the blades to fall off the propeller.

981
00:50:48.840 --> 00:50:51.180
It's tremendous forces.

982
00:50:51.180 --> 00:50:54.630
And so, there's a process called electrolysis

983
00:50:54.630 --> 00:50:57.660
where you create a voltage potential

984
00:50:57.660 --> 00:51:00.537
between electrodes and anodes

985
00:51:02.100 --> 00:51:05.910
and the turret itself, or the iron object,

986
00:51:05.910 --> 00:51:08.130
in this case the propeller,

987
00:51:08.130 --> 00:51:11.040
and it tends to create a differential

988
00:51:11.040 --> 00:51:14.730
that will draw the chloride ions out of the metal.

989
00:51:14.730 --> 00:51:15.870
It takes a long time

990
00:51:15.870 --> 00:51:18.540
and it has to be done with a lot of precision

991
00:51:18.540 --> 00:51:21.450
otherwise you do more damage than you prevent.

992
00:51:21.450 --> 00:51:23.310
And so, that was the method used,

993
00:51:23.310 --> 00:51:25.620
and it's the same method now being used

994
00:51:25.620 --> 00:51:28.497
on the other components, the guns

995
00:51:28.497 --> 00:51:31.563
and the engine, the turret.

996
00:51:33.750 --> 00:51:36.450
<v Shannon>Okay. And Mark, do you have another question?</v>

997
00:51:36.450 --> 00:51:37.283
<v Mark>Yes.</v>

998
00:51:37.283 --> 00:51:39.840
And I just wanna remind everybody, if you are interested

999
00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:42.900
in more of the conservation aspect of the artifacts,

1000
00:51:42.900 --> 00:51:45.990
we do have an archived webinar with Will Hoffman,

1001
00:51:45.990 --> 00:51:48.840
the Director of Conservation at The Mariners Museum.

1002
00:51:48.840 --> 00:51:51.810
He's kind of like the end all be all

1003
00:51:51.810 --> 00:51:53.520
for all things conservation.

1004
00:51:53.520 --> 00:51:55.230
So, definitely go check that out.

1005
00:51:55.230 --> 00:51:58.950
But this question is kind of on the flip side of things.

1006
00:51:58.950 --> 00:52:02.010
What is the environmental or ecological impact

1007
00:52:02.010 --> 00:52:04.210
of Monitor being on the bottom of the ocean?

1008
00:52:05.850 --> 00:52:07.440
<v John>Ah, yes, that's something</v>

1009
00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:10.590
that we have talked about over the years.

1010
00:52:10.590 --> 00:52:15.590
And NOAA's recent expedition looked into that question.

1011
00:52:15.810 --> 00:52:20.810
They were out there in July, and we had biologists

1012
00:52:21.240 --> 00:52:24.570
and ecologists and a number of scientists who joined

1013
00:52:24.570 --> 00:52:29.570
by long range through telecommunications.

1014
00:52:31.080 --> 00:52:36.080
And the conclusion is that these iron object shipwrecks

1015
00:52:36.195 --> 00:52:39.900
human made objects lying on the seabed,

1016
00:52:39.900 --> 00:52:42.120
aren't as destructive as we thought,

1017
00:52:42.120 --> 00:52:44.190
at least not in most cases.

1018
00:52:44.190 --> 00:52:46.920
And the environment is actually different.

1019
00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:51.450
There are different species within the micro environment

1020
00:52:51.450 --> 00:52:54.360
of a shipwreck site as you would find out

1021
00:52:54.360 --> 00:52:56.910
on the plains of the seabed.

1022
00:52:56.910 --> 00:52:59.610
The sea floor out in that area is very flat.

1023
00:52:59.610 --> 00:53:01.020
It's like a desert.

1024
00:53:01.020 --> 00:53:03.360
And so, you can sort of think of shipwrecks

1025
00:53:03.360 --> 00:53:06.279
that lie off the coast as being a little oasis.

1026
00:53:06.279 --> 00:53:09.503
And I was very interested in hearing

1027
00:53:09.503 --> 00:53:12.090
the ecologists and biologists talking about

1028
00:53:12.090 --> 00:53:15.090
the differences in the environment

1029
00:53:15.090 --> 00:53:18.720
and what they observed in different species

1030
00:53:18.720 --> 00:53:23.466
and different populations of different moving

1031
00:53:23.466 --> 00:53:27.510
and stationary living a organisms.

1032
00:53:27.510 --> 00:53:32.190
And so, it looks like shipwrecks actually

1033
00:53:32.190 --> 00:53:36.150
are fitting into the environment, which is a good thing.

1034
00:53:36.150 --> 00:53:38.760
Cultural resources sometimes don't get,

1035
00:53:38.760 --> 00:53:41.010
I don't think the acknowledgement

1036
00:53:41.010 --> 00:53:43.620
that they deserve, their importance.

