Researchers to seek long-lost Sub, Alligator

[Mr T.]

Researchers to seek long-lost Alligator

By DENISE WATSON BATTS,
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 5, 2005



The hunt is on for the Alligator. Again.

Beginning Friday, a second search will get under way for the US Navy’s first submarine. The Civil War-era vessel was lost off Cape Hatteras during a fierce storm in 1863.

Researchers looked in the same vicinity last summer for six days but found nothing except a barge. This year’s mission is scheduled for four days and will cover a smaller piece of ocean, about 30 miles off the coast. The effort is being undertaken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with the Navy’s Office of Naval Research.

Mike Overfield, chief scientist for the project, did a sona r scan on a portion of the area in May and found 80 targets to investigate further, 50 of which he has since dismissed as being geologic. He and his crew will focus on the remaining 30 and use a metal-detecting magnetometer and a remote-controlled vehicle in the search.

Overfield said the chances are slim that they will find the Alligator, but “I’m always optimistic.’’

The effort, he said, goes beyond discovering a long-lost vessel. Companies are offering equipment for the mission to test their technology. Teachers and students have been invited and will help post daily logs on the Web, with the hope that the search will pique children’s interest in science and oceanography. “We’re excited about that,’’ Overfield said.

The Alligator was launched in 1862 and sent to Hampton Roads for duty. With dark green paint and a line of oars protruding from its flanks, the sub earned its name. It was revolutionary; it had an air purification system and air lock that allowed divers to exit the sub to place explosives on enemy ships or obstacles.

But the James and Appomattox rivers were too shallow to hide the sub. The Alligator was retooled with a hand-cranked propeller for greater speed and sent to help in the Union attack on Charleston, S.C.

While being towed, however, the Alligator was cut loose during a storm. It was almost forgotten until 2002, when an admiral’s wife read about it in a history magazine and became curious, and interested others, in finding the sub.

Those interested can follow the mission at www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/alligator .