I am p. Carmichael. Its my pleasure to welcome laura lawfer orr. Laura is a grad wit of penn state university. During her summer she spent time as a seasonal historian at gettysburg park. She wen on to usc greens burrough where she and i spent some timing to. I was her mentor for a year before i moved on. Laura completed her masters and shes had a career in the field of public history. Her first job was at strike that ford hall, the birthplace of robert e. Lee. Initially she was a Deputy Director at the naval museum. Shes been there since 2010. She works as an educator there and does special events. Shes also worked at fort monroe museum. Today, she will be speaking to us about civil warship wrecks, which is very unusual. In my seven years here i dont think weve done anything that han been on land, havent done any Naval Operations at all. Shell be talking about the ship wrecks of uc c comer land and usa florida. Before she comes on stage, note that laura and her husband, tim orr have just recently posted a book. The title of that book is never call me a hero, a legendary pilot remembers the battle of midway. Let me introduce laura lawfer orr. Good afternoon, how is everybody . Good . Stay awake after lunch. While i worked for the United States navy at the Museum Everything you hear to do is my opinion. I have to star off with that disclosure. I think youll see why as we go through this talk today. One of the thing that were going to focus on is Civil War Battlefields in a different way than you usually do. Were losing the fight to preserve some Civil War Battlefields. You might not know it, especially here in gettysburg where over 6,000 acres have been saved. On an important front, civil war press vacation is unfortunately failing. Navy wrecks have been plundered, abused by unscrupulous individuals who see jurn water acts as salvage, adderall lick piles, sea for seizure. This shatters all the u. S. Navals around the world, the final resting place for u. S. Sailors. The wrecks sit underpretexted. And there are victims of divers and plunderers who seeked to take pieces of those wrecks for themselves. Of course many navy wrecks are hard to reach. They sit on the battle of oceans you need special dive equipment to get to them. Civil war wrecks are vulnerable because they sank in shallow waters, where deep see equipment isnt necessary. The story id like to tell is about the uss comer lon and the c s s florida. I think the time in the water sunken is interesting by the time of flow. I hope by the i know of this youll appreciate the flights of civil war wrecks in the area. Since the end of the civil war, the u. S. Navy has claimed and held official ownership of beau wrecks. Over the passage of times our past fleets have lacked the resources to protect these gave yards. F centuries men included this ships under the guise of fishing. The story of uss comer land and c s s florida is the story of a failed preservation effort. In short. Plunder of the wrecks were allowed by the organization and entrusted to their care, the us navy. Before i tell this sad story let me introduce you to these ships. Its logical to begin with the u. S. Comer land. The ship sanked by the uss virginia. It was one of the finest vessels in the fleet. Launched in may 1842, the three masted 170 foot fur long served in the navy. Served as the flag ship of the u. S. Navy home squad rant during the mexico american war. Workers converted it into a sloop of war by cutting down a deck and refitting the ships arm mayment. After the ships refitting for several years cruise off the shore slave trade. By the time the civil war began in 1861, cumberland boasted 22 nineinch smooth board and two pivot guns one in the bow and one in the stern of the ship. These monster guns weighed 2,500 pounds each. At the time some of the largest artillery in the world. At the beginning of the civil war, cumberland in portsmith, virginia. The ship was towed to safety when they took over the shipyard. In several minor actions in Hampton Roads and captured a small number of ships in the harbor. Additionally, cumberland was part of the force that captured the forts at cape hatteras. On march 8th, 1862, when duelling the converted iron clad css virginia. For many months the men of cumberland when merrymic was burned at the beginning of the war. All that training did nothing to help them. That fateful morning, the confederate iron clad responded with a shot that burst through the star side killing nine marines right off the bat. The second shell from virginia took out an entire gun crew except for the powder boy. The iron clad maintained a position off the union ships bow and they kept up firing at cumberland. As the ship lay helplessly at anchor. Unable tabring its broad side battery to bear against the attacker and in the wind and tide. Virginia moved away from the victims bow. The steam directly for cumberland piercing the hole below the berth deck with the deadly ram on the front of the virginia. For several moments, the iron clad could not extricate itself. As cumberland began to sink, it appeared that the two vessels might sink together. Fortunately for the confederates, the ram broke off and freed the virginia. But in so doing, its actions exposed the ship to the cumberlands broad side. The union ship was doomed. All aboard knew it. Amazingly, no uninjured gunners left their stations. They realized they had an opportunity to retaliate. Despite their devastating losses, the Union Sailors intensified their efforts. The dead were thrown to the port side and the wounded carried below. The remaining gun crews fired three broad sides, but none of them pierced the iron clads armor. At this point, someone on the virginia yelled over to the cumberlands Commanding Officer to lieutenant George Morris asking if cumberland would surrender. Morris replied, never. We will sink with our colors flying. Finally around 3 30 that afternoon, cumberlands bow submerged. Morris gave the order to abandon ship. Water poured through the breach opened by virginias ram. Causing the warship to