3-D sonar provides new view of Civil War shipwreck
By MICHAEL GRACZYK | Associated Press
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — The remains of the only U.S. Navy ship sunk in the Gulf of Mexico during Civil War combat now can be seen in 3-D sonar images from the Gulf's murky depths, revealing details such as a shell hole that may have been among the ship's fatal wounds.
The high-resolution images of the 210-foot, iron-hulled USS Hatteras are being released this month to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the battle where the ship was lost. Besides the shell hole, they also show previously unknown details like a paddle wheel and the ship's stern and rudder emerging from the shifting undersea sands about 20 miles off the coast of Galveston.
"This vessel is a practically intact time capsule sealed by mud and sand, and what is there will be the things that help bring the crew and ship to life in a way," said Jim Delgado, the project's leader and director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
"You can fly through the wreck, you're getting a view no diver can get," Delgado said.
The Hatteras had sat mostly undisturbed and unnoticed from January 1863 — when a Confederate raider sunk the ship and took most of the crew prisoner — until its discovery in the early 1970s.
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