Continued from January 21, 2013, blog entry
As the Monitor sank, William Keeler, assistant paymaster took off layers of clothing to make it easier to swim. He found a rope and slid down the deck when "a huge wave passed over me, tearing me from my footing and bearing me along with it, rolling, tumbling and tossing like the merest speck."
The ship sank at 1:30 AM, December 31, 1862.
The Navy stopped looking for the ship in the 1950s and allowed private divers to take up the cause. In 1973, the ship was discovered upside-down, resting on the turret which had come off. Since then, the propeller, engine and turret along with smaller artifacts have been recovered.
The rest of the ship would not have been able to have been saved and has been left to slowly deteriorate.
Glad They Found It. --Old B-Runner
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