Great American shipwrecks!

A ship becomes interesting the minute it sinks.
Shipwrecks have been called "time capsules of civilization" and maybe that is one reason for their fascination for us. Also each has its story that "freezes" in time as the vessel starts to head under the waves. I think that's a big reason why we love these wrecks. A sunken ship is a drama suspended. The trauma preserves it forever -- in our imaginations, if not in Davy Jones's locker. (Most wrecks never make it intact to the ocean bottom.)

This lens will compile a top ten list of fascinating shipwreck discoveries that touch on our country's story in some way. If you wish to suggest a candidate to the list or have a recommendation for good shipwreck hunting (in cyberspace, on bookshelves, at museums etc.) please let me hear from you! Let's connect some dots on the map and the historical time-line. Shipwrecks are a fun way to look at history!

Why do I care? I'm not a marine archeologist, historian, diver or treasure hunter.

I'm a journalist and a children's book illustrator and author. I've been fascinated with shipwrecks ever since I was 11, when my family lived on an island in southeast Alaska. The sea was a big part of the life around us. It was like this immense, interesting relative (a great aunt, maybe?)who was always showing us new things. The tides were forever leaving surprises -- from piles of marvelously shaped driftwood to old abandoned barges the size of a house. My brothers and I tried to reciprocate by sending out poignant little messages in bottles. I wonder if any were read.

From there it was just a hop to being interested in shipwreck stories.

Many years later, I wrote and illustrated a book for young people about a shipwreck - "La Belle". The resourceful Texas Historical Commission found the 300 year old "Belle" in a Texas coastal bay 12 years ago and recovered it. You can read more about it below and see links.

You can also download my award-winning book "Raising La Belle" for free by clicking http://www.shipwreck-book.weebly.com

So on with the shipwrecks! We'll start with three great ones.

The "H.L. Hunley" was a submarine of the American Civil War, a confederate vessel manned by nine men. She is said to be the first sub in history to sink an enemy vessel.

And like a honey bee dies after stinging, the "Hunley" perished within a few minutes of its 'kill.'

In February of 1864, this strange steel craft operated by eight men manually turning a propeller crank, rammed the underside of a Union warship, the "USS Housatonic" and planted a 135 lb torpedo on her hull.

There was an explosion. The warship burned for three minutes then plunged below the the frigid waves off the South Carolina coast. Five Union sailors died.

The "Hunley" -- having managed to get a safe distance away before the detonation -- surfaced long enough to signal Confederate spotters about the hit. Then she submerged and never came up again!

Shipwreck hunters searched in vain around Charleston Harbor for the "Hunley." P.T. Barnum even offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who found the MIA sub.

In 1995 Clive Cussler and his organization NUMA located the ship -- all in one piece and remarkably well-preserved on the Atlantic floor. She was brought up in the summer of 2000

Today the South Carolina "Hunley" Commission and a non-profit private group "Friends of the Hunley" work in tandem to carefully investigate, conserve and preserve the sub, preparing her for public display.

http://www.hunley.org/
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-7b.htm
http://www.charlestonillustrated.com/hunley/
http://www.awod.com/cwchas/hunley.html

Blackbeard, aka Edward Teach was an English pirate operating in the Caribbean(and a ruthless one), but his ship the "Queen Anne's Revenge" ran aground at Beaufort Inlet in the colony of North Carolina.

This was after a wild spree in which the "Queen Anne's Revenge" and three more pirate sloops blockaded Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. They were robbing ships attempting to leave the harbor. The pirates even kidnapped some prominent Charleston residents and held them for a ransom (a chest of medicine and medical supplies, which they got.) A few months after the blockade and losing the "Queen Anne's Revenge", Blackbeard was killed in hand-to-hand combat on the deck of another ship in another North Carolina inlet. Colonial sailors stuck Teach's severed head on their bowsprit -- and collected their reward for it from the governor

Divers for a Beaufort-based shipwreck exploration company, Intersal Inc. stumbled on the underwater cannon-strewn wreck of "Queen Anne's Revenge" while looking for other shipwrecks in Beaufort Inlet. The company teamed with North Carolina's Department of Culture Resources to assess the site, which boasts a lower hull, anchors, arms and ammunition and cargo with personal possessions. Since the project began in 1996 more than 2,000 artifacts have been conserved. Thousands more wait for cleaning and treatment in the lab.

If the wreck does turn out to be the "Queen Anne's Revenge" (and the consensus is that it is!), researchers have a great inside track to understanding life on an 18th century pirate ship.

http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/QAR/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/maritime/Blackbeard/default.htm

Long rumored to be in Matagorda Bay, Texas, the ship of French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was found by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) in 1995. The first artifact pulled up by crane clinched the identification: A seven foot long, 800 lb. cannon with a date, crests and other markings tying it to the court of King Louis XIV.

The "Belle" was one of four ships La Salle brought with him to the New World in his gambit to reach the mouth of the Mississippi River by sea. Two ships perished and one returned to France after La Salle made anchor on the Texas coast. (Yes, he had overshot the Mississippi River by more than 300 miles). It left "La Belle" the sole remaining ship of La Salle's Texas settlement, Fort Saint Louis - until a severe storm carried her across the bay and she ran aground off Matagorda Peninsula. This mishap marooned and basically doomed the little pioneer village. There were a few survivors however, including seven who walked and canoed their way to Montreal!

The THC's excavation of the "Belle" lasted from the summer of 1996 through the winter of 1997 and made headlines around the world. The cofferdam construction, a first for a shipwreck excavation in the U.S. drew lots of attention and so did the discovery of a human skeleton in the bow's hold.

The THC entrusted Texas A&M University with the conservation of the nearly one million artifacts and the ship's hull.

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/belle/
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/napcrl.htm
http://www.thestoryoftexas.com/education/Labelle/labelle.html
http://thelasalleshipwreck.com