The Sea Hunters Part 31

"Yes. Tell your boss that the two hundred bucks is a bribe. I'm paying him never to mention my name in the Smithsonian magazine."

The secretary came unglued. "You don't want your name in our publication. This is unheard of."

"There's always a first."

I have no idea what they ever did with the check. I know I never got it.

NUMA has been fortunate in achieving so much with so little.

Nearly sixty sunken wrecks in lakes, rivers, and seas have been found and surveyed. I've covered only a handful in this book. A few were discovered by luck, most only after long hours of investigation and hard work.

Cost is, of course, always a factor with any expedition. But if the hunt is not overly complicated and can be conducted with simplicity, the price remains low.

Despite stories by fiction writers like me, the search for historic treasure is seldom dangerous and all too often is downright tedious, but it is still an adventure that can be enjoyed by dedicated people or families out for a weekend of fun. Discoveries can be made anywhere and may take place within walking distance of your backyard.

You'd be amazed at how many famous historical sites remain lost because n.o.body ever bothered to look for them.

I suppose it would be more practical to sink my book royalties into munic.i.p.al bonds and real estate, something that would yield a financial return. Lord knows my accountant and broker think I belong under restraint in an inst.i.tution. But my philosophy has always been that when my time comes, and I'm lying in a hospital bed two breaths away from the great beyond, I'd like my bedside phone to ring. A big, blonde, buxom nurse, taking my pulse for ebbing vital signs, leans over my face, picks up the phone, and holds the receiver to my ear.

The last words I hear before I drift off are those of my banker telling me my account is ten dollars overdrawn.

The bottom line is that when the final curtain drops the only things we truly regret are the things we didn't do.

Or, as an old grizzled treasure hunter put it to me over a beer in a waterfront saloon late one evening, "If it ain't fun, it ain't worth doing'."

To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering.

Current List of National Underwater & Marine Ai!encv ipwrec urveys and

Discoveries

C.S.S. Hunley First submarine in history to sink a wars.h.i.+p. After torpedoing the U.S.S.

Housatonic off Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1864, the Hunley and her nine-man crew vanished.

U.S.S. Housatonic Union Navy sloop-of-war. First wars.h.i.+p in history to be sunk by a submarine, the Confederate torpedo boat Hunley, outside of Charleston, South Carolina, 1864. All but five of her crew were rescued.

U.S.S. c.u.mberland Union Navy frigate. First wars.h.i.+p in history to be defeated and sunk by an armored vessel. Rammed by the Confederate ironclad Merrimack, Newport News, Virginia, 1862. Over 120 of her crew were killed.

C.S.S. Florida Famous Confederate sea raider that captured and sank nearly fifty United States merchant s.h.i.+ps during the Civil War. Captured at Bahia, Brazil, and scuttled near Newport News, Virginia, 1864.

Sultana Side-paddle-wheel steamboat whose boiler exploded and turned the boat into a holocaust, 1865. Worst North American s.h.i.+p disaster. Two thousand died, mostly Union soldiers. Fatalities exceeded those of the t.i.tanic 47 years later.

Invincible Armed schooner, first flags.h.i.+p of the Republic of Texas Navy.

Captured arms and supplies from Mexican merchant s.h.i.+ps that were turned over to General Sam Houston. Sunk in battle off Galveston, Texas, 1837.

Zavala Pa.s.senger steamboat converted to armed wars.h.i.+p by the Republic of Texas Navy in 1838. Probably the earliest armed steams.h.i.+p in North America. Grounded in Galveston Bay, Texas, 1842.

Lexington Extremely fast side-paddle steamboat. Constructed by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1835. burned and sank in Long Island Sound, New York, in 1840. One hundred fifty-one men, women, and children were lost.

U.S.S. Akron United States Navy rigid airs.h.i.+p (dirigible) capable of docking and hangaring nine aircraft while in flight. Crashed off Beach Haven, New Jersey in 1933. Seventy-three crewmen were lost.

U.S.S. Carondelet Venerable Union Navy ironclad. Fought in more battles than any other wars.h.i.+p in the Civil War. Built by inventive genius James Eads.

Sank in the Ohio River long after the war, in 1873.

U.S.S. Weehawken Only Union Navy monitor to have defeated and captured a Confederate ironclad in battle. She also led the first attack on Fort Sumter.

Sank in a storm outside of Charleston, South Carolina, 1864.

U.S.S. Patapsco Union Navy monitor of the Pa.s.saic cla.s.s. Fought throughout the siege of Charleston. Struck a Confederate mine and sank in the channel off Fort Moultrie in 1865. Sixty-two of her crew were lost.

