What to do?? River boat

[boomer]

James J. Garfield Col. 1862, sent a paddle wheeler up big sandy river to resupply union forces at paintsville Kentucky. Has it was nearing paintsville a Confederate artillery unit was able to knock a hole in the side of it.
it started going down fairly fast, it flowted back about 1/2 mile before sinking. it had food stuffs, weapons, cooking gear, saddles and clothing. the boat was intact except for the hole in the side using
my detector with a longer cord, i came across an area that sounds off for about 600 feet. would stuff scatter that much?
also up against the bank i get a sounding, the bank their is about 7 feet high. i am guessing here, would most of the boat be in the bank?. their is no record of anyone trying to salvage this. has in an earlier post, i am a land treasure hunter. i sure need some advice on this. below is a photo of the type of boat that sank, its a lot longer and wider than the one that went down. the boat that sank was 100 feet by 30 feet, at least thats what the old record says. thought someone could use the info.

 

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[savant365]

You should talk to these folks, I'm pretty sure they can answer any of your questions.

HH Charlie

http://www.1856.com/

 

[allen_idaho]

I don't know what the rivers are like on that side of the country but here in Idaho we have had a lot of river steamer wrecks. Most of them have been slowly ripped apart because of the strong changing currents every spring. Usually the lower hull is still there because it was embedded in the mud while the rest has been pulled downstream.

 

[Reef Dawg]

Your sounding of 600 feet would not be necessarily considered a lengthy spread. In fact, on many wrecks, this would be considered a "tight" field of wreckage. Also, one could compare factors of inland and outland water characteristics to include run off, melting, current and other hydrology factors, but there have been many wrecks with debris fields spanning miles.

One thing I would be interested in is the width of the soundings.

Might I suggest a Mag Survey of some simple kind?

 

[wwwtimmcp]

a wreck I am diving in lake erie has parts well over 2 miles apart and I am not done yet. water can do very interesting things. don't forget they may have been throwing things overboard to stay afloat, and if cold water hit the boilers they may have exploded.

sounds like a great wreck site, do keep us posted.