Off north carolina. This was part of a seminar the. Without further ado, let me introduce our first speake he has received many awards including the National Trust for Historic Preservations president s award for Historic Preservation and many, many others. His talk today is the ship that saved the nation, the monitors recovery and conservation. Please welcome mr. Quarstein. [ applause ] thank you. Well, you know, on march 8th, 1862 it was a terrible day for the union. In fact, it turned the tide, it appeared in favor of the confederacy when the css virginia emerged from the Elizabeth River and sunk two major union warships, the cumberland and the congress. The union navy was in disarray. People were in the white house looking out the curtains, down the potomac, fearing that this super weapon, as they would have called the merrimack, as southerners called the virginia, would be there soon and the war would finally end in a confederate victory. But all was to change as if magic, because that evening a ship that was called like no other ship before, in fact, one person said a sailors eyes have never looked upon such a vessel. If i believed in idolry id take it out and worship it. The turret sits on an armored deck, which sits on a hull. It is actually a submarine life because everything is below the water line. One of my favorite stories is when the crew first gets on, two people desert immediately because its so different. And they have all these new devices. John ericsson, the inventor, will actually have other 100 patentable items of which 33 are patented and he actually gives those patents to the u. S. Navy. One of the most unique patents on board happened to be to be a prussian commode. You live under the water, there is no doubt. In fact, one of the members of the monitors crew, acting assistant pay master william keilar will actually be laying in his bunk. There are these little deck lights that bring light into the cabins. Hes reading. All of a sudden it went dark. He looked up and he saw fish over his light. You can well imagine there was the strangest ship ever seen. And somehow it left new york on march 6th, 1862, encountering two storms on its way south. It almost sank twice. And somehow she came into Hampton Roads just as the battle is concluding. She is to do her duty. Their Commander Lieutenant john worden basically as he looks across the Chesapeake Bay towards Hampton Roads, he sees all these ships rushing out. He sees flashes of cannon fire in the distance. And hell merely say they rushed out of Hampton Roads like a flock of chickens chased by a fox. The monitor only went 7 knots. In fact, samuel green said he had no sleep for 24 hours trying to keep the ship afloat. So they will go into Hampton Roads. They pull up next to the esteemed crew frigate 42 guns. The minnesota, sister ship of the original merrimack is run aground on the hampton bar and you need to position yourself next to it. I want you all just to think that here comes the monitor, 171 feet in length, 33 foot beam, aint much to it. Its 9 feet off the waters edge. He pulls next to the minnesota, about 45 feet off the waters edge. Its dark. The congress is burning and finally will explode. Its terrible for the union. So worden stands up on the turret, hails the minnesota. The commander of the minnesota is a man known who looks down as what are you . Of course, worden says, im the monitor, im here to protect you. He say i dont know what youre going to do, but if that thing comes back, i will fight my ship and i will sink before surrender. I have to tell you that worden calmly says, i will protect you. I just want to tell you about the monitor. Weve got about 3 feet extra head room in this sketch because everything was compressed within the monitor. The hull, one of the problems is theres an overhang over the hull which well learn about a little later. So the virginia came out of here on march 8th, had to come up like this because of the shoals. Comes here, rams and sinks the cumberland, proving the power of iron over wood. Comes over here, sinks the congress. Actually, she will burn. The minnesota had time to cut the corner of what is known as hampton bar. She is so badly stuck aground. So at night, the virginia came back to a buoy here at sewells point. They had breakfast with two boiled eggs and two jiggers of whiskey to start their day. The monitor will all of a sudden appear. John taylor wooden says no one has ever seen anything like that. In retort, the acting commander will actually say, ericssons battery, look out for some hot fight. So basically for the next see, thats the sinking of the cumberland, very dramatic. There you have it. Its like a pigmy against a giant. The virginias 262 feet in length, she has a draft of 22 feet. The monitor, notice 18inch free board, bad news. The pilot house is out in front. And then theres the turret. The big issue is they have bad communications between the pilot house and the turret because they have this speaking tube. When the monitor almost sank coming down from new york, water had gotten in the speaking tube, so it didnt work. Inside the turret you have these white marks below it to tell you with the captains orders, fire 5 points to