lurch forward and the ship plunged bow first to the bottom of the river carrying 121 men down with her. In the aftermath, cumberland became famous. Most importantly, the ship had snapped off virginias ram, weakening the ship. Enabling uss monitor kae whic came in the next day and eventually drive its back to its birth. There two months later the virginia was intentionally destroyed by confederate forces. Throughout the rest of the civil war, u. S. Soldiers and sailors routinely visited the site of cumberland. Easily accessible by its mast sticking out of the water. Sa paid homage to the dead. Recognizing that section of the james river as hallowed ground. Two years and eight months later, another important warship joined cumberland on the bottom of the james river. The confederate css florida. First of the foreign built raiders. Conducted in a liverpool ship pool and try to perway union ageag agents. Using a british boat, the vessel was designed for speed and maneuverability and operate under sail and steam. On march 22, 1862, went to sea and sailed to the bahamas where a Navy Captain John maffitt assumed command. Meanwhile, his crew loaded ammunition and a battery of guns on the ship. As a raider, florida was incredibly successful. During its very first cruise, it captured 25 merchant ships, including the jacob bell and a ship called the unida. The cargo values were at 1. 5 million and 1 million. This is civil war money. Think of how much more that would be today. A huge capture for florida. Three captured vessel with prize crews and they became satellites of the florida and accounted for 22 ship seizures. After an extended layover in france, they captured 13 more merchants ships in 1864. That year the New York Times printed an editorial accusing the navy a lack of diligence. The articles author demanded action. Without calling him out by name he blamed u. S. Secretary gideon welles. He believed that welles hadnt sent enough ships out to try to catch raiders like the florida. Floridas career ended in october 1864. But it was rammed and hijacked. They were in the neutral brazilian port. The captain spotted the raider there who was anchored in port under the cover of darkness he ordered the ship rammed and sunk. When the ramming failed, he decided to seize the ship and tow it out of port and take it back to hamten roads. The union crews towed the confederate vessel back to the United States. They anchored it off newport news, virginia. There the ship sank under mysterious circumstances. The morning of november 28, 1864. Although a u. S. Government investigation concluded that the loss of the vessel was because of mechanical failures, specifically blaming leakage and pump failure because of the ramming, most likely the crew of uss deliberately scuttled the ship so the navy wouldnt have to be put in the awkward position of returning it to brazil. After all, floridas abduction from a neutral port had created a bit of an international dispute. The navy had been required to apologize publicly for the incident. Years later, floridas captain john maffitt reported in a conversation with admiral dixon porter. Porter admitted to giving the order to sink the ship which he called the rebel craft. In short, hamten roads was the famous resting place. One union and one confederate. It didnt take long for questions to arise about their preservation. After the battle of Hampton Roads, the federal government experienced interest in raising the sunken remains of uss cumberland. Ownership of the wreck was never in dispute during the war. The territorial clause of the u. S. Constitution made it clear that all u. S. Naval wrecks remained property of the navy. Didnt matter if that wreck was on the bottom of the trench or had run aground at cape may. If it once belonged to the navy, it always belonged to the navy. Immediately after the battle of Hampton Roads, the navy expressed interest in bringing up cumberland and seeing if it could be reused. In may, 1862, secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles hired loreven baits to conduct a preliminary survey of the wreck. And his report, which was the earliest account of conditions on the sunken warship was not optimistic at all. He wrote, the comberland lies in 66 feet of water. Deeply embedded in the mud. Heeled to an angle of 45 degrees. The water is very thick. And with some difficulty, we could get a be. Everything appears in confusion down there. Bates concluded the damage was too extensive to justify the cost of raising it. However, the u. S. Navy continued to find ways to recover reusable property, such as loose canon barrels that they rexwruz used. For the next decade they sold the rights to recovery to salvage firms. This creates issues in later years because in the, you know, 19th century they sell salvage rights and in the 20th century comes up as a question from some divers im going to talk about in a little while. Although the u. S. Government received 8,000 for the rights to dive on the ship, nothing less than a congressional act can remove a ship from the ownership of the u. S. Government. Even a philadelphia enquirer article noted that the navy would retain all rights to the ship, including everything of both military and historic value. The article reminded potential divers that nothing they found on the ship was theirs stating bidders for this contact will take into consideration that the government requires that whatever may be onboard her whether public or private property will be delivered to the navy yard in virginia. However, such restrictions about artifacts did not deter daring divers. More than anything, the government hired solvers wanted to retrieve the safe which contained a minimum of 40,000 in gold species. What ship carries gold species on it, who knows. The safe turned out to be something of a hoax. In 1875 a detroit Salvage Company claimed to find the safe and found no gold in it. George west was a newsport news resident and wrote memoirs that talked about the salvage activities in the post civil war eras. No one ever knew what