THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250479
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HATTERAS LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The 9-foot propeller from an ironclad Civil War battleship will remain on the ocean floor off Cape Hatteras through the winter.
The expedition to recover the propeller has been called off until next year, John Broadwater, manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, said Tuesday.
Three trips since August to the Monitor's resting place 16.1 miles off Cape Hatteras have been hampered by rough weather, equipment problems and other demands for the Edenton, the Navy salvage ship participating in the expedition.
``The Edenton's got other commitments, and the weather's not getting any better at Hatteras this time of year,'' Broadwater said.
On last week's voyage to the site, currents under the ocean's surface were so strong - 2 to 2 1/2 knots - that a diving platform was almost swept away, Broadwater said.
An underwater television camera was lowered, but the current pulled out all of its 300 feet of cable without ever showing a picture of the wreck directly below the Edenton.
The marine sanctuary, the first in the nation, is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Monitor revolutionized naval warfare with its revolving turret and armored hull. It fought to a standstill with the Confederate ironclad Virginia, also known as the Merrimack, and sank in a gale Dec. 31, 1862. The wreckage was discovered in 1973.
Broadwater said another expedition to raise the 3,600-pound propeller may be started next summer.
On the three trips to raise the propeller this year, Navy divers cut about halfway through the 9-inch thick propeller shaft and attached a Kevlar lifting harness.
``It's really frustrating to get so close,'' Broadwater said in a telephone interview.
``I believe we needed two or three more dives, a day's worth of work. There's nothing much you can do.''
Lifting the propeller, and preserving it in a tank of water at the Mariner's Museum at Newport News, is important enough to go back, Broadwater emphasized.
``We get a lot of inquiries about the Monitor,'' he said.
``Efforts to try and preserve what's there are justifiable and worthwhile.''
Besides, Broadwater added, the number of people who could actually dive to the Monitor wreckage is so small that it makes sense to bring as many artifacts as possible to the museum's Monitor exhibit.
The Monitor's future is clouded by federal budget tightening and the cost of raising large objects from the sea.
``The rest of the wreck is on my mind a lot,'' Broadwater said. ``A lot of us would like to see the turret come up eventually. It's technically difficult because it's under the hull and it's extremely heavy. It's going to be extremely expensive.''
The dives are potentially dangerous, too. On the second trip Oct. 2 through 4, the cutting torch hit an impurity in the metal and caused a small explosion that cracked a diver's outer face shield but didn't injure him. The inner, pressurized shield in the diver's helmet wasn't broken.
This year's expedition cost NOAA about $35,000 to hire a dive boat and divers before the Edenton got involved.
The Navy didn't charge for its services, which were considered a training exercise.
An expedition in 1993 cost about $250,000 because NOAA leased a private research ship that was equipped with a mini sub. Before that, expeditions recovered the Monitor's anchor and other small artifacts.
The ship's engine, pumps and possibly the remains of several crewmen are inside the hull. by CNB