Visited several years ago--our wedding anniversary happens to be March 9--and the Mariner's Museum impressed us. We were also able to attend the burials of the sailors from Monitor at Arlington. What an honor to witness. Thank you for the thorough, deliberate work you are doing!
I made two dives on the Monitor wreck site before there was ever a museum. I was part of the Rod Farb expedition. I swam around and inside the turret when it was still upside down under the stern sitting in 230fsw. We found some human bones inside the turret and reported our finds to the NOAA rep assigned to us. I think her name was Eileen. She was supposed to be a watchdog for NOAA but wasn't very observant and she didn't dive so she had no idea what was going on underwater. Good times!
I thought human bones dissolved under water pressure after a short amount of time? I remember watching a titanic doc and being told that everywhere you saw a pair of shoes would've been a body but the bones disappear after awhile. Maybe the depth has something to do with it.
All I can say is, bless you all. For the time, care, and dedication. Honestly wish I knew this was going on sooner. I had no idea that so much of the Monitor was brought up. It's so amazing to see how much has withstood the test of time and thanks in no small part to the entire team there. You're doing fantastic work and I hope to see your work firsthand one day.
Fascinating look at the Monitor. I can remember the original National Geographic article on the find. All these years later, it still holds my interest. Would love to go the museum.
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to stop in Vicksburg and take a look at the USS Cairo, a breastwork ironclad very much like the CSS Virginia. It would be great to see the turret of the USS Monitor to see both sides of the historic battle .
Being a History buff, it is amazing to see History brought back to life. I am especially fascinated by American history including WW 1 and 2. Thanks for doing an awesome job .Take care.
I remember watching on PBS the raising of this vessal. It was a USN project. A woman then my age was hosting it there aboard the salvage vessals w ALL those scanty clad hunk Navy divers. She was so enjoyed. I felt her joy.
This the original monitor was designed in 1861 by the Swedish citizen captain John Ericsson and , who named it USS Monitor (he also built one of the very first steam locomotives in England and took part of the first steam engine race in England). The Monitors were designed for shallow waters and served as coastal ships. The term "monitor" also encompassed more flexible breastwork monitors, and was sometimes used as a generic term for any turreted ship.
I'm from Troy NY where almost nothing remains of the South Troy iron mills that produced the Monitor plates. John Griswold's Rensselaer Iron Works along the Poestenkill Gorge is entirely gone.
These guys are so busy explaining marine archeology and conservation they forgot to say anything about the monitor. Yes, i realize its important to conserve this stuff... yes i realize you have a lot of fancy toys.... yes i realize that you guys are doing an amazing fantastic job and that you are amazing fantastic people... we're all very impressed, now could you please tell us something about the actual ship?!?
This particular video is not so much a Civil War naval history lesson about MONITOR as an explanation as to how marine archeology and scientific conservation serves to bring the history to life in a physical way. Fortunately there are hundreds of books by historians and documentaries by film makers who are better prepared than these technical specialists to tell the tale...
The same passion to preserve every action they use to discover information should be used when humans move to Mars to record the original surface surface condition before they build a structure.
Over here they use ultrasonic cleaning for archaeology items . There is also a 3D x-ray machine, that can help to understand complex parts . Do you have anything like that over there , that may be of help ?
Do these people volunteer or are they paid ( my sound is off so if it's discussed I can't hear)? How do people learn to do things like bore out those guns without damaging them? I've been a machinist for nearly 30 years and I would probably quit and find another job if my boss brought those in for me to "bore". God it would be embarrassing to have a big gouge in the side of one of those cannons with a museum note stating "one of our technicians did this it wasn't part of the monitor initially"
My attention span is shit these days? I want you to know I watched the whole show! My question is, to what extent, if any, do you have to deal with hydrogen sulfide gasses being released during the desalinization process of the iron parts? Using electrolysis on that scale, in that confined of an area seems a little risky? At a minimum one could assume you run active gas monitoring ?