starboard. If youre in a spinning turret, you know where that is. If youre using black powder, are those white marks covered up . Can you see out of the turret . Well, you have to look over the tops of the guns and you see a dark object, you fire. Problem is, one of those dark objects you could see would be the pilot house. Its called monitor roulette, okay. In fact, out of 41 shots they only hit the virginia 20 times. That kind of tells you bad fire control. Virginia has the same problems. They dont have the proper ammunition on board. Actually, one of the ships inventors is john mercer brook, and brook will actually have invented not only the virginia with its submerged ends, but also the brook gun, the finest rifle cannon of the civil war. And hes also invented the brook bolt, which is an armor piercing shot. If you ever look at the turret of the monitor, you can see where brook bolt hit the turret at the battle. They dont have it. In fact, during the battle he sees this other officer, a gun commander known as John Randolph eggleston. Hes just standing behind his gun, every so often snapping his finger. What is the meaning of this, sir . Why arent you firing your gun . Eggleston says, well, ill tell you, i find i can do as much damage to that ship by snapping my fingers than firing my guns and prouder is precious, sir. Oh my gosh. Well, this battle will continue for 4 1 2 hours. Im not here to talk about the battle, but what im here to talk about is that at the very end, now these ships almost touch each other. The confederates concoct a plan devised by John Taylor Wood, grandson of president Zachary Taylor that ive got a bunch of volunteers. Were going to jump on the deck of the monitor. Were going to take off our peacoats, cover the pilot house, stuff them down the smokestacks and we got a bunch of chloroform and were going to throw it in the turret and take her by boarding. Well, they just dont do that, because its kind of a crazy plan. Nevertheless, at the very end of the battle, the virginia is starting to rise higher and higher because of all the use of coal and gun powder. Worden decides, im going to run at the fantail of the virginia, because you can see the propeller churning. And im going to ram it and disable the ship. So he builds up speed, heads right to the fantail. But then theres a steering malfunction. The monitor veers off and as a result of that, the virginia, actually John Taylor Wood will fire a 7inch brook shell that hits the pilot house, throws part of it off and blinds worden. And basically the battle was over. Its a drawn battle. The monitor had stopped the virginia from destroying any more wooden ships. Likewise, the virginia had been successful enough so that she blocked the james river during the beginning of the peninsula campaign, which will actually cause an officer to get a dreaded disease in 1862 known as ram fever or merrimack on the brain. In other words, he closes the james river, he refuses to run path the batteries at yorktown. And mcclellen is forced to lay siege. After the battle these people, these are the officers of the monitor. These people are heros, right . In fact william keilar who kinds of looks like john lennon there, he will write that you walked into an eating establishment at ft. Monroe, you didnt have to pay a thing. In fact daniel toffee had to take a message to washington. Daniel toffee was the captains clerk. He went into the Willard Hotel and he wasfeted with the most lavish meal. These guys were heros because they were on the little ship that saved the nation and that made them heros. Now, the big thing is that the monitor will serve during the peninsula campaign. I want to tell you the monitor was not a nice ship to serve on. Number one, shes painted black. Until august. Theyll paint it light gray then. But in july shes painted black. Shes in the james river. The temperature in the engine room is up over 130. In the galley, which is right next to the boilers, its 140 degrees. Mosquitos and flies had gotten into the bilge. In fact, one of them said the mosquitos were as big as hummingbirds. So the monitor anyway, after serving in support of the peninsula campaign, will come down to Hampton Roads. Shes then ordered up to the Washington Navy yard. Now, during this time she goes through a series of officers, including samuel green for one day. For three days its thomas selfridge. Then William Jeffers takes command. He will be a hated commander. In fact, the crew actually write worden, whos recovering from his wound in washington, dear sir, nothings been happy on the monitor since you left, can you please come back . Signed affectionately the monitor boys. Well, the big thing is the monitor, you can see how they modified the pilot house. This was done by alvin someti v. They have a larger telescoping smokestack and blower stacks. See, the problem with the monitor is shes got to bring in air to feed her engines and entire ship. So in heavy seas, shes in serious trouble. She comes down after being refitted at the Washington Navy ya yard. Her new commander is john pine bankhead. He is cousin to John Bankhead mcgruder. Hes foreign in ft. Johnson, south carolina. However, his father is Brigadier General bankhead, a