Posted on 11/25/2009 8:00:53 PM PST by SunkenCiv
For years, storms along the Alabama coast have often exposed the wreckage of a sailing ship that locals suspected was a Civil War blockade runner or a Prohibition-era rum runner or various vessels in between. When Tropical Storm Ida struck Nov. 10, the charred wooden hull reappeared on the beach six miles east of Fort Morgan in Baldwin County. The wreck is most likely to be the three-masted schooner Rachel, which ran aground on the peninsula in the first half of the 1900s, according to Mike Bailey, Fort Morgan events coordinator... The Rachel was built by John DeAngelo in Moss Point in 1918... The ship wreckage has reappeared on the beach, usually after storms, for at least 40 years. A Jan. 11, 1970, story in the Press-Register described how an archaeology team from Mobile College, now the University of Mobile, studied the wreckage after it had been uncovered by Hurricane Camille in 1969. At that time, archaeologists suggested that the debris was the Monticello, a two-masted schooner... some aspects of the ship, such as steel cables, indicate that it was built years after the Civil War... There are local legends that describe the ship as a rum runner seeking to smuggle liquor ashore during Prohibition, but Bailey said he did not know of any records to support the theory.
(Excerpt) Read more at gulflive.com ...
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Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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I have an idea. Why don't you guys dig the sucker up and haul it into a shelter where you can examine it at your leisure? I mean, geez. You could get some Porkulus funds, probably.
Probably would require 10 years of permitting before the first shovel full of dirt could be dug away from it.
Maybe Teddy's long lost family yacht.
Dibs on the salvage!
I got shotgun!
Too cool! We were at Ft. Morgan 2 summers ago, touring the historic fort there - just amazing, swimming with the kids, caught a bull shark - it was a blast. IIRC, there was some wreckage on the beach at that time. When my husband was a kid he lived in Mobile. His father used to take him metal detecting around Ft. Morgan looking for Civil War artifacts. I know he lived down there when Camille came through. I’ll have to ask if he remembers the unearthed ships.
Thanks for posting this article!
Geez, there are dozens of ships exposed here in NW Mich. after a big blow.
Most of them were cargo vessels, who held basic staples. But,occasionally there were genuine treasure ships that came aground.
They are still out there.
Geraldo beat ya to it. ;’)
My pleasure.
During a 150 year period when cargo was moved mostly in smaller vessels (often built of wood), the average loss on the Great Lakes was one every six days, something like that. Not all of them would be all that interesting. Nowadays insurance fraud sinks more boats than the waves, I’d guess. ;’)
Well, did you consider the possibility that it’s still lost? Geez, I have to think of everything.
A three hour tour? A three hour tour?
No way. The gov’t is worried that Ben Gates will uncover something that will undermine the very fabric of our reality.
Wow what a site!!!!!Thanks.
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