1037
00:53:43.620 --> 00:53:45.180
But now that we have good evidence

1038
00:53:45.180 --> 00:53:48.990
that the natural resources and the cultural resources

1039
00:53:48.990 --> 00:53:53.010
are sort of inextricably combined,

1040
00:53:53.010 --> 00:53:55.350
I think that that might help us

1041
00:53:55.350 --> 00:53:59.643
do a more proper job of doing more comprehensive management.

1042
00:54:01.644 --> 00:54:02.477
<v Shannon>Okay.</v>

1043
00:54:02.477 --> 00:54:04.260
And I think this is gonna be the last question,

1044
00:54:04.260 --> 00:54:06.060
because we're just about out of time.

1045
00:54:07.200 --> 00:54:09.750
They said they've heard stories about the Monitor

1046
00:54:09.750 --> 00:54:12.060
and that it was depth charged during World War II

1047
00:54:12.060 --> 00:54:14.970
because sonar read it as a possible German submarine.

1048
00:54:14.970 --> 00:54:16.830
Could you tell from the damage to the hull,

1049
00:54:16.830 --> 00:54:18.483
if this was actually the case?

1050
00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:20.910
<v John>I wish I could answer that one.</v>

1051
00:54:20.910 --> 00:54:24.450
We don't have any definitive proof one way or the other.

1052
00:54:24.450 --> 00:54:26.700
But I think quite a few of us believe

1053
00:54:26.700 --> 00:54:29.520
that's very likely the case.

1054
00:54:29.520 --> 00:54:34.520
The Monitor's hull show signs of collapse from above

1055
00:54:35.310 --> 00:54:37.590
as if a force did press down

1056
00:54:37.590 --> 00:54:41.400
and caused that bending of the supports

1057
00:54:41.400 --> 00:54:45.060
and crushing the lower hull down onto the deck.

1058
00:54:45.060 --> 00:54:47.580
So, I'd say there's a really good chance.

1059
00:54:47.580 --> 00:54:50.340
That was a standard procedure during the war.

1060
00:54:50.340 --> 00:54:52.920
And very likely the Monitor was a big enough target.

1061
00:54:52.920 --> 00:54:55.143
That was what happened.

1062
00:54:56.141 --> 00:54:57.558
<v Shannon>Okay.</v>

1063
00:54:58.470 --> 00:55:00.390
And if we did not get to your questions,

1064
00:55:00.390 --> 00:55:01.560
or if you have additional ones,

1065
00:55:01.560 --> 00:55:03.540
you can always send them to John personally.

1066
00:55:03.540 --> 00:55:06.690
And his email address is there listed on the screen.

1067
00:55:06.690 --> 00:55:09.360
And we are also going to send these follow up questions

1068
00:55:09.360 --> 00:55:12.810
to John so that he can at least see what everybody asked.

1069
00:55:12.810 --> 00:55:14.910
And if you live in the local area

1070
00:55:14.910 --> 00:55:16.170
or want to come for a visit,

1071
00:55:16.170 --> 00:55:18.420
be sure to join us on August the 6th

1072
00:55:18.420 --> 00:55:22.230
at The Mariners Museum and Park, in Newport News, Virginia,

1073
00:55:22.230 --> 00:55:23.880
for a fun-filled day.

1074
00:55:23.880 --> 00:55:26.310
There's gonna be activities for the entire family.

1075
00:55:26.310 --> 00:55:28.980
You can go on a special scavenger hunt,

1076
00:55:28.980 --> 00:55:32.460
conduct an archeological dig using a replica cannon

1077
00:55:32.460 --> 00:55:35.520
or you can become immersed on the USS Monitor wreck site

1078
00:55:35.520 --> 00:55:37.080
as you view the newest

1079
00:55:37.080 --> 00:55:39.930
3D virtual reality video of the Monitor.

1080
00:55:39.930 --> 00:55:42.780
And you can meet John at 11:00 am in person,

1081
00:55:42.780 --> 00:55:46.110
as he talks about the race to save the Monitor.

1082
00:55:46.110 --> 00:55:47.910
And at 1:00 pm, you can learn more

1083
00:55:47.910 --> 00:55:50.790
about the conservation of the turret

1084
00:55:50.790 --> 00:55:53.310
and the other artifacts that are going on

1085
00:55:53.310 --> 00:55:55.020
with Will Hoffman, who is the Director

1086
00:55:55.020 --> 00:55:57.210
of Conservation and Chief Conservator.

1087
00:55:57.210 --> 00:55:58.740
And he's gonna talk about

1088
00:55:58.740 --> 00:56:00.690
the last two decades of conservation.

1089
00:56:00.690 --> 00:56:02.940
So, come out on Saturday and join us

1090
00:56:02.940 --> 00:56:03.930
if you're in the local area.

1091
00:56:03.930 --> 00:56:05.013
We'd love to see you.

