A team of students from East Carolina University and University of North Carolina-Wilmington were sponsored by the Friends of Fort Fisher (to which I belong) went into the muck of half-century old storage tanks at the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Underwater Archaeology Branch on the Fort Fisher grounds. (Items recovered in 1962, were placed in these tanks at the time with plans to preserve them at a later date as funds became available. The tanks were covered with plywood that eventually disintegrated allowing leaves to settle in the water and proving to be some great preservation in nature's own way.)
They had to pull out, clean, catalog the item and return them to the tanks where they will finally receive modern preservation treatment.
In June of this year there will be a seminar and the labs at the Underwater Archaeology Branch will be open. The labs are usually off limits to the public. (I sure wouldn't mind being there for the seminar and tour.) Plans are also in the works for signage both on the beach and US-421 pointing out the wreck site. In addition, there will be a new spring expedition to the site to examine its present state and properly record it.
I do not believe you can see any part of it above the water. However, several miles north, you can see the upper part of the blockade-runner Beauregard at low tide at Carolina Beach.
More to Come. --Old B-Runner
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