was done with the safe. It was never reported that any gold was taken from it. Nevertheless, as years passed, divers continued to believe that a mysterious yankee treasure lay in the bottom of the james river. During the depression of the 1870s, diving on cumberland became a get rich quick scheme. Salvage diving was not easy. A host of dangers surrounded anyone who attempted the 60foot dive. A german salvage diver had a plan to reach the supposed safe by putting dynamite under the stern of the wreck and blowing a hole into the cabin. Today we can only marvel at his daring and what most of us would probably call stupidity, as well. He had handle live explosives in murky water without even a portable underwater lamp. They didnt have underwater lamps at this time. Risking mechanical failure with his crude and cumbersome breathing apparatus. Reported that the german diver was brought up unconscious several times. He observed thee was splendid looking fellow and he reduced rapidly and did not live long. Meanwhile, as divers went to work blowing apart cumberland, the u. S. Navy expressed equal interest in florida. As with cumberland, there was never any doubt who owned css florida. At the conclusion of the civil war, all confederate war material reverted to the u. S. Government, specifically to the department of the treasury. When the Government Services administration was created in the 1950s, the organization took hold of the confederate artifacts including the ship wrecks. In modern time, the navy wishes to study any confederate vessel and the navy has to officially request the gsa turn over those ships to the navy one at a time. The navy began diving on css florida after the civil war ended. So the transfer of control from the treasury to the navy occurred shortly before that. So, in any event, although ownership of the wreck was definitely questionable in 1864, by 1865, it was not. Regrettably official reports concerning the progress and extent of postwar salvage operations on florida both government and private are pretty much nonexistent. Only george wests account was stripped by hired divers after the war. Unfortunately, west who witnessed much of this operation declined to elaborate on the nature of these activities. Except to say the florida must have been magnificently built so the state rooms were handsomely decorated. Truly, if they can see the decorations through all the aquatic life, then florida must have sunk in excellent condition. Documentary evidence suggests that all the major salvage efforts concluded within a decade after the end of the war. From that point on, the memory of cumberland and florida quickly failed. Except for brief periods of revived interests in the 1920s and 1930s. Both the union warship and the confederate raider remained out of sight. For the most part, out of mind. The only major recovery occurred in the 1920s when government hired salvage divers recovered cumberlands anchor chain sending it to the museum of the confederacy in richmond. For the next 60 years, no documented activity took place. Thats not to say that no one dove on the ship wrecks. Plundered them for artifacts. In fact, many watermen did just that. The middle decades of the 20th century became something of a hay day. Many owned the technology they needed to dive in these waters. And its important to remember, too, that Historic Preservation in the United States didnt take hold until the 1960s and ship wrecks were not at the top of the list for preservation focus. At the same time, many important artifacts may well have been lost during these decades because of ignorance and outright vandalism. For instance, the ram from css virginia which was lost inside cumberland in 1862 has never been found. Currently, it doesnt show up on any of the sonar readings of cumberland or any of the areas around the ship. So, the question remains, did an enterprising waterman in the 20th century find that significant artifact and bring the ram up . The answer may never be known. Official interest in the wrecks didnt occur again until 1980. So many years have passed but the wrecks actually had to be relocated. Still, the navy expressed no interest in underwriting a preservationest campaign, assuming that locating the wrecks would only embolden plunderers. With the navy deadlocked on the issue Clyde Cussler led the effort. He served at the chairman of the National Underwater marine agency. A private Nonprofit Organization dedicated to the preservation of maretime heritage. In 1980 he decided to pursue his longstanding interest in the two ships. He believed that both ships told an important story about the Civil War Navy and he also believed that both ships had a number of artifacts on them but should be brought up and preserved. So he hired a washingtonbased researcher and contacted a local historian who calculated the probable locations for the sunken vessels. He entered into a cooperative agreement with the virginia statebased ark Logical Agency which offered to supply divers to search for the two local wreck sites. The one thing that cussler failed to do was make any contact with the owners of the two wrecks, the u. S. Navy. A decision that ultimately set in motion events that led to a bitter rivalry between his group and the navy. The state arkia Logical Group he worked with established a survey area in the lower james river, which according to the research, offered the greatest potential for containing the remains of the sunken ships. Even using all of the Available Technology to detect different anomalies in the water, initially they could not find the wrecks. So, another year went by. Cussler went back and he contract would the joint venturers this time. And the voint Ventures Firm reached out to local watermen. They contacted local watermen who fished in the area you see on your map here in the box. And they tried to obtain the location of the ships or any information about recovery of artifacts from that area. Eventually, they found a man named wilbur riley. Wilbur riley was a veteran clamor of the new york and ja