本周，我们很幸运能与我们最老和最亲爱的朋友之一度过美好的时光：USSMonitor‘s vibrating side lever steam engine. Much like our favorite ironclad, this salty lady is over 150 years old but keeps looking better every year.
We took the following pictures on Monday. Please remember that the engine currently sits upside down in the treatment tank.
USSMonitor‘s engines were powered by steam generated by boiling water. Water was boiled by burning massive quantities of anthracite coal. Tons and tons of anthracite coal. Even whenMonitorwas under tow by theRhode Islandduring her last hours afloat, coal was the driving force behind the movement of both vessels. Here is a picture of a small piece of anthracite coal excavated from the interior ofMonitor2002年的炮塔。
Original letters penned by crew members ofMonitorand modern-day books describe loads of coal as fuel. Archaeologists confirmed this information with their discoveries of coal at the wreck site within theMonitor国家海洋保护区。但是，档案管理员，历史学家和考古学家是否误入歧途？
Over the past 13 years, NOAA archaeologists and Mariners’ Museum conservators have discovered hundreds of amazing artifacts within USSMonitor‘s revolving gun turret. Some artifacts, like the Dahlgren guns, gun carriages, and gun tools, are undergoing conservation as I type this blog entry. Others have already been fully conserved and are now on display within the USSMonitorCenter at The Mariners’ Museum or have been loaned to other institutions around the country to help shareMonitor‘s fascinating stories.
However, there are handful of artifacts that continue to mystify us in the lab, particularly those that have been fully conserved but not properly identified. It may sound strange or surprising that in the last 13 years we have not successfully identified every single artifact from the turret. But this is often the case when many materials are excavated from an archaeological setting.
Hi Everyone,
It’s been a very busy summer here in the lab! We are a little behind on our posts, but we promise to catch up soon.