very good friend of winfield scott. Nevertheless, he had replaced this other captain whose name was thomas holdrup stevens. Id be remiss if i dent tell you what a drunk this guy was. In fact, i think my favorite story about him is theyre supposed to move up the appomattox river. And the alligator, the union submarine which is commanded by thomas o. Selfridge jr. One person said he want command a ship with a c because every ship hes on that sinks has a c, the cumberland. The bottom line is that so they will come down to Hampton Roads. They have this great christmas dinn dinner. Its amazing. In fact Jacob Nicholas will write his father, i am becoming a hog, the food is so good. We had chicken stew, we had oysters, turkey, potatoes, sweet and irish. Oh my gosh. And to end it all, we had oranges and apples and nuts and the best fruitcake i ever had. Ive never had good fruitcake. Someone else eating with them, george gear said the cook ruined the meal. It was terrible. Paid. Anyway, on that day, they get orders to go where . Down south. Right . And theyre supposed to let toward bofert, north carolina, because the federal navy at that time was considering an operation against wilmington, north carolina. And so the monitor will be towed south by this ship. This ship is actually command this is the rhode island 236 feet in length, iron hulled, of course, a paddler. And so she is commanded by a man known as Steven Decatur trenchard and trenchard is the most famous rescue at sea individual in the world at the time. He had rescued several crews, but the most important one was in 1856 when during a terrible gale off cape ann, hes in the Coastal Survey ship, the u. S. S. Vixen and a british bark runs aground on rocks about 200 yards from shore. What does that mean . Theyre all going to die. He brings the vixen alongside, saves every crew member and its so impressive that Queen Victoria is going to give trenchard a gold presentation sword. But wait, trenchard cant have it because of the emoluments clause. Sometimes we paid attention to that, and the big thing is that he had to have a special act of congress to have him receive the sword. So, as the monitor, as they tow down, they get hit by a terrible storm, 30foot seas, 50knot winds, rain squalls, snow squalls, sleet squalls. It is terrible condition. Finally, John Bankhead john kind bankhead, has to raise the red lantern of distress and immediately trenchard organized two ships is to come over to the monitor, two long boats and rescue the crew. The big problem is is that rhode island cant komd alongside the monitor. The fear was a wave could pick it up and drop it on the monitor and could be thrown into the side of the rhode island. So she would sink. 53 men onboard the monitor. One man in the turrett gets so upset with the screaming of the ships cat that he grabs the cat, throws her in the barrel and puts it on afterwards but he could still hear the screaming of the cat. Oh, my gosh. You can well imagine seass ceding. They had this ladder. The ladder got washed away. Theyre coming down on basically ropes and, of course, you can well imagine you get on the deck and got to come across to jump into this long boat and have to jump from probably here to oars link. Theres several recorded that people that miss, in fact, daniel moore, it was said that the last thing we heard of him was a gurgle. William keeler is on the deck. A wave picks him up. Throws him to the ocean. Then another wave picks him up and throws him back on the deck. Then he jumps to the long boat. He misses. However, someone picks him up and grabs him. And brings him into the boat. Gunner James Fenwick will be washed off the bow when hes trying to cut the has line. Napoleon stoddard will be able to cut the line so the monitor is the action thats happening is the monitor is being picked up and slapped back down. The hull with the overhang is starting to come apart. Many crew members thinks this ship is going to fall apart before she actually will sink. So, anyway, they have two long boats. They come over. They pick up a bunch of crew members. William keeler said he arrived with not a stitch of clothes on and freezing, you see, you imagine just the conditions. Dr. Grenville weeks will actually in one vote that was already cracked get next to the island. It bumps against the rhode island. He dislocates his arm. Crushes three finger. Hes a righthanded surgeon. Someone said, oh my gosh, your arm, its terrible. He goes, oh, no, an arm is worth a life. The last rowboat will try to come back under the command of rodney brown. However, hes guided toward the red light and all of a sudden a swell brings him up. As he comes down the light is gone and the monitor is no more. This is about 12 30. Youve got about 30 people onboard the rhode island all saying, its 12 15, its 12 30, its 1 00. I tend to go with the ships log of the rhode island which says 12 30. So the monitor is no more. 16 people were lost. 47 people were saved. And it shocks the nation to see that the monitor is no more. Now, when the monitor sank, she sank by her hull, and she turns like that. The turrett falls off. One of the troubles is the turrett sits in a brass ring. It was a spindleof rated turett