Was the Wreck of Robert Small's Planter Found at Cape Romain?-- Part 2

Bruce Terrell, a maritime archaeologist and historian,  said scientists used old maps and newspaper accounts to identify the general area where the Planter was thought to have been wrecked by a storm in 1876, eleven years after the war ended.

Using a magnetometer, an instrument that can detect metal beneath the ground, they found a number of objects seeming to correspond to the wreck.  The report said more studies  will be needed before the wreck is positively identified.

The Planter, built in 1860, wrecked when the storm came up as it was trying to tow a grounded schooner  to sea at Cape Romain.  In the following days, many items on board were salvaged.

"We're not sure how much was left of the Planter because contemporary accounts indicate it was pretty well stripped down -- all the way to cushions and blankets and doors," Terrell said.  "It looks like the engines and paddlewheels were taken out."

The items buried in the sand could be boilers  because they would have corroded by the salt water and not much good after the Planter sank, Terrell added.

--Old B-Runner

Was Wreck of Robert Smalls' Planter Found Near Cape Romain?-- Part 1

From the November 28, 2015, Fox News "Wreck of Civil War ship commandeered by slave believed found off SC coast" AP.

Researchers say they think they have found  the wreck of the iconic Civil War vessel Planter.  This was the Confederate ammunition ship commandeered by the slave Robert Smalls, who steamed it out of Charleston Harbor and turned it over to the Union Navy.

Archaeologists woyj the National Marine Sanctuary Program said Tuesday that they have found what is believed to be the wreck of thye sidewheel steamer buried under 15 feet of sand just offshore of Cape Romain, northeast of Charleston.

They released a report of their findings on the anniversary of the day in 1862 (May 13) when Smalls took the vessel.

Smalls would return to Charleston a year later to pilot a Union ironclad in an attack on Fort Sumter.  After the war, he served in the South Carolina General Assembly, the U.S. Congress and as a federal customs inspector.

--Old B-Runner

Back to Cape Romain, SC: The Lighthouses

Continued from October 5.  From the Lighthouse Friends site.

The USS George Mangham was ordered to patrol off this point between Charleston and Georgetown, South Carolina.

There are two lighthouses standing guard at Capr Romain.

Funds for the first Cape Romain Lighthouse were made available through a $10,000  appropriationm passed on March 3, 1823.  The first site selected didn't pan out and another was picked.  However, work did not begin until 1826 and with the cost of $17,000 more.

It was constructed on Raccoon Key (also known as Lighthouse Island)  and is a traditional brick conical tower with a height of 65 feet.  It was finished in 1827 and its main function was to warn mariners of some treacherous shoals nine miles southeast of the lighthouse.

However, a weak signal made the light a failure, so a new one was constructed and put into service in 1858.  This one stood  150 feet tall with a first order Frensl lens

Three years after the new tower opened, Fort Sumter was fired upon just a few miles south.  Confederate forces extinguished the light and even destroyed the lens and lantern room to prevent Union forces from using it.

Following the war, it we reequipped and put back into service.

--Old B-Runner

Cape Romain, South Carolina

The USS George Mangham was ordered to patril off Cape Romain.

Cape Romain, South Carolina, is located about half way between Charleston and Georgetown.  It is now part of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, extending 22 miles along the state's coast.  The headquarters  and visitor center is located about 30 minutes by car from Charleston on US-17.

It is the site of two surviving lighthouses, the oldest one was the one John Collins was ordered to inspect.  Bulls Island is a part of it.

As they say, it hosts a plethora of wildlife.

Plethora?  --Old B-Runner