Thank you for watching the video and for your question! While we do use electrolysis (Electrolytic Reduction) on a large-scale, we execute the chemical process in a very controlled way. We monitor both pH and reduction potential and maintain them at a target value identified for the best extraction of chlorides and the breakdown of corrosion products. As a result, the production of gaseous Hydrogen is quite low. Air quality checks are part of our lab procedure and we have not detected a harmful amount to date!
When The USS Monitor Sank, It Came To Rest Inverted, With The Hull Pinning The Turret Upside Down. Thus The Turret Was Less Exposed To Concretions And The Like. The Rest Of The Hull Was Determined To Be Less Structurally Sound By US Navy Divers, And Not Worth Further Salvage Due To The Potential For Further Damage.
@@jamesedwards2483 Several inches of the original iron was dissolved into less than a quarter inch when it was discovered exposed to the open salt water.
You *really need to remanufacture a working replica!* Would be neat to see how it sounded in real life, etc. Find some millionaire or billionaire to fund it? Match the new parts against the originals...
@@JungleYT I thought that he died years ago... He loves Civil War history and was responsible for "Gettysburg" and "The Hunley" if he still can, I'm sure that he'd lol over to make a movie of the battle.
@@texan-american200 Well, even if he didn't make a movie, recreating a replica would still be cool. Maybe you could mention it to some people connected with the project? Another way to contribute to his legacy...
@@JungleYT He didn't make the movies, he financed them and it would be nice if I had influence to convince him to make movies of the various ironclad battles during the Civil War... Especially the battle of Mobile Bay.
Where is this? Dude shouldn’t say it’ll be 25 years until all is displayed. Some of us will wait so as to get our money’s worth. Heck, I’ll only be 95.
No waiting! When you visit the museum, you can observe the curation of artifacts from many angles. There are even catwalks that allow observers to see into the desalination tanks. But there is a fantastic exhibit hall as well. I would plan to spend a minimum of a whole day there and it's definitely worth putting on your agenda when vacationing in Virginia.
I remember seeing the Vasa ship as a child. Not much of a ship to see. I promised myself to come back. But not too soon. I guess it was like 30 years later I saw it again. Well worth to wait for. Maybe in 30 years there will be a functioning turret complete with Dahlgren guns in working order. Excuse a Swede for meddling in your business. But in this case I feel like I am allowed to.
Hi there, great question! All of the treatment procedures have been carefully developed overtime to protect the artifact as much as possible. Our Conservation team has continued to develop and refine the methods used to clean and conserve these objects - today they even use a method called dry ice blasting. Here's a blog from this summer about how the technique is used in the cleaning of USS Monitor's artifacts: www.marinersmuseum.org/2023/06/dry-ice-blasting-in-the-tank-farm/
I'm fairly sure that most people in Newport News and the surrounding area have access to safe drinking water. Hell, we even had it nearly 30 years ago when I was there.
Why are they trying to preserve that ship from the war between the states? When they are also destroying monuments dedicated to the sailors and soldiers that perished during that war ?
Of course they will- they’re professional archaeologists! It would never even cross their minds to treat it any differently. They are US citizens, and both sides are part of the United States. You, on the other hand, are looking at things differently, obviously. The Civil War ended over 150 years ago- stop looking at things from a Yankee/ Rebel viewpoint. I hear things like the South shall rise again, and maybe it’s time for another go-round. I can hardly believe that some people are stupid enough to even consider having another civil war- do you really want such a thing? To see an entire culture enslaved, and to have an entire generation or two completely wiped out? I can think of nothing worse than to have Americans fighting Americans again- once should be enough to know we don’t want to go down that road again....
@@MajicMongoose62 Granted for you have said here but what about all the removal of confederate statues? Mark my words many more memorials will be removed in the future and I'm not talking just Confederate ones.
With all this cancel culture going on now. I'm worried about history of this stuff being flushed down the toilet. This is important because it represents a part of American experience & ingenuity. First in everything.
Visited several years ago--our wedding anniversary happens to be March 9--and the Mariner's Museum impressed us. We were also able to attend the burials of the sailors from Monitor at Arlington. What an honor to witness. Thank you for the thorough, deliberate work you are doing!
@Jack Steward Yup it is, can't wait for the next big one! Gonna be greatness on a scale we've never seen!