1092
00:56:06.780 --> 00:56:08.730
Now, a video recording of this presentation

1093
00:56:08.730 --> 00:56:12.180
will be available on the sanctuary's webinar archive page.

1094
00:56:12.180 --> 00:56:15.570
That's found at that URL listed at the top of the page.

1095
00:56:15.570 --> 00:56:17.100
In addition, the webinar will be

1096
00:56:17.100 --> 00:56:20.190
archived on Monitor's website.

1097
00:56:20.190 --> 00:56:22.020
You'll just click on the multimedia section

1098
00:56:22.020 --> 00:56:25.440
in the toolbar section to access the webinar box.

1099
00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:27.330
You'll also find any future webinars

1100
00:56:27.330 --> 00:56:29.250
that we're gonna be doing in that same section.

1101
00:56:29.250 --> 00:56:31.290
And don't worry, all of this information

1102
00:56:31.290 --> 00:56:33.150
will be sent to you in a follow up email

1103
00:56:33.150 --> 00:56:35.010
once the recording is ready to view.

1104
00:56:35.010 --> 00:56:38.430
And just as a point of to let you know,

1105
00:56:38.430 --> 00:56:40.230
that recording usually takes about a week

1106
00:56:40.230 --> 00:56:43.290
before it's up online because we have to caption it

1107
00:56:43.290 --> 00:56:44.850
and then the web team has to get it up.

1108
00:56:44.850 --> 00:56:46.380
So in about a week, it should be ready

1109
00:56:46.380 --> 00:56:47.670
and we'll send you an email out

1110
00:56:47.670 --> 00:56:49.720
so that you can share it with others too,

1111
00:56:50.600 --> 00:56:53.040
to view the recording, or if you had anybody miss it,

1112
00:56:53.040 --> 00:56:54.390
they can come and watch it.

1113
00:56:55.380 --> 00:56:56.910
And on July 21st,

1114
00:56:56.910 --> 00:56:59.220
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries' webinar series

1115
00:56:59.220 --> 00:57:00.720
will host Sarah Hutton,

1116
00:57:00.720 --> 00:57:03.150
Conservation and Climate Program Coordinator

1117
00:57:03.150 --> 00:57:05.280
with the Greater Farallones Association,

1118
00:57:05.280 --> 00:57:08.280
as she discusses the latest science on well carbon

1119
00:57:08.280 --> 00:57:09.720
and the critical efforts underway

1120
00:57:09.720 --> 00:57:12.600
to rebuild well stocks by reducing impacts

1121
00:57:12.600 --> 00:57:14.550
such as collisions with ships.

1122
00:57:14.550 --> 00:57:16.260
You'll learn how recent engagement

1123
00:57:16.260 --> 00:57:18.660
with school children on the subject of climate change

1124
00:57:18.660 --> 00:57:21.600
made a big splash resulting in a renewed commitment

1125
00:57:21.600 --> 00:57:23.910
from the largest container shipping line

1126
00:57:23.910 --> 00:57:26.040
to continue to go slow for Wells,

1127
00:57:26.040 --> 00:57:27.600
demonstrating the important role

1128
00:57:27.600 --> 00:57:30.633
that the community engagement plays in ocean protection.

1129
00:57:32.370 --> 00:57:34.020
And of course, we always invite you

1130
00:57:34.020 --> 00:57:35.823
to follow us on social media.

1131
00:57:36.810 --> 00:57:38.760
And lastly, as you exit the webinar,

1132
00:57:38.760 --> 00:57:41.880
there is a short survey for formal and informal educators.

1133
00:57:41.880 --> 00:57:43.890
If you are an educator,

1134
00:57:43.890 --> 00:57:45.840
please, NOAA would really appreciate it,

1135
00:57:45.840 --> 00:57:48.750
if you would take a minute or two to complete the survey.

1136
00:57:48.750 --> 00:57:50.340
Your answers will help NOAA

1137
00:57:50.340 --> 00:57:52.680
develop future webinars to meet your needs.

1138
00:57:52.680 --> 00:57:54.360
Your participation is voluntary

1139
00:57:54.360 --> 00:57:56.883
and your answers will be completely anonymous.

1140
00:57:58.170 --> 00:57:59.730
But once again, we want to thank John,

1141
00:57:59.730 --> 00:58:01.140
for a great presentation.

1142
00:58:01.140 --> 00:58:01.973
Thank you, John.

1143
00:58:01.973 --> 00:58:03.810
And thank you all for joining us,

1144
00:58:03.810 --> 00:58:06.030
taking the time out of your day today.

1145
00:58:06.030 --> 00:58:07.950
I hope everybody has a wonderful day.

1146
00:58:07.950 --> 00:58:09.930
And this concludes the presentation.

1147
00:58:09.930 --> 00:58:10.923
Bye, everyone.