Researchers map Hatteras as anniversary

Researchers map Hatteras as anniversary approaches
12/19/12 8:59 PM
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Matt Keith and Amanda
Evans of Tesla Offshore
take notes and makes
sketches of the
starboard paddle wheel
area of the USS
Hatteras.
Courtesy Photo - See More Photos
Researchers map Hatteras as anniversary approaches
By Christopher Smith Gonzalez
The Daily News
Published September 13, 2012
Ed Cotham has studied the Civil War Battle of Galveston and the sinking of the USS Hatteras, an
iron-hulled, paddle wheel steamship the U.S. Navy converted into a gunboat, for nearly 30 years,
but he had never visited the ship’s final resting place.
Monday was Cotham’s first time to visit the spot about 20 miles off Galveston. He was there with a
team of archaeologists, divers and researchers who will use a new sonar system that will create a
three-dimensional map of the shipwreck.
“It’s hard to believe you are in the middle of a Civil War battlefield,” Cotham said as he stood on
the deck of a gently rocking research vessel while divers prepared to take the sonar down.
The 210-foot Union ship was sunk by the famous Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama
nearly 150 years ago. The wreckage was discovered in the mid 1970s.
The wreck is in 57 feet of murky water. While it has been explored and photographed, the 3-D
mapping is new, said Jim Delgado, director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
Delgado is overseeing the crew of archaeologists, historians, marine biologists and students
working on the project.
Visibility around the wreck often is less than 10 feet, making mapping by hand or taking pictures
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Researchers map Hatteras as anniversary approaches
Visibility around the wreck often is less than 10 feet, making mapping by hand or taking pictures
difficult. But recent storms stripped some of the sand off the wreck, making it a perfect time to
dive with the Blueview 3-D sonar, Delgado said.
The 150th anniversary of the Battle of Galveston and of the sinking of the Hatteras are coming up
in January, and Delgado plans to have the 3-D images ready for display.
A Long Shadow In History
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“It’s a very short battle, but it really cast a long shadow in history,” Cotham said.
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The Hatteras was part of a U.S. squadron intent on taking Galveston back from the Confederate
forces that captured the city on Jan. 1, 1863. As the Federal squadron bombarded the city on Jan.
11, a ship was spotted. The Hatteras went to investigate.
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When the Hatteras finally came alongside the ship, the unknown vessel claimed to be British. The
Hatteras’ captain, Homer Blake, sent a boarding party to verify the claim. While the men were
crossing between the two vessels, someone aboard the strange ship shouted, “This is the
Confederate steamer Alabama.”
At their closest, the ships were about 25 yards apart — close enough for the combatants to fire
pistols at each other, Cotham said.
The Alabama outgunned the Hatteras. Some of the shells set off a fire onboard the Hatteras, which
was forced to surrender. Most of the crew got off the sinking ship and onto the Alabama as
prisoners, but two men working in the coal bunker likely were killed in an explosion.
The following morning, the rest of the Federal fleet found the Hatteras. While the ship was on the
seabed, above the still waters of the Gulf, the naval pennant was still flying from the topmast.
The battle is important, Cotham said, because it bought the Confederates in Galveston just enough
time to fortify the city and hold on to it for the rest of the war.
“Because Galveston stays in Confederate hands until the end of the war, Galveston becomes the
last major port for blockade runners,” Cotham said.
Some of the large fortunes in Houston and Galveston can be traced to money made off the
blockade runners during the war, he said.
“It really is one of the most famous ship-to-ship battles in the entire Civil War, and most people
don’t even know it’s out here,” he said.
A Real Link To The Past
Divers spent most of Monday afternoon positioning the tripod-mounted sonar around one of the
Hatteras’ paddle wheel hubs. On the first day of the expedition, the team was able to conduct 60
minutes of scanning and collected 10 gigabytes of data, said James Glaeser of Northwest Hydro.
Once the images are processed, Delgado said he would like to place them online and let the public
explore the wreck.
Amy Borgens, the marine archaeologist for the Texas Historical Commission, said wrecks like the
Hatteras are a link to a not-so-distant past and a reminder of the events “that got us here.”
“I love history, and I just love these physical representations,” she said.
The Hatteras, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, still belongs to the U.S. Navy and is
outside of state waters, but the historical commission is a partner in the exploration and
preservation of the wreck.
A Memorial And A Reminder
Besides being an archaeological site, the Hatteras also is a war grave. William Healy, a coal heaver,
and John Cleary, a stoker, died aboard the Hatteras when it sank. Both were Irish and likely
Catholic, so the Very Rev. Steven Duncan of Galveston also was on board the research vessel
Monday to give the two sailors what was thought to be their first memorial service.
Duncan led the service and prayed for the fallen sailors. A wreath was thrown into the sea.
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Researchers map Hatteras as anniversary approaches
12/19/12 8:59 PM
Duncan led the service and prayed for the fallen sailors. A wreath was thrown into the sea.
“In doing this project, we are looking into the people who were there on board and trying to tell
their story,” Delgado said. “I think we need to remember our history. A project like this, when we
do this, it takes something that otherwise may just be a line in a history book or an entry on
Wikipedia ... and, nope, there is more than words here. It’s real. We’ve seen it. We’ve touched it.
We’ve brought back a sense of it.”
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