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 [...]

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 [...]

Cast iron, like steel and wrought iron, is an alloy consisting primarily of iron and carbon but has a carbon content usually in the range of 2- 4%, which appears as flakes of graphite intermixed within the material. Commonly, when cast iron is submerged in a marine environment, the iron component corrodes away, leaving behind [...]

   This oil cup was discovered in 2001 in a mass of concretion withother various tools. These tools are most likely the spilled contents of a tool box and included different sized hammer heads, a small oil can, a lead ingot, and glass from a lantern. The mass was concreted to a large copper alloy [...]

This object was recovered in 2001 from the Monitor’s wreck site. Since its recovery, there has been much speculation as to the function of the artifact. It has been suggested that this object served as some kind of valve, possibly within a radiator-like system. It is also thought that it may be a component of [...]

Recently we did some work on Monitor’s twin vibrating side-lever steam engine (seen here submerged in its treatment tank). This engine is almost the size of my kitchen. Made mostly of cast and wrought iron it weighs approximately 30 tons. In order to keep it submerged in treatment solution this 40,000 gallon tank (the square [...]

Hey folks, Josiah here.  I’m relatively new to the Monitor Conservation Project, on a yearlong fellowship to help with all of the work to be done here and to learn about marine archaeological conservation as I go along. One of the most interesting things that I am learning from working here is the logistics of [...]