I made two dives on the Monitor wreck site before there was ever a museum. I was part of the Rod Farb expedition. I swam around and inside the turret when it was still upside down under the stern sitting in 230fsw. We found some human bones inside the turret and reported our finds to the NOAA rep assigned to us. I think her name was Eileen. She was supposed to be a watchdog for NOAA but wasn't very observant and she didn't dive so she had no idea what was going on underwater. Good times!
That must have been one hell of a dive. I'm still amazed there were any remains left of the men.
I thought human bones dissolved under water pressure after a short amount of time? I remember watching a titanic doc and being told that everywhere you saw a pair of shoes would've been a body but the bones disappear after awhile. Maybe the depth has something to do with it.
All I can say is, bless you all. For the time, care, and dedication. Honestly wish I knew this was going on sooner. I had no idea that so much of the Monitor was brought up. It's so amazing to see how much has withstood the test of time and thanks in no small part to the entire team there. You're doing fantastic work and I hope to see your work firsthand one day.
Fascinating look at the Monitor. I can remember the original National Geographic article on the find. All these years later, it still holds my interest. Would love to go the museum.
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to stop in Vicksburg and take a look at the USS Cairo, a breastwork ironclad very much like the CSS Virginia. It would be great to see the turret of the USS Monitor to see both sides of the historic battle .
Simply incredible! Thank you for producing this.
Much respect on the work you are doing! Please.....keep us updated!
Seeing that famous turret was truly awesome. Great work.
Truly amazing process to recover these artifacts. Love to see the museum.
I remember working at the compony that made the metal tanks I painted them ,and I was there for the ground breaking of the Monitor center very cool
Thanks for all you do to preserve history.
Being a History buff, it is amazing to see History brought back to life. I am especially fascinated by American history including WW 1 and 2. Thanks for doing an awesome job .Take care.
Thank you for your efforts in preservation. History is vital to understanding the present.
A wonderful work of so many passionate and skilled people. A marvellous presentation! Touching history at the very heart!
excellent presentation. I toured the museum a few years ago and will be back some day. *LIKED* and *SUBSCRIBED* --LT 1st Minn
Excellent presentation. Keep up the good work.
This gets me right in the feels!
so well explained......passion passion
I remember watching on PBS the raising of this vessal. It was a USN project. A woman then my age was hosting it there aboard the salvage vessals w ALL those scanty clad hunk Navy divers. She was so enjoyed. I felt her joy.
This the original monitor was designed in 1861 by the Swedish citizen captain John Ericsson and , who named it USS Monitor (he also built one of the very first steam locomotives in England and took part of the first steam engine race in England). The Monitors were designed for shallow waters and served as coastal ships. The term "monitor" also encompassed more flexible breastwork monitors, and was sometimes used as a generic term for any turreted ship.
Thank you so much and keep up the great work
Excellent, proud to have the Museum doing this!
I'm from Troy NY where almost nothing remains of the South Troy iron mills that produced the Monitor plates. John Griswold's Rensselaer Iron Works along the Poestenkill Gorge is entirely gone.
16 sailors went down with the Monitor. Two were found in the turret when it was raised.
The bottle w/ the Phoenix on it was made by the Baltimore glass company. I have a couple that are complete. Beautiful bottle!
good work guys keep it up
That’s awesome, keep up the good work 👏👏
Wonderful work and beautifully displayed.
Simply amazing. Interesting and informative. Thanks
As a avid history buff (read neard) to me this is cool beyond words.
Most excellent!!!!!!!!
Both Virginia and Monitor are amazing ships!
Well now, I'm off to learn more about the Monitor...
20 years. can't wait
definitely a lot more high-tech than a wire brush LOL
These guys are so busy explaining marine archeology and conservation they forgot to say anything about the monitor.
Yes, i realize its important to conserve this stuff... yes i realize you have a lot of fancy toys.... yes i realize that you guys are doing an amazing fantastic job and that you are amazing fantastic people... we're all very impressed, now could you please tell us something about the actual ship?!?