U.S.S. Keokuk One-of-a-kind Union ironclad with two nonrevolving gun towers.

Generally referred to as a citadel ironclad. Struck over ninety times by Confederate guns at Charleston in 1863. Sank soon after the battle.

C.S.S. Arkansas Tough Confederate ironclad that singlehandedly battled the entire Mississippi River fleet under Admiral Farragut and won. Burned by her crew above Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to prevent capture in 1862.

C.S.S. Mana.s.sas First armored s.h.i.+p built in the United States, and the first ironclad to see battle. Designed primarily as a ram. burned and sank in the Mississippi River during the battle for New Orleans in 1862.

C.S.S. Virginia II Strong Confederate ironclad that helped to keep General Grant's army from crossing the Jones River to take Richmond. burned by her crew at Drewry's Bluff by order of Admiral Semmes of Alabama fame, 1865.

C.S.S. Fredericksburg Confederate ironclad of the James River fleet under command of Admiral Raphael Semmes. Actively engaged until end of war. Blown up by her crew at Drewry's Bluff, 1865.

C.S.S. Richmond Confederate ironclad that guarded the reaches of the James River for nearly three years. When Richmond fell, she was destroyed by her crew near Chaffin's Bluff in 1865.

Northampton Fast side-wheel Chesapeake Bay steamer used by the Confederates as a supply s.h.i.+p. Sunk as an obstruction below Drewry's Bluff in James River, 1862.

Jamestown Large pa.s.senger steamer, seized by Confederates. Fought gallantly in Hampton Roads, Virginia, with the Merrimack. Sunk as obstruction at Drewry's Bluff in 1862.

C.S.S. Louisiana Mammoth Confederate ironclad that carried sixteen guns.

Unfinished and able to fight only while moored along sh.o.r.e during the battle for New Orleans, she was blown up by her crew to prevent capture, 1862.

U.S.S. Varuna Union Navy gunboat. Rammed three times by Confederate vessels during the battle for New Orleans. She was credited with sinking six enemy s.h.i.+ps before being forced ash.o.r.e and burned, 1862.

U.S.S. Commodore Jones Union Navy side-wheel gunboat, formerly a New York ferryboat.

Destroyed by a very sophisticated Confederate two-thousand-pound electrical mine in the James River, 1864.

U.S.S. Phillipe Union Navy gunboat that was sh.e.l.led by the Confederate guns at Fort Morgan, set afire and sank in the entrance to Mobile Bay during Admiral Farragut's attack on the city, 1864.

C.S.S. Governor Moore Confederate Navy gunboat, converted from a pa.s.senger steamer. Put up tough battle against Union fleet during battle for New Orleans.

Sixty-four of her crew died. Run aground and burned, Mississippi River, 1862.

C.S.S. Colonel Lovell Confederate cotton-clad ram. Saw much action on the Mississippi River near Tennessee. Fought valiantly before being rammed and sunk during the battle for Memphis, 1862.

C.S.S. General Beauregard Confederate side-wheel ram. Attacked Union flotilla during the battle for Memphis, and was heavily damaged before sinking along the west bank of the Mississippi River, 1862.

C.S.S. General Thompson Confederate side-wheel ram. Fought up and down the Mississippi River along Tennessee before being burned and run aground during the battle for Memphis, 1862.

Platt Valley Side-wheel steamer, snagged on wreck of General Beauregard and sank below Memphis, 1867.

Saint Patrick Four-hundred-ton side-wheel steamer, burned and sank above Memphis in 1868.

C.S.S. Drewry Confederate gunboat. Fought on James River for three years before being badly shot up and sunk by Union Army artillery fire in the middle of Trent's Reach, 1865.

C.S.S. Gaines Confederate gunboat that fought a losing battle with Admiral Farragut's fleet during the battle of Mobile Bay. The Gaines was run aground behind Fort Morgan and burned, 1865.

Stonewall Jackson Confederate blockade runner, formerly the British packet side-wheel steamer Leopard. Run aground on Isle of Palms, South Carolina, 1864.

Rattlesnake Confederate blockade runner. Caught by Union blockading fleet while trying to enter Charleston Harbor off Breech Inlet with cargo of arms, and burned, 1863.

Racc.o.o.n Confederate blockade runner. burned and sunk by Union gunboat outside Charleston Harbor while running out to sea with cargo of cotton, 1863.

Ruby Confederate blockade runner that had many successful runs.

Finally chased ash.o.r.e at Folly Island, Charleston, and destroyed, Norseman Confederate blockade runner, small British screw steamer, run ash.o.r.e off Isle of Palms, Charleston, 1865.