and its faulty and jacked it up and put oakam under it to try to stop leaks. Well, the toureturturrett falls comes down, hits the bottom and turns over upsidedown. And then the hull comes down and comes down as you can see over part of the turrett. And thats how she is going to be discovered 1974 by dr. Newton and dr. Newton is with the duke Maritime Research institute. They actually pick it up on sonar and they then will actually be able to put these composite pictures. Now, once you find the monitor, thats all fine and dandy. What are you going to do about it . Well, basically, lets see, 26, over 50 years later, all right, they start to make decisions to bring up objects. The first object is going to be this, and this is the famous red lantern, right, that was hung from the stanchions around the turret. They had no way of climbing up to the top over the canvas cover to put it up there. So those pictures that show it there are wrong. And so oddly the last thing seen is the first thing found. So you have to realize that basically, the Mariners Museum was selected to be the depository for all monitor objects. So for the first 10, 15 years, of the project, oh, isnt this great, its down there and we get these objects up, which are pretty fabulous, and all of a sudden, there is the idea we actually can bring parts of the monitor up. And were of course, the owner of the vessel is noaa, and they orchestrated a partnership, you know, they selected the Mariners Museum to be the repository. Then they actually go to the u. S. Navy and we get the cooperation of what is known as dive team 6. And these guys recover now, the monitor is in 235 feet of water. So this means you cant just put on scuba dive and go down there. It is very serious compression diving. And so at first, its more objects coming up, then basically the idea is that we cut away this whole section of the monitor. Now, by cutting away this section of the monitor, means we can bring up all this arm armorplate. We can bring up the propeller. Right . We can bring up the entire engine room. This is the oldest complete 19th century steam engine maritime steam engine in the world. So, you know, we bring up the engine. We bring up the armorplate. Then the idea is lets bring up the turret. Now, the turret has a bunch of problems in bringing her up. Problem number one is that she has she weighs 120 tons. Thats her listed rate. Now, that means she was so heavy you have to realize the monitor was the plate, they have eight layers of one inch ironplate. That is all made in baltimore. Its shipped up to novelty ironworks in Staten Island where they put it together. Right . Because they bend the plate. Put it all together. Then all of a sudden, guess what they figure out, oh, my gosh, we cant pick up the turret to take it over to greenpoint, brooklyn, to put it on the monitor, so they have to take it halfway apart, shift it over, reput the plate on. You have to realize the monitor is built in just over 100 days and there are over 30 manufacturers part of the construction of the monitor. This is an Assembly Line production the likes of which had never been seen because all these parts have to come and theyre all purpose fit. So basically, the turret weighs 120 tons, then theres probably about 10 tons of concretion. Then you have 2 11inch guns at 8,000 pounds each. So the lift component is 150 tons or more. Now, that is complex. So, basically, we have to figure out how to bring it up. So the divers, we build a frame. Then we build what is called the spider. Oh. Gosh. And the spider is designed by nasa, right, and it is fabicrated by the Newport News Shipbuilding which is right dune t down the street from the Mariners Museum, so the first time out there they got to fit this underneath the turret. The turret has to be jacked up on the bottom and have this platform placed under her. Remember, shes upsidedown. Then we have to bring this, these arms go out like this. Now, remember, youre doing this in 235 feet of water. How many people have been off of Cape Hatteras before . Well, is it happy water . No. I had to go out there one time and they said you better take your dramonine. I saled all over the place. At the last moment, i said, they probably know what theyre talking about, so thank goodness because its where two currents meet, labrador and the gulf stream. So, anyway, they had to fit that under and they had to have the right weather conditions to bring this thing up and it was an amazing sight to see. And so once you get it up, what are you going to do with it, right . And the big problem, you have several different materials that are on the monitor. Just the 11inch dogrims, themselves, they are castiron which has a different property of dissolution when its under saltwater so it graph tizs. It looks like its all there but actually its not all there. So this has to go in a tank that has a solution and electric current, so, basically, this is a reconstruction of what we found on the monitor of the worthington pump. The worthington pumps Henry Worthington was one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers of the 19th century, and he invented these pumps. Well, the pumps are down in the engine rooms. They also have an andrews pump which throws a stream of water as wide as a man, one could say. So lets just be on the monitor when on december 30th, you know, the timeline kind of goes noon, we see storms in the distance. 