Fort Fisher's Beat the Heat Lecture Series 2019-- Part 2

As I said in the previous post, sadly, this series is over for the year, but looking forward to it being resumed next year.  And, don't forget, either January 11 or 18, will be the 155th anniversary of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, which is always a big one.  They have an anniversary re-enactment every year, but every fifth year it is a  big one.

Anyway, recapping this past year's lectures:

JULY 13--  Running the Blockade:  The Technology and the Men of the Lifeline by Chris Fonvielle

JULY 20--  The Federal Point Lighthouses by Becky Sawyer

JULY 27--  Tending to the Soldiers:  Wilmington's Civil War Hospitals by Wade Sokoloski.

AUGUST 3--  Timothy O'Sullivan and the Photographing of Fort Fisher by Harry Taylor

AUGUST 10--  Attempting to Stop Sherman: The Battle of River's Bridge by Jim Steele.

So, How Long Until June 2019?  --Old Secesh

Charles William MacCord-- Part 1: Ericsson's Chief Draftsman

From the Oct. 10, 2010 Dead Confederates blog.  The Monitor's Screw.

Back on October 30, I wrote about this man when I came across his name and what he did in the Stevens Institute student newspaper.

It is surprising, that with over 100 patentable inventions on the USS Monitor that no one in authority bothered to preserve the ship's construction drawings..  The Navy didn't, the Continental Ironworks who built it didn't, nor did the ship's inventor, John Ericsson.

But, these drawings were saved by Charles William MacCord, described as the "cantankerous chief draftsman, of John Ericsson.

MacCord was later on the faculty of the Stevens Institute of Technology when it opened and this is where the drawings are preserved.

Thanks Mr. MacCord

Long-Lost Blockade-Runner Agnes E. Fry Found, Probably-- Part 2: Smokeless Coal and Non-Splashing Paddlewheels

The archaeologists ran a survey out in the area with a magnetometer (like an underwater metal detector) being towed behind the boat and that is when they found the wreck.

A lot of research has been done on the Agnes E. Fry which seems to be the likely name of the shipwreck as the three other blockade-runners known to have been sunk in the area, only the Fry was longer than 200 feet and this one is 225 feet long.  The paddle wheels and engine is missing.

The Fry's engine was one of the topline engines available in 1864 and burned smokeless high grade coal when attempting to run the blockade to avoid detection by Union ships seeing the smoke from the smokestack.  The paddlewheels, one on each side, had paddle wheel blades especially designed to prevent splashing, another way Union ships would detect blockade-runners.

Old B-R'er

New Method for Conserving Artifacts Found?-- Part 2

Currently, in order to stabilize iron objects from the sea, they have to be placed in a chemical bath or electrolysis used to leach out salt.  A lot of this technology came out back in 1962, starting with the recovery of the cargo from the blockade-runner Modern Greece off Fort Fisher, North Carolina.  Right now, this process is also being used on the turret of the USS Monitor.

The new processes experimented on metal shavings and bolts from the Hunley.  It took 18 months using traditional methods to conserve other blocks, but just ten days under subcritical treatment.  The newest reactor holds 40 liters and is now being used to conserve a shell from the Fort Sumter National Monument.

Two years ago, it took six years to conserve two cannons from the CSS Alabama.  Using the subcritical process would have taken just six months.  The next step in the new technology might be to make a chamber big enough to hold the eight-ton cannons from the USS Monitor which are currently being conserved in the traditional way in Virginia.

Quite a Scientific Breakthrough.  --Old B-Runner

New Method for Conserving Artifacts Found? -- Part 1

From the August 11th Charleston West Virginia Gazette-Mail "South Carolina scientists trim years in conserving artifacts" by Bruce Smith, AP.

Clemson University scientists have succeeded in conserving Civil War shot and a ballast block from the Confederate submarine Hunley using a subcritical and supercritical treatment that could revolutionize the way historic artifacts are conserved.  This was just a theory a decade ago.

In the subcritical process, water is put under intense heat and pressure which has unique dissolving characteristics.  The item is put into a reactor vessel and salts that can cause deterioration are quickly removed.

A small supercritical reactor is at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, where the Hunley is being saved.  In the supercritical process, carbon dioxide is subjected to intense heat and pressure to remove moisture and preserve cork from shipwrecks.

I'm not sure what all this is about, but to speed up conservation would be a great thing.  Once we get it, I'm always clamoring to see it right away.

More to Come.  --Old B-R'er