From the September 8th Navy Times "Watery battlefield of Charleston Harbor mapped" by Bruce Smith, AP.
Shipwrecks, obstructions and blockade-runners in Charleston Harbor have been mapped out in a project that took nearly as long as the war itself.
James Spirek and others from the University of South Carolina Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology spent almost $500,000 financed by an American Battlefield Protection grant matched by the institute.'
The map includes the locations of the 29 ships in the Stone Fleet and 13 blockade-runner wrecks.The 1st Stone Fleet's wrecks were found by locating ballast mounds in the main shipping channel. A second group of 13 ships was at another channel, but it wasn't found. Efforts will be made to locate these later this year. The Stone Fleets were attempts by the Union to close Charleston to blockade-runners by sinking obsolete ships (mostly whalers) loaded with stones in Charleston Harbor's shipping channels.
Four sunken ironclads were also found. Three of them are buried under sediment and the 4th, the monitor USS Patapsco is near the main shipping channel.
Most of the wrecks are in areas that are bad for divers with strong currents and black water.
During the war, Confederates ashore could easily see the Union blockaders, who, at the same time could easily see them. Both also cracked each other's signal codes so there wasn't a lot of top secrecy.
These findings will be useful to harbor managers, the US Corps of Engineers and historians. Plans are in the works to increase the depth of the main channel beyond its current 45 feet.
All Civil War Research Is Always Welcome. --Old B-R'er
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