4 00, a swell, but the waters just breaking around the turret. Everything looks happy. 5 00, lets have dinner. 7 00, storm hits. 8 30, oh, my gosh, the water is gaining. 9 30, we cut the line, drop our anchor. 10 00, we got our distress signals up. The rhode island doesnt see it at first, and then between 10 30 and 12 30 is where the rescue operation took place. Now, they knew at 10 30 they had to get off the monitor. Everything is Steam Powered on the monitor. Right . And so as a result of that, when you hear that pump do its last return, you know that what . The ship is doomed. Right . Now, actually, William Keeler talks about wading down in the ship. He was going to go back and get all these documents because he was pay master. Then he realized the waters at my wastist. I think i better save myself rather than those documents. Thats exactly what he does. So we recover actually, there are two seamen that are on the monit monitor or in the turret and we have come very close to naming them. Now, these two shoes were on the same body, and if you notice, theres a slight theyre different brands of shoes. Right . Notice these guys got a wing tip, this guy doesnt, right . And we find an entire peacoat, which is actually called a pilots coat, that we actually put back its called a pilots coat because its got a pocket up here, okay . That meant it would have been used by an enlisted man excuse me, a warrant officer. Although we think this is on the body of a man known as Jacob Nicholas. Were not we cant be sure because of the dna testing only brought us to two different people for that body. But he had in his pocket a spoon that said, j. N. His father was a tailor. So thats why he had such a fine coat on. So it is odd, in fact, you know, some of the pathos of the monitor was that the Jacob Nicholas writes off christmas, man, i had this great meal. Talks about getting fat. Talks about the great fruitcake. Then he say, we just got orders south. Some of the old salts are worried about going around Cape Hatteras, but i think well be okay. Well, Jacob Nicholas someone of the 16 men that go down on the monitor. And you have to divide them all up because you can count where some of them missed getting in the long boat. Get washed off the deck. One man, samuel lewis augie, he just joined the navy 30 days before. He actually had never been to sea before. So hes down in his cabin seasick as can be. They go actually frank butts goes, you have is to get out of here, were abandoning ship. Lewis say, look, i am so sick im going to die, im going to die here, anyway, leave me alone. So they did. So the big thing is is that Jacob Nicholas will go down, his sister writes. Now, john pine bankhead is so sick that the reply letters are all going to come from dr. Grennville weeks and basically, he gets this letter and hell write back. Your brother did his duty well till the very end, but im too unwell to dictate much more this note. Remember, he had his arm dislocated. It doesnt work anymore. Im too unwell to dictate more than this brief note. Your brother did his duty well till the very end and he is gone, i believing to a better place where storms do not come. Thank you. [ applause ] haza. Haza. Is that the right timing . Thats great. Well have a few minutes for questions. If you have a question, though, if youd come down to the microphone ask that. Anyone for a question . Wow. Wow. I guess i told the story. Yeah, you covered it, john. Yeah. It was very complex, these objects. We have a Conservation Team of ten people, and each one has little specialists. You know, specialties. Like cloth and wood and, of course, iron, and actually, we have her, you know, the story of the black cat, right, we just hired a person from the queen anns revenge project and he is developing a machine to go down the barrel, right, and remove the concretion and the bets are on whether lieutenant whiskers, the cat, is up the barrel or not, you know. Because if he is, frank butts, all these stories he tell, will be true. Now, we get stories off the monitor that nobody else says other than frank butt strks. So think its very, very interesting and its a fabulous story. This is a story that we could tell for all day because of just how the ship worked. Ericksons foley became the little ship that saved the nation. Really, tv nit was not a welldesigned warship. It couldnt go to sea. Instead of 360 range of firing, it only had about 200. The bad communications. You cant see out of the turret. Theyll make a lot of modifications that exist at first in the passaic class which will be constructed. And actually word, commander of the monitor, will take command of the montauk and does a bunch of studies about its operations. But, still, the ship just, you can build them up in the north, the trouble is they got to take them to ports in the south and when theyre in to get there, you got to go to sea. Yes . Question here. Im david from charlotte. Thank you for speaking with us this morning. Wonderful talk. How much