During chase boat launch, maneuvering from the aft
Bob Zeller and Terrence Tysall
Project Participants and Sponsors
Monitor National Marine Sancuary
Mariners’ Museum Monitor Center
The Mariners’ Museum
National Undersea Research Center
Maritime Studies Program, East Carolina University
R/V Cape Fear
Coast Guard Stations Hatteras Inlet and Ocracoke
Sartek Industries
Ocean Technology Systems
Maxtec, Inc.
Aqua Productions
Harvey’s Dive Suits
Wednesday, August 9, 2000 – Today’s participants:
- Team 1 – Kyle Creamer
- Team 1 – Terrence Tysall
- Team 2 – Andrew Donn
- Team 2 – Grant Graves
- Team 3 – Clyde Martin
- Team 3 – John Barone
- Support – Gary Byrd (ECU)
- Support – Bill Gambrill
- Standby Diver – Tane Casserley (ECU)
- Chase Boat Support – Tamara Ebert
- Diving Supervisor – Doug Kesling (NURC)
- DMT – Ken Johns (NURC)
- Photographer – Cindy Creamer
- Project Director and Chief Archeologist – Dr. John Broadwater
- MNMS Historian – Jeff Johnston
- Captain, R/V Cape Fear – Dan Aspenleiter
- The Mate – Mike Rodaway
We were joined today by Bob Zeller, an author of several books on the Civil War and writer for Civil War Times Illustrated. He arrived last night, and we entertained each other with tales of the Monitor dives and his books. His books are fascinating because they are filled with stereo (3-D) pictures from the Civil War! Bob would like to write an article about the Monitor and the Cambrian Foundation’s involvement. He will let us know when his article might appear in the magazine.
Yesterday the winds had been sustained 20 knots or higher for over 24 hours and were showing no sign of slacking, so we were blown out. We spent the day taking care of neglected office duties and relaxed a bit before the home stretch. Conditions started looking better this morning. The Captain decided to give it a try, and we headed out at our usual time. When we got to the site, the float ball was underwater again. The Captain estimated the surface current to be about 3 knots. We decided to deploy all the divers in one group with a planned bottom time of 30 minutes.
The teams continued to work in the area around the engine and also began policing the area of our tools, the dredge and cylinders, the tool crate and the safety trimix cylinders. We went ahead and brought all our equipment because the weather does not look promising for tomorrow. However, we will probably give it a try, since it is our last day. Make sure you check it out!
Send questions or comments to the trilobite.
Questions and Comments To the Trilobite
In the past, NOAA has utilized lock out systems (Harbor Branch Sea Link submersibles) to place divers on the Monitor wreck site. Would a commercial saturation system be a viable option for future missions?This is an option worth looking into. Commercial divers would not have the archeological experience or the experience on the Monitor. On the other hand, few of our divers that have these experiences are qualified for commercial systems. Therefore some training would be required for either group. The other issue for this type of operation would be the expense. Large saturation systems could cost as much as $100,000 per day. This, of course, would required substantial fundraising. But, we’ll look into it for you . . .
Hi Tamara!
(Wow – havent called you that in a while) – While diving at Devil’s Lake today we heard you were on the dive team today! Must have been a lot of fun! I found lots of crayfish today… oh the memories! That video camera you guys have looks cool. You think I could borrow it for a couple of years? Keep diving!! 🙂
Best,
LawrenceFor a lifetime member donation, we could talk.