Civil War artifacts gleaned from USS Monitor

A gold ring was one of the artifacts recovered from the turret.

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RELATED USS Monitor Center  at the Mariners' Museum Monitor National Marine Sanctuary  NOAA

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After weeks of digging through more than four feet of silt in the gun turret of the USS Monitor, researchers said Monday they have discovered a variety of artifacts from clothing to cannon parts.

Archaeologists and conservators from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recovered the Civil War ironclad's gun turret last August and took it to the Mariners' Museum for excavation.

"The objects we are recovering, along with their locations within the turret, provide more insight into the sequence of events that occurred the night the Monitor sank," said John Broadwater, manager of NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and director of the turret excavation.

"Over the next few months, we will complete the excavation, then remove the two 11-inch Dahlgren guns and their carriages from within the turret."

The excavation team of NOAA and museum archaeologists, scientists and conservators also recovered the skeletons of two Monitor sailors buried in the silt. The remains, originally found during the recovery expedition, were sent to the Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where scientists hope to identify them.

A silver fork engraved "SAL" may have belonged to Third Assistant Engineer Samuel Augee Lewis, who died aboard the Monitor.

The ironclad Monitor is best known for its March 9, 1862, battle off Hampton Roads, Virginia, with the CSS Virginia, an ironclad built on the hull of the Union sailing ship USS Merrimack. The "clash of the ironclads" ended in a draw.

The Virginia was scuttled when Norfolk, Virginia, fell to Union troops in May of 1862, and the Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, while being towed during a storm on December 31, 1862.

Since excavation efforts began more than two months ago, archaeologists have discovered artifacts that include three silver spoons, a silver fork, two bone or ivory knife handles, fragments of a wool overcoat, a key, coins, a variety of uniform buttons, a hard-rubber Goodyear comb, a gold ring, three shoes, a boot, fragments of a wooden cabinet and cannon implements such as a sponge, rammers, brass and wooden blocks, and coal.

"The artifacts we are finding in the turret have been absolutely amazing," said Wayne Lusardi, conservator of the Mariners' Museum. "We are literally digging through an inverted time capsule from 1862. These artifacts are slowly revealing to us and the world what life was like on one of the most historic naval vessels in this country's history."

Museum director Wayne Lusardi holds a lantern recovered intact from the turret.

The turret is expected to take 12 to 15 years to conserve and prepare for exhibit.

Hundreds of other artifacts have been recovered from the Monitor, beginning in 1977. Large scale recovery efforts, prompted by deterioration of the ship's hull, began in 1998. The vessel's engine, condenser, propeller and propeller shaft are on exhibit in the museum.

The USS Monitor was discovered in 1973, and the area around it was declared the country's first marine sanctuary in 1975. In 1987, the federal government declared the wreck site a national historic landmark and designated the museum as the custodian of the Monitor's artifacts and archives.

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