The following is an Associated Press story that I thought might be of interest to some of you fellow Civil War buffs. What a discovery!
Hurricane may have uncovered Civil War shipwreck
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - Experts know of about a dozen Civil War-era shipwrecks off the Texas coast. They might have just identified another.
Contractors searching for debris from Hurricane Ike near Galveston Island took a sonar scan of what the Texas Historical Commission believes is a previously undiscovered ship carrying cotton that sank in 1864.
The Carolina, also known as the Caroline, was a privately owned merchant ship that tried to break though a federal blockade of Galveston. After being pursued for several hours by Union gunships, the crew of the Carolina ran the ship aground in shallow water between Galveston and San Luis Pass, then set it on fire rather than let it be captured.
Historians said records indicate the ship sank in the area where workers took the sonar image. It had probably been buried in sand until Hurricane Ike scoured the Gulf floor.
"It's certainly significant if it turns out to be a historic wreck, as we think it is," Steven Hoyt, state marine archaeologist...
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