This particular video is not so much a Civil War naval history lesson about MONITOR as an
explanation as to how marine archeology and scientific conservation serves to bring
the history to life in a physical way. Fortunately there are hundreds of books by historians
and documentaries by film makers who are better prepared than these technical specialists
to tell the tale...
Awesome
I could have watched this for hours...
Amazing the technology exists to preserve it now. Not to crumble to a pile of rust dust.
The same passion to preserve every action they use to discover information should be used when humans move to Mars to record the original surface surface condition before they build a structure.
Over here they use ultrasonic cleaning for archaeology items . There is also a 3D x-ray machine, that can help to understand complex parts . Do you have anything like that over there , that may be of help ?
We use x-rays and other imaging technology to help us in the conservation of artifacts. Thanks for the question.
Imagin getting the monitor back into working order.
bwahaha no. You would have to build a new ship entirely
5 Years since this video... Wondering how many parts are still desalinating.
We still have quite a number of large objects desalinating. But we have finished conserving many things including one of the cannon carriages.
im rill good with rotary tools and such and love history...how o i work hear :)
14:10 There's a Family Guy joke in there somewhere.
Yes, we've heard the bird is the word. Haha I hate you
I wish somebody rich would understand and product a replica of the Monitor
Do these people volunteer or are they paid ( my sound is off so if it's discussed I can't hear)? How do people learn to do things like bore out those guns without damaging them? I've been a machinist for nearly 30 years and I would probably quit and find another job if my boss brought those in for me to "bore". God it would be embarrassing to have a big gouge in the side of one of those cannons with a museum note stating "one of our technicians did this it wasn't part of the monitor initially"
My attention span is shit these days? I want you to know I watched the whole show! My question is, to what extent, if any, do you have to deal with hydrogen sulfide gasses being released during the desalinization process of the iron parts? Using electrolysis on that scale, in that confined of an area seems a little risky? At a minimum one could assume you run active gas monitoring ?
Thank you for watching the video and for your question! While we do use electrolysis (Electrolytic Reduction) on a large-scale, we execute the chemical process in a very controlled way. We monitor both pH and reduction potential and maintain them at a target value identified for the best extraction of chlorides and the breakdown of corrosion products. As a result, the production of gaseous Hydrogen is quite low. Air quality checks are part of our lab procedure and we have not detected a harmful amount to date!
@@TheMarinersMuseum Sweet, nice work.
at 5:36 are they using tools they found on the Monitor to hammer and chisel away at itself, that hammer and chisel looks 180 years old?
Any word on when the museum will open again?
We are shooting for late spring! Hopefully Memorial Day Weekend.
@@TheMarinersMuseum Nice
@@TheMarinersMuseum Any updates on reopening?
@@bboobb1122334455 We will open back up to the general public Memorial Day weekend. We look forward to having guests back with us.
Found in ‘74??? I always thought it was found in 1972 or 1973..
How about bringing up the rest of the ship? Don't tell me it's impossible, if it's still intact it's possible.
When The USS Monitor Sank, It Came To Rest Inverted, With The Hull Pinning The Turret Upside Down. Thus The Turret Was Less Exposed To Concretions And The Like. The Rest Of The Hull Was Determined To Be Less Structurally Sound By US Navy Divers, And Not Worth Further Salvage Due To The Potential For Further Damage.
@@jamesedwards2483
Several inches of the original iron was dissolved into less than a quarter inch when it was discovered exposed to the open salt water.
You *really need to remanufacture a working replica!* Would be neat to see how it sounded in real life, etc. Find some millionaire or billionaire to fund it? Match the new parts against the originals...
Ted Turner would've loved the idea.
@@texan-american200 He's still around...
@@JungleYT
I thought that he died years ago... He loves Civil War history and was responsible for "Gettysburg" and "The Hunley" if he still can, I'm sure that he'd lol over to make a movie of the battle.
@@texan-american200 Well, even if he didn't make a movie, recreating a replica would still be cool. Maybe you could mention it to some people connected with the project? Another way to contribute to his legacy...
@@JungleYT
He didn't make the movies, he financed them and it would be nice if I had influence to convince him to make movies of the various ironclad battles during the Civil War... Especially the battle of Mobile Bay.
