Phase I – May 6

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Another Fine Day At Sea

Saturday, May 6, 2000 – Today’s participants:

• Team 1 – Terrence Tysall
  
• Team 1 – Conrad Pfeifer
  
• Team 1 – Kyle Creamer
  
• Team 1 – Chad Roberts
  
• Team 1 – Shawn Douthat
  
• Team 1 – Gary Byrd (ECU)
  
• Team 2 – Pete Goutmann
  
• Team 2 – Carl Saieva
  
• Team 2 – Tane Casserley (ECU)
  
• Team 2 – Frank Cantelas (ECU)
  
• Support – Grant Graves
  
• Support – John Barone
  
• Support – Clyde Martin
  
• Standby diver – Steve Sellers (ECU)
  
• Chase boat support – Ken Schneider
  
• Chase boat/Chamber operator – Glenn Taylor (NURC)
  
• Dive Supervisor/DMT – Doug Kesling (NURC)
  
• Project Director and chief archeologist – John Broadwater (MNMS)
  
• Monitor historian – Jeff Johnston (MNMS)
  
• Captain, R/V Cape Fear – Dan Aspenleiter (UNCW)
  
• The Mate – J.D. (UNCW)
  

This day was scheduled for set up of the air dredge, more measurements, surveying the aft area looking for hull plate seams and clearing fouling around the engine area for the next phase. Congratulations to Carl Saieva, who made his first dive to the Monitor! The seas were two to three feet, the water temperature at the surface was about 72 degrees and there appeared to be a little less than one knot of current when we arrived on site. We again deployed the teams in a staggered set, five minutes apart with five minutes difference in bottom times.

On the bottom, the visibility was about 50 feet and the temperature was near 64 degrees. All the divers reported a successful dive. Because of the current, the dive teams split into two groups during decompression, one team deploying a lift bag the other staying on the breakaway line. The surface crew deployed support two support divers on each group, and the last divers were recovered at about two hours after intial deployment.

We will continue to dive each day that the weather allows us . . . so check with us tomorrow!