As mentioned on July 8^th, several unsuccessful attempts in the removal of the wheels led us to plan B:  Disassemble the side plates by removal about 30 bolts… Fortunately, we have not had to remove every single bolt (yet), but by using Ridgid screw extractors we’ve made a great start! Removing only the bolts around the wheels released enough pressure to get us back to plan A (push and pull the wheels out).

Enjoy the following photos from last week’s work.

Photo 1 (left): Pushing the front inboard wheel down with a hydraulic jack. A gap opened between the wood and the iron plate. Photo 2 (right): The wheel finally separated – the 2-inch thick grey part visible on the wheel used to be against the iron plate.

Photo 3: The carriage was elevated on sawhorses to attempt pulling out the wheel. Cleaning around the wheel with various small tools and water helped free the wheel. 

Photo 4: Having cleaned the interstices surrounding the wheel as much as possible, we installed the jack straight under the wheel to pull it.

Photo 5: Pumping up the jack, hoping that the wheel will move down (and not the clamp and its protective rubber padding).

Photo 6: The tension is fairly high… we’ve been working all day on this wheel.

Photo 7: OK, it is working; the wheel is moving down slowly but steadily. Now we tied a strap under it so that Gary’s hands are not the only support under the wheel when it drops free.

Photo 8: Here it is, a magnificent 80-pound piece, 10 inches in diameter and 4 inches thick. This process was repeated three more times for this carriage, resulting in the removal of 320lbs of copper alloy wheels!!!

After many months of work, treatment has been completed on a grouping of four rimfire cartridges recovered from the interior of the turret in 2006 (see blog post from February 18, 2010).

Of the four cartridges, two are relatively complete while the others have fragmented. The image below shows a view of the interior of the cartridge (second from right) in the above image, which revealed a twill textile after it was cleaned. A sample of loose fiber from one of the yarns was removed and identified as cotton after viewing it under the microscope. The textile may have acted as a moisture barrier to keep the powder dry if the cartridge had gotten wet: see passage below.

In the early 1860’s, a wide variety of rimfire cartridges were used with individual types produced for specific weapons. This has lead to speculation that the Monitor’s cartridges could belong to a Ballard carbine, Spencer rifle or carbine, or possibly a Sharps and Hankins’ Navy Rifle. It is important to note, however, that although ammunition was made for individual weapons, some could be fired from different breech loaders.

The information below was taken from a book title “Small Arms and Ammunition in the United States Service, 1776-1865” written by Berkley R. Lewis and published by the Smithsonian.  The letters highlighted in pink are several varieties of Spencer ammunition, the letter (t) belongs to a Ballard carbine “Old Model”, and letters (z, aa, and bb) are from the Sharps and Hankins’ rifle and carbine. 

Based on appearance from this sample set, the example for the Ballard (t) seems to match most closely to the cartridges that we have.

Below is a list of rifles and carbines in Ordnance Memorandum I as being used in 1863 showing the bore, chamber, and ball diameters for specific weapons.  Measurements of the ball diameters from the Monitor’s cartridges are approximately 0.557, 0.552, 0.548, and .554. However, these numbers can’t be considered completely accurate due to some possible corrosion of the lead balls after 140 years under water.    

This is an interesting excerpt of a description of the American rimfire cartridge of the Civil War years from a report on the 1867 Paris Exhibition, which quotes a paper read by Captain O’hea before the Society of Arts, of London: 

The hunt continues…. If anyone has any additional information out there it would be quite helpful!!!!

Here’s a great picture of Monitor‘s skipper John Lorimer Worden in his later years.  Impressive beard for an impressive guy.

Last February, we posted a blog about the manometer found next to the engine and how its scales were made of German silver (the same material that is possibly on the object Will discussed last week- see post of June 29).

Well, since this winter, more work was performed on this device and its treatment came to completion about a month ago.

Below are photos before and after treatment of the object showing how well the metal surface was preserved under the concretions, especially the scales inscriptions.

On the left the temperature scale goes from 102 to 180 degree F and one can read: “W^m Sewell Temperature John Powers Manuf^r New York”.

On the right the pressure gauge goes from 28 to 15 inches of Hg (the atmospheric pressure is about 30 inches). For saturated steam (which was used here), pressure and temperature are related: to each pressure belongs a definite temperature of the water and vice and versa (this relationship is compiled in steam tables). This gauge was indicating the vacuum maintained in the condenser, i.e. the engine’s efficiency. Really neat piece.

As our last blog mentioned, we made several attempts to remove the carriage wheels last week. And the verdict was… very little or “no” success. These wheels are really, REALLY well embedded in their original location.

We decided to move forward with our plans and started removing the side brackets (wrought iron plates) of the carriage. Once removed, the wheels should be free (according to the blueprints). This involves another 30 bolts to extract per side…

This part of the job was originally planned as a second work phase under the “wood parts removal” (and not in the first part under “copper alloys parts removal”). But so it is and we therefore now need to prepare tanks to receive the iron plates and other wooden parts.

In addition to this preparation, we will take a “carriage break” and try catching up on other projects we left on the side this past month. We should be back working on the port carriage at the end of the month.

Cheers- (I like this word…maybe because it sounds like… cheese! Yum)

Among the many small bits and pieces recovered from the Monitor was this odd fitting. It was found inside of the turret. It is made of iron or a high iron alloy but has not rusted to anywhere near the extent of the other iron artifacts from the Monitor.   It also had very little concretion attached to it. It appears to be made of 2 pieces. 1 piece is the majority of the object including rectangular block and sloped fin in the middle. The other piece is a 1/8” thick sheet of metal partially wrapped around the bottom of the first pieces and possibly torn along the edges.