@1:23 i have that same lunch meat tupperware. hahahaha
They don't use barcodes? What is this, 1975?
20-25 years....... take your time
Why not use dry ice blasting?
My guys put those dents in that turret. Must have been a humiliation to see your cannon balls bounce harmlessly off that ship.
The music bed under the narration does not help this production.
Where is this? Dude shouldn’t say it’ll be 25 years until all is displayed. Some of us will wait so as to get our money’s worth. Heck, I’ll only be 95.
Check here for details. www.monitorcenter.org/
No waiting! When you visit the museum, you can observe the curation of artifacts from many angles. There are even catwalks that allow observers to see into the desalination tanks. But there is a fantastic exhibit hall as well. I would plan to spend a minimum of a whole day there and it's definitely worth putting on your agenda when vacationing in Virginia.
I remember seeing the Vasa ship as a child. Not much of a ship to see. I promised myself to come back. But not too soon. I guess it was like 30 years later I saw it again. Well worth to wait for. Maybe in 30 years there will be a functioning turret complete with Dahlgren guns in working order. Excuse a Swede for meddling in your business. But in this case I feel like I am allowed to.
Why not use softer than iron chisels?
Hi there, great question! All of the treatment procedures have been carefully developed overtime to protect the artifact as much as possible. Our Conservation team has continued to develop and refine the methods used to clean and conserve these objects - today they even use a method called dry ice blasting. Here's a blog from this summer about how the technique is used in the cleaning of USS Monitor's artifacts: www.marinersmuseum.org/2023/06/dry-ice-blasting-in-the-tank-farm/
I restore WW2 vehicles, and using softer than steel tools for this type of work is pretty basic.@@TheMarinersMuseum
Why would 27 people vote this down?
They must've been Merrimac fans.
You found a ring from one of the crewman. Why haven’t you returned that to the family that it belongs to?
Perhaps they no longer exist?
Perhaps there was no name on it?
Perhaps no one knows who wore it? 🙄😏
Using water that is more pure than tapwater to preserve an old iron artifact instead of safe drinking water for humans to me is unnerving.
You would not enjoy the taste of pure water.
I'm fairly sure that most people in Newport News and the surrounding area have access to safe drinking water. Hell, we even had it nearly 30 years ago when I was there.
Drinking ultra pure distilled water is actually a danger, because it can draw out the necessary salts in your body to properly function.
@@texan-american200 Drinking reverse-osmosis water will also strip the calcium from your bones over time.
Why are they trying to preserve that ship from the war between the states? When they are also destroying monuments dedicated to the sailors and soldiers that perished during that war ?
You found a ring from one of the crewman. Why haven’t you returned that ring to the rightful family that owns it?
I hope as much entusiasm and attention to detail will be placed upon Confederate artifacts.
Of course they will- they’re professional archaeologists! It would never even cross their minds to treat it any differently. They are US citizens, and both sides are part of the United States. You, on the other hand, are looking at things differently, obviously. The Civil War ended over 150 years ago- stop looking at things from a Yankee/ Rebel viewpoint. I hear things like the South shall rise again, and maybe it’s time for another go-round. I can hardly believe that some people are stupid enough to even consider having another civil war- do you really want such a thing? To see an entire culture enslaved, and to have an entire generation or two completely wiped out? I can think of nothing worse than to have Americans fighting Americans again- once should be enough to know we don’t want to go down that road again....
@@MajicMongoose62 Granted for you have said here but what about all the removal of confederate statues? Mark my words many more memorials will be removed in the future and I'm not talking just Confederate ones.
@@Auggies1956 Those aren't historical artifacts. Good, remove them, they were erected to intimidate blacks.
With all this cancel culture going on now. I'm worried about history of this stuff being flushed down the toilet. This is important because it represents a part of American experience & ingenuity. First in everything.
WTF, why is there pinging noise in the back ground audio? sonar was not around in the 1860's. Gay as truck nuts production with stupid fluff.
I believe that is how it was found, not that it was used by the ship.
“20-25 years”, lol retirement. Better hope those crazy “woke” extremist don’t throw all that stuff back in the ocean!