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Ghost Boats
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Work
underway on the model barge...click image to enlarge.
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In 1988, record low water levels provided an opportunity and obligation to examine the climax of the wooden-hulled age. The Mississippi fell to 10 feet below zero on the Memphis gauge and exposed four and a half acres of water craft remains, dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s, on the bottom of the Mississippi River at West Memphis, Arkansas. The State of Arkansas, the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and the Arkansas Archeological Society responded with a two month data recovery effort. The fieldwork received national media attention as good news in the middle of a drought.
Wreckage of a number of vessels was found, including a coal barge, a double-ended barge known as a "model barge", and the tangled debris of a stern wheel steamboat, complete with largely intact smokestacks. It was loudly asserted by some visitors that we had found the Sultana, a steamboat that blew up near Memphis in 1865, killing nearly 2000 Federal troops recently released from prisoner of war camps. However, recovery of a boiler steam gauge with a trademark of 1878 confirmed otherwise.
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Pulleys
in situ..click to enlarge.
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The project exploited dry-land field conditions, so we were able to conduct test excavations particularly in the steamboat area as though we were in a bean field instead of being on the bottom of one of the greatest rivers in North America. This produced remarkable results as well, including sets of enameled metal plates that spilled from the galley or crew quarters, and even a long bulkhead from the engine room. The bulkhead had been torn down and used as a staging area for salvage operations after the wreck, and various tools and fittings were piled on this impromptu "floor", including the steam gauge.
"Ghost Boats on the Mississippi"
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| The crew at work on the steamboat wreckage. Click image to enlarge. |
An extended popular
report is being published by the Arkansas Archeological Survey. The report
originated in a symposium at the Society for Historical Archaeology annual
meeting in Tucson, AZ, in 1991. Titled "Ghost Boats on the Mississippi:
Discovering Our Working Past", chapters and illustrations in this
report discuss project history, finds, construction and heritage of water
craft encountered, the application of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987
within months of its signing, the crucial role of the largely volunteer
crew, and the necessary larger context of resource management in the Lower
Mississippi River.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface: Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
List of Figures
Chapter 1. Introduction: Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
Chapter 2. To the Rescue: Hester A. Davis, Mary Ann Goodman, and Leslie
C. Stewart-Abernathy
Chapter 3. "Old Al's Going to Get It", for Awhile--Leslie C.
Stewart-Abernathy
Chapter 4. Historical Background: Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
Chapter 5. The Steamboat and Its Debris Field: Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
Chapter 6. The Model Barge, and Other Vessels: Allen R. Saltus, Jr., and
Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
Chapter 7. Why These Wrecks, Here: Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy and Allen
R. Saltus, Jr.
Chapter 8. The Wider View: Lower Mississippi River Heritage and Resource
Management: Charles E. Pearson
Chapter 9. Conclusion: Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy and Allen R. Saltus,
Jr.
Appendices
A. Catalogue of Major Wreck Pieces
B. Crew Members
C. Glossary of River Boat Terms
D. Compilations of Memphis vicinity wrecks, 1878-1940
E. Summary Description of Memphis vicinity wrecks, 1878-1940
F. Sources for Illustrations of Model Barges
G. The Arkansas Archeological Society
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Links
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- Ships to Visit - stern wheelers and side wheelers (NPS)
- Waterways Journal riverine links
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- The Legends of Steamboats in the Grand Old South
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