longer will the turret be in solution, and how do you know how long it needs to be there, and will you live to see the project finish . Than, if i live as long as that barge, i will. [ applause ] so that means 30 years. No, the the guns were estimated will be theyll be ready in about three to four years. Now, the trouble with the guns is that the carriages, alone, have oak, brass, bronze, cast iron, and wroughtiron. So each we had to actually weve taken one apart and are conserving each one of those materials separately. Then we got to put it back together. However, when we put it on display, the carriage is going to be here and were going to have to elevate the gun over it because the carriage can no longer support, you know, 8,000 pounds. And really, we think the dogrims probably weigh under 8 tons now because of gravetation. So the turret, the trouble is that the salts got all down between the eight layers of oneinch iron plate. So weve had to take the mantleettes off, take everything out of there. This summer were picking the turret up and turning it rightsirigh rightside up, right, because its resting on the roof. And the roof isnt supposed to take 120 tons. So were going to spin it you know, i cant wait to see this happen. Well spin it and put it back down so that we can take off the roof. The roof is wroughtiron. The plates are wroughtiron. So as a result of that, well be able to, you know, kind of move the project forward a little more quickly. The first idea was to take the turret apart plate by plate, and we probably could have finished it in about, you know, ten years, but the trouble is, you take it all apart and, you know, the ship the turret wasnt perfectly round, right, and so you take it apart and its got gun dents in it. I mean, i could show you where a nineinch dogrim hit, a seveninch brookgun, a shell. They all leave a different type of impact on the turret. So if you took the turret plates apart, youd have a it would be difficult to put them all back together properly. And so we decided to maintain the integrity of the turret, itself. So thats why its going to take a little longer. Its drawn out the salts. Im not a conservator so i cant tell you how theyre making their decisions because they test the water and they hum and haw, and, you know, drain it, put some more stuff in. And when you go see the turret, you can see all the salt residue around its conservation tank, on all the wires that are sending the electrical current through it. So its pretty fascinating. If not any other questions, i just want to leave you with what gershan Jacques Henry van bront and other great naval heroes said, that we will always sink before surrender. Thank you. [ applause ] this week on American History tv, author and historian Gary Gallagher analyzes the differences among the three major civil war theaters. Heres a preview. Evidence abounds on how people on both sides thought about the eastern theater. Confederate focused on lee and his army because lee and his army supplied almost all the good news they got. By the battlefield at the end of 1863 by the latest, lee and his army functioned much as washington and the Continental Army had during the american revolution, as the most Important National institution. The one to which confederate civilians looked to gauge their chances for success in their effort to establish their slaveholding republic. Its also the army to which people in the loyal states worked as the primary impediment to crushing the rebellion. Lincoln addressed the attitude in europe when he famously splendid record of success in the west, included the capture of new orleans and the capture of nashville and the capture of memphis, all that Great Success in the west seemed to count for little as far as the europeans were concerned. It seems unreasonable, the president complained to a french diplomat, that a series of successes extended through half a year and clearing more than 100,000 square miles of country should help us so little while a single half defeat should hurt us so much. That half defeat being mclell mclellans ig do min yous performance at the seven days. Tune in friday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern to learn more about major civil war theaters with historian Gary Gallagher. Youre watching American History tv, only on cspan3. Jake wynn is director of interpretation at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office museum in washington, d. C. Next, he talks about the life of clara barton whose work as a field nurse during the civil war earned her the nickname, angel of the battlefield. Mr. Wynn also discusses bartons inspiration for creating the missing Soldiers Office as a way to help families locate their loved ones whod gone missing in service during the war. This onehour talk was part of a d daylong seminar cohosted by Longwood University in farmville, virginia, and appomattox courthouse National Historical park. Our second presentation this morning is by jake wynn, and wynn jake is director of interpretation at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office museum. Its a place ive wanted to go to since i read about it. Also t
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