Article 17

(July 21, 2002 - Cherbourg, France) American archaeologists and personnel from the Naval Surface Warfare Center and the Naval Historical Center have completed a remote operated vehicle (ROV) survey of the remains of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama. In spite of bad weather and rough seas in the English Channel, the team has collected ten hours of high resolution videotape and almost 2,000 digital images of the wreck site. The images and video will be used to assemble a mosaic of the exposed wreck structure and support development of a computer based model of the vessel remains.

During the survey, archaeologists located and identified the last missing piece of the CSS Alabama's ordnance. The eighth cannon was a Blakely Pattern 32-pounder purchased by Confederate agent James D. Bulloch from the Liverpool firm of Fawcett, Preston and Company. The cannon lies near the bow under collapsed remains of the Alabama's hull. A number of round shot have also been located in the wreckage amidships. Subsequent analysis will help determine if the shot were for the guns of the Alabama or were fired into the hull by the USS Kearsearge during the famous 19 June 1864 battle off Cherbourg.

More than a dozen artifacts recovered from the CSS Alabama during diving operations in June have been cataloged and packed for shipment to the United States. The collection, including the Alabama's foremast bell, fragments of several small arms, a 1,500 pound riding bitt, and a number of deck fittings will be sent to conservation facilities in Charleston, South Carolina where the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley is being preserved. Once conservation and analysis has been completed many of the items will be put on display in museum exhibits at the Washington Navy Yard and in Mobile, Alabama.

Investigation of the CSS Alabama is sponsored by the CSS Alabama Association, a Mobile, Alabama based Not-for-Profit organization headed by Robert Edington. Much of the funding for the 2002 investigation was provided by the Department of Defense Legacy Program. Field research was organized and directed by personnel from the Institute for International Maritime Research in Washington, North Carolina.