
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 2, 1993                   TAG: 9307020035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: PARIS                                LENGTH: Short

CONFEDERATE-SHIP ARTIFACTS FOUND

Divers searching a Confederate warship sunk off the French coast during the Civil War have brought back the first batch of artifacts, including coins and tableware, project organizers said Thursday.

The wreckage of the CSS Alabama was discovered near Cherbourg in 1984 by a French navy mine sweeper. The vessel was sunk in 90 feet of water by the USS Kearsage, a Union ship, during one of the most far-flung engagements of the Civil War.

Ulane Bonnel, an American historian who heads the CSS Alabama Association, said the artifacts were retrieved by French and American divers in a three-week operation that ended Thursday.

She said more searches are planned for next year.

Most of the recovered objects were foreign coins. - Associated Press

by CNB