Could this be a Union Gunboat ???

[Jolly Mon]

This photo was taken in an area where a Union gunboat carrying 3 cannon was sunk by Confederate field artillery during the Civil War. A university team searched specifically for the vessel several years ago. They magged several miles of the shoreline in question. They did not find the gunboat, but reported suprise at the number of magnetic targets they found in the area. They probed several and concluded that most of the targets were probably old crab traps.

What do you guys think about the picture? Could it be a sandbar or a trick of lighting? Is there any way a university team could have missed something like this? I figure the boiler would be a huge target and hard to miss. I think the size of the image...around 70 feet or so... would be about right for the vessel in question.

 

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[david583]

I have no idea wether it is or isn't . But I would defiantly check it out - you never know ! Let's us know what you find . Good luck !!

 

[Chisos]

Forget just trying to find the boat, try to locate a cannon, then you have a general area to search. Read the university report, it is there somewhere. How deep is the water? How bad is the current? If you are persistent on checking that photo then do so. Don't dive alone, don't believe everything the university report says, they made assumptions about old crab pots, and that is very unscientific. If you can check it do so, but be careful. Good luck and let us know. p.s. You may want to try and contact NUMA, yes it really exists, but is made up of the author Clive Cussler and some of his friends. No buildings, no gov't. money, but these are the folks that have found numerous old ships including the Hunley. They have a wealth of info and may be able to help you. Oh, and that could be anything, certainaly a gunboat, but who knows.

 

[Jolly Mon]

There is an interesting story behind the ordinance. The waterway in question was the barrier between Union and Confederate forces. After the vessel was grounded by her skipper, both sides tried to salvage her. The Confederates got aboard her the night she was destroyed, but reported that the Federals had already salvaged one of the guns. There is absolutely no record of this. Union records indicate that they did not visit the boat until several days later. There was one gun forward and 2 aft. Both sides set up units near the wreck and played kind of a game of chicken for weeks afterward in trying to salvage her. One Confederate officer reported being able to remove one of the guns and then having to bury it on the bank due to Union fire. The boat was grounded some distance from the mainland on a marsh island, so neither side had free access to her, though the Union forces were much closer. There is no record of either side having sucessfully removed any of the guns (interestingly, the guns were NOT made of iron).

 

[stevemc]

The scale in the picture doesnt seem correct, the red line seems much longer than 70 feet. But you never know what it is unless you go there. A mag will only find iron, nothing else. That is why many Spanish ships are never found.

 

[JT]

Jolly Mon, just a thought, but at the left and right sides, are those two tidal creeks draining into the waterway?

If it was a Civil War era boat on the bank like that, it likely would've been burned to the waterline. If thosae are two creeks draining in at the left and right, it seems logical to me that would've silted over the remains.

Maybe it's a more modern boat, or maybe it's just a sandbar from the two "inlets"? Don't know until you look...