SAVANNAH, Ga. -- An iron-seeking salvage team tried to blow it up soon after the Civil War. Then it lay submerged for more than 100 years, a hidden behemoth, out of sight and mostly out of mind in the dark waters of the Savannah River.
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Even so, the remains of the CSS Georgia - a Confederate ironclad ship that the rebels purposely sank in December 1864 as Union troops marched toward Fort Jackson - is "still a very nice shipwreck," says Judy Wood, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist.
It lies in 35 feet of water in the Savannah River downstream from Savannah, in the path of a planned $200 million expansion of Savannah Harbor.
Those surveying the wreck didn't find as much of the Georgia as they expected, probably because an 1868 salvage operation was more successful than anyone had realized.
Divers had a tougher time than expected with the underwater studies. They found one of the ship's twin 7-foot propellers. When high-tech sonar equipment did not work properly, researchers used low-tech ropes and probes to search in and around the wreckage.
"That's not as easy as looking at a computer screen and saying, 'go left,"' Wood said. "We ended up going rather low-tech, and still getting the job done."
Divers found a couple of big cannons, along with bits and pieces of the Georgia's coal-powered engine and one of the ship's twin 7-foot propellers.
The $375,000 archaeological study - funded by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Ports Authority - is a prelude to a proposed river-deepening project that would open up Savannah's port to the world's largest cargo ships.
The Corps has set aside $13 million for a potential recovery effort.
The study is one piece of a huge puzzle that will lead eventually to a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement, said Doug Plachy, the Corps' senior project manager for the harbor deepening project.
If the ship is to be preserved in a museum-quality exhibit, more money is needed. The Coastal Heritage Society hopes to raise those funds from private businesses and government and then incorporate a CSS Georgia exhibit into Savannah's Battlefield Park complex, Executive Director Scott Smith said.
"I would say this (archaeological study) has been a very positive step," Smith said.
In late 2005, the Corps will release a draft version of the impact statement for public review and comment, along with a general evaluation report. A decision on whether to deepen the river to 48 feet could come in 2006, officials said. And if the project goes forward, funding could be in place by 2007.
Because divers did not find an intact engine, as expected, a recovery effort probably would not take the full $13 million reserved for the project.
There's enough of the engine left that researchers could likely answer why the Georgia was so underpowered that it couldn't navigate downstream - a fact that led Confederate defenders to moor it as a floating battery at Fort Jackson.
Was it poor design or inefficient installation of an engine designed for another ship? Or was the ship itself overweight?
"What we're thinking now is that the engine was just too small," Wood said.