The second piece appears to be a whiter alloy than the first. We have not yet had the chance to conduct x-ray fluorescence analysis to determine the alloy, but both strong rare earth and weak magnets will stick to all parts of the object so it has to have a fair bit of iron in it.  Due to the unusual shape, the crispness of the edges, and the low degree of rusting and concretion we feel that it is likely a modern object that intruded into the site, but we aren’t 100% certain of that. It could be from one of the research submersibles used to investigate the wreck, or a WWII depth charge, or fishing boat that passed overhead. It is probably not from any of the equipment used during the actual recovery process as it did have some concretion attached, indicating that it had spent some time on the bottom. Can anyone out there shed any light on this for us? Have you seen a fitting like this? Do you have something like this on your boat or on any of your tools?

It is about 1-9/16” long x 1-1/4” wide x 1-1/8” high, with a 3/16” diameter hole drilled through the sloped fin.

-Josiah

Much work has been carried out on the object along with several interesting discoveries since the initial blog post about the artifact on March 15, 2010. The best thought at the current time is that the artifact is some kind of swing valve.

After several weeks of the object having gone through electrolytic reduction, the screws holding the valve piece on the interior of the object were carefully removed and the components separated. The fragmented gasket in between the two main sections was also removed. Mechanical and chemical cleaning was also conducted.

View of copper alloy body with components removed.

Upon disassembly of the interior components, the valve that was thought most likely to be composed of rubber is in fact made from leather, possible cow or pig.  To my knowledge this is the first valve/gasket material not made from rubber found on the wreck thus far.

On the surface of the valve, the imprints of the copper components can be readily identified. Also visible across the surface of the object is a random pattern of small holes, which are actually hair follicles!

As for the lower portion of the artifact, upon cleaning the surface, a large amount of lead was identified having been used as solder to adhere the copper piping to either end of the valve. Another interesting discovery with this object is a silvery surface visible under the pink copper and lead, but over the main copper alloy body. This material is possibly nickel silver (also known as German silver) a copper, nickel, zinc alloy.

 More info to come

Last week we were able to remove the other cap square of the carriage along with the nine bolts that were maintaining it. Another significant copper alloy part removed!

See Gary below having almost removed the cap square in the left image and the surface underneath it once removed, on the right.   

Our second goal of the week was to attempt the removal of the last main copper alloy parts, the wheels (see blue print below).

Having gently removed their axels last fall using hydraulic jacks, we were convinced that a little pressure on the wheels would crack the concretion surrounding them and release the pieces… So here is the installation on the starboard forward wheel: 

But… it did not move, not even one millimeter… Even after increasing the pressure on it. Nope, nothing moved. We tried the port forward wheel as well, thinking we might have a better chance on this side, but nothing moved at all either.

So… since giving up is of course not an option, we will try harder this week and will let you know how things are going promptly.

Of the approximately 1600 artifacts recovered from the USS Monitor, 1/4 of them have been conserved.  Many but not all of the 400+ conserved artifacts are now on display in the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners’ Museum.  So what do we do with the artifacts that aren’t currently on display at the museum?  The museum must safely store these artifacts under precise temperature and humidity controls in order to guarantee their long term stability while awaiting exhibition. 

The following pictures show one of the many climate-controlled artifact storage areas at The Mariners’ Museum.  This specific location houses many Monitor artifacts that aren’t currently on display. 

Each artifact is stored in an individual box or container fabricated from archivally stable storage materials such as acid free board, ethafoam, etc.  Note the numerous boxes of various shapes and size.  Many of the large boxes actually contain dozens of smaller boxes. 

Each container is labelled with an artifact accession number and descripition.  Each shelf is also numbered.  This complex numbering system allows museum staff to accurately track the exact location of each artifact in a comprehensive artifact database.  This system greatly reduces the time it takes to phsyically locate a specific artifact for examination, research, or exhibit.

So remember — you are only seeing the tip of the iceberg when you are in the Monitor Center exhibit.  But the best part is that the tip of the iceberg will always be changing due to the large number of unique artifacts recovered from the Monitor.   Each artifact stored in this room is awaiting its chance to be the center of attention at a future date!

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the memorial of one of the brave sailors who was lost when the Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras on December 31st, 1862.  Jacob Nicklis, son of William Nicklis, a prominent tailor in Buffalo, New York had re-enlisted as an ordinary seaman in the US Navy on October 13, 1862 and  joined the Monitor’s crew shortly thereafter.  He is commemorated on the Nicklis-Leonard family obelisk at Forest Lawn cemetery in Buffalo.

During archaeolgical excavation of the Monitor’s turret, a spoon was found engraved with the initials ‘JN’ which was identified as having belonged to Mr. Nicklis.  The spoon has been conserved and is now on display at The USS Montitor Center.  

 Thanks to generous support from the Bronze Door Society of The Mariners’ Museum, a collection of Jacob Nicklis’ letters to his family is also preserved at The Mariners’ Museum. 

Among the letters is one sent by the Monitor’s surgeon G.M. Weeks to Jacob’s sister Antionette Nicklis a few days after the loss of the Monitor and her brother:

‘To Miss Antoinette Nicklis,

            I am too unwell to dictate more than a short sad answer to your note.  Your brother went down with other brave souls, & only a good Providence prevented my accompanying him.  You have my warm Sympathies, & the assurance that yr brother did his duty well, & has I believe gone to a brighter world, where storms do not come’

It was a privilege to visit Jacob Nicklis’ hometown and see his memorial in person at Forest Lawn Cemetery.