Researchers recover propeller from Civil War Monitor

Web posted June 10, 1998

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The 10-foot propeller well cover and a deck plate from the famed Civil War vessel USS Monitor have been recovered by researchers documenting the condition of the sunken wreck.

The artifacts recovered Sunday join the ship's giant propeller and part of the shaft, which had been brought to the surface earlier, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today.

The Monitor, the first ironclad turreted warship, fought the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia to a draw on March 9, 1862. Before its Confederate service, the Virginia had been named Merrimac.

The Monitor later sank in a storm off the North Carolina coast. The wreck was found in 1973 and designated a marine sanctuary two years later.

In addition to the propeller and shaft, the researchers recovered some other smaller artifacts, including a deck plate.

NOAA said the propeller and other materials will be placed in the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., where the ship's anchor is already on display.

The team researching the Monitor includes divers from NOAA, the U.S. Navy and the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

The section of propeller and shaft recovered is about nine feet long and weighs about three tons, the agency said. It said divers had to cut through nine inches of the shaft to free the items. The propeller is about nine feet in diameter.