Ivanhoe Confederate blockade runner. Caught by Union gunboats and destroyed near Fort Morgan at the entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama, Foreign s.h.i.+ps Discovered and Surveyed Waratah Blue Anchor pa.s.senger liner that disappeared off the east coast of South Africa in 1911. Over two hundred pa.s.sengers and crew were lost.

One of the great mysteries of the sea.

H.M.S. Pathfinder British scout cruiser. Second wars.h.i.+p to be sunk by a submarine and the first by a German U-boat. Torpedoed in the North Sea by the in August of 1914.

First German U-boat in history to sink an enemy s.h.i.+p. Also sank two battles.h.i.+ps near Turkey in World War I. Foundered while under tow in North Sea, 1919.

German World War I submarine that sank the Cunard liner Lusitania.

Stranded on Jutland sh.o.r.e, Denmark, in 1916. Later blown up by the Danes in 1926.

H.M.S. Acteon British fifty-gun frigate, stranded and burned during battle off Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, during the Revolutionary War, 1776.

H.M.S. Invincible British battle cruiser. Blown up and sunk by German naval gunfire during the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, May of 1916. Admiral Hood and 1,026 of his crew went down with the s.h.i.+p.

H.M.S. Indefatigable British battle cruiser. Blown up by German naval gunfire and sunk during the battle of Jutland in the North Sea, 1916. Over one thousand men went to the bottom with her.

H.M.S. Defence British heavy cruiser. Blown up and sunk with all hands during the Battle of Jutland, 1916.

H.M.S. Shark British destroyer. Sunk by the German Imperial fleet during the Battle of Jutland, 1916.

H.M.S. Hawke British cruiser sunk by the German submarine U-9, sixty miles off Scotland, October 1915; 348 of her crew were lost.

Wieshaden German heavy cruiser burned and sank during the Battle of Jutland off the Denmark coast, 1916.

V-48.

German destroyer, sank during the Battle of Jutland, 1916.

S-35.

German destroyer, sank during the Battle of Jutland, 1916.

Butcher German heavy cruiser, which was destroyed and sank during the Battle of Dogger Bank in the North Sea, 1916.

German submarine, sank after being rammed by the British cruiser Ariel, off Scotland in 1915.

German submarine, sank off Weymouth, England, after being depthcharged by a British gunboat, 1916.

Giiickauf Prototype of the modern oil tanker. First to use all bulkheads to store oil. First to place engines in stern. Stranded on Fire Island, New York, 1893.

Vicksburg British steam freighter stranded on the sh.o.r.e of Fire Island, New York, near Blue Point, during a storm in 1875.

Alexander Nevski Russian steam frigate that ran aground on the east coast of Denmark near ThyborOn, 1868. The Russian crown prince was on board.

All were saved.

Arctic British steams.h.i.+p stranded on the coast of Jutland, Dem-nark, Kirkwall British steams.h.i.+p that ran aground on the sh.o.r.e of Jutland, Denmark, 1874.

Odin Very early Royal Swedish steams.h.i.+p, much copied in models, built in 1836. Ran ash.o.r.e near ThyborOn, Denmark, in 1836.

Commonwealth British freighter sunk by German U-boat during World War I in the North Sea off Flamborough Head, 1915.

Charing Cross British freighter torpedoed by German U-boat off Flamborough Head during World War I in 1916.

Chicago Very large ten-thousand-ton British freighter sunk by German U-boat off Flamborough Head in 1918.

Leopoldville Belgian liner converted into troop transport during World War II.

Torpedoed by German U-boat on Christmas Eve, 1944, off Cherbourg, France. Over eight hundred American GIs died in the tragedy.

Additional Sites Surveyed Merrimack Many magnetometer contacts around site where famous Confederate ironclad was blown up and destroyed off Craney Island, Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1862.

Great Stone Fleet Large number of subbottom profile and magnetometer contacts where sixteen old New England whalers were scuttled to block channel leading into Charleston Harbor, 1861.

Galveston Graveyard of s.h.i.+ps Ten to twelve s.h.i.+ps that ran aground on old shoal outside of Galveston Bay between 1680 and 1880 and now lie buried in sand.

Swamp Angel Remains of parapet where famous eight-inch Parrott gun lobbed 150-pound projectiles into the city of Charleston nineteen hundred yards away, during 1863.

Index Torpedo Raft The remains of Union Navy ant.i.torpedo raft used by monitor Weehawken during battle for Charleston, 1863, lies in a marsh at the north end of Morris Island, South Carolina.

Lost Locomotive of Kiowa Creek Site where Kansas Pacific freight train was swept away by flood in 1876. It turned out the train was secretly recovered, repaired, and placed back in service under new number. What we discovered was a 120-year-old insurance scam.