USS Monitor: 50 years after its discovery, Gordon Watts recounts the mysteries of the ironclad and how he came to make a positive ID

Gordon Watts' sketch of turret and hull; Harold Edgerton top right with sonar; Watts
(sketch courtesy of Watts; other photos courtesy of the MIT Museum)

Gordon Watts was only 23 when he set off for the adventure of a lifetime – trying to locate the legendary USS Monitor. He and a field of experts in the field were competing with a half dozen groups that also were intent on snaring the prize.

But Watts and expedition leader John Newton of the Duke University Marine Laboratory had done their homework, carefully reading records, letters and the log of the ship that was towing the famous Union ironclad when it sank in a storm on Dec. 31, 1862, 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C. They had a bead on the wreck’s likely location about 240 feet down while others searched elsewhere in 1973 and 1974.

Using relatively new technology, the team on RV Eastward dropped side-scan sonars and photo and video cameras in the water (photo of cameras, courtesy of MIT Museum), coming up against very limited visibility as they searched a grid. They had ruled out other wrecks, many dating to World War II, until the somewhat dispirited team made a hit on Aug. 27, 1973, shortly before they would have run out of time.

Sonar showed something that looked like the Monitor’s turret – which made history during its clash with CSS Virginia in March 1862 during the Civil War. But the rest of the wreck made little sense – no one knew before the trip that the ironclad had landed upside down, partially covering the turret, which was separated from the hull.

While there was elation on the Eastward, there was no firm finding and the expedition was unable to confirm it found the vessel when it returned to port. Watts, today the last surviving member of the primary discovery team, got back to work and went on another trip to confirm the Monitor’s location.

Sunday marks the 50^th anniversary of the initial discovery. We asked Watts, who has a distinguished career studying and diving shipwrecks, to talk about the experience and how he went about identifying the Monitor.

1973: Gordon Watts, front left, behind him John Harris; on right, from back,
Robert Sheridan, John Newton, Cathryn Newton and Harold Edgerton (NOAA)

“50 years: Whodathunkit??” the legendary underwater archaeologist wrote, when we asked him to recall the adventure.

It’s important to remember the Monitor was no ordinary shipwreck. The ironclad revolutionized naval warfare, ending the era of wooden ships plugging away at each other. The war machine was a marvel of engineering and technology and has intrigued conservators and historians who have pored over components retrieved since 1973.

Today the turret, ordnance, steam machinery and associated artifacts are available to the public at The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Va. 

Watts’ responses to emailed questions about the anniversary have been edited for brevity and in some cases combined.

Q. As among the very few who discovered the Monitor wreck in 1973, what do you recall about the expedition? What were the highlights? Who else was with you?

A. The three principals in the RV Eastward cruise that located the remains of USS Monitor were John Newton at the Duke University Marine Laboratory, Dr. Harold Edgerton with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and myself, then the North Carolina state underwater archaeologist. Dr. Robert E. Sheridan, a geologist from the University of Delaware, was also on board Eastward to carry out a geological project.

In retrospect and by comparison with today's technology, my most permanent recollection is associated with how we were able to use Dr. Edgerton's side-scan sonar to locate the wreck and adapt underwater camera and video systems to document significant features of the wreck remains (team's search and location map at right).

The underwater video system used to collect image data at the site was assembled aboard Eastward by John Harris, subsequently the founder and president of Kitty Hawk Kites.

Film and video data collection was crudely controlled by maneuvering RV Eastward back and forth over the wreck. 

Q. What was it like on board the Eastward and can you describe the project?

A. John Newton and I joined the Eastward in Savannah. The trip to Hatteras was my first aboard a ship. The entire trip can be characterized by rough seas, many over 20 feet.  An East Carolina University prehistoric archaeologist along with us to identify prehistoric cultural material in dredge samples we recovered off Cape Fear spent the entire trip very and disgustingly sea sick. At Cape Hatteras, he abandoned ship. Dr. Edgerton joined us and afforded the incredible opportunity to work with someone for whom I had, and will always have, the utmost respect and admiration. That was certainly the opportunity of a lifetime.

Off Cape Hatteras, we shared ship time with Dr. Sheridan. When he was not conducting his geological research and sample collecting, we ran remote sensing in the area I had identified based on historical and environmental research. After locating a clearly modern WWII vessel, we subsequently discovered a wreck with side-scan sonar that appeared to have a potential for association with Monitor.

Armor belt near turret provided a big identification clue (NOAA)

Using Eastward's 35mm drop camera and the underwater television rigged by for documenting the wreck by John Harris we were able to collect sufficient almost random images that ultimately identified Monitor. The Eastward cruise ended at the Duke University Marine Laboratory dock in Beaufort, N.C., where the waiting press was disappointed to learn we had not located and identified the Monitor.

Following a brief synopsis of the cruise and our, at that point, less than dramatic conclusions, I packed up to head back to my office at Fort Fisher. For two hours I was surprised and much disappointed to discover that while never seasick aboard Eastward, the lack of motion of the ocean resulted in my first and so far ONLY case of landsickness. You had to be there.

Q. What convinced you that you had found the Monitor? When was that epiphany?

A. Using the RV Eastward photo and video data I was able to construct crude mosaics and identify features of the armor belt, skeg and propeller shaft and confirm the diameter and wall thickness of the exposed portion of the turret.

One of the Monitor mosaics put together by Watts, others (NOAA)

From those data I was able to make a drawing of the wreck profile to confirm the hull was upside down and resting on the displaced turret. Even with crude image mosaics and drawings, confirming my conclusion that we had indeed found (John) Ericsson's first ironclad was a hard sell.

I informed John Newton of my conclusions in a letter on 14 January 1974. Those conclusions were not universally accepted until, thanks to Dr. Edgerton, we were able to return to the site with Alcoa Seaprobe. That much more sophisticated and systematic investigation generated comprehensive image data that confirmed my conclusions.

Q. How many times have you dived at the Monitor site since? What stands out?

A. I would have to go back to my project logs to be sure how many dives I made on Monitor. However, my first dive was aboard a Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation submersible. That first dive was made all the more exciting by identifying the red lantern that was the last evidence of the historic ironclad that was observed by personnel aboard the USS Rhode Island (which was towing Monitor when the latter sank). My lockout divers from the Harbor Branch submersibles focused on an excavation within the officer quarters forward, documenting the steam machinery inside the hull aft of the boilers and investigating the gun ports in the turret underneath the hull remains. It was exciting to be inside Monitor's engine room a century after the ship was lost.

Q. The red lantern (right) was found in 1977, the first artifact recovered, I believe. What do you remember most about its recovery?

A. Harbor Branch diver Richard Roesch locked out of the Johnson Sea Link submersible and recovered the lantern. I think it remains as one of the most significant artifacts from the USS Monitor. The fact that it was the first evidence of the wreck we found on the first submersible dive at the site is beyond ironic.

Q. Anything else about your work on the USS Monitor recovery and what it means today?

A. Still one of the deepest underwater archaeological excavation and recovery projects to date.

Q. Why should we care today about the USS Monitor and its conservation?

A. Today, most Americans are probably unaware of USS Monitor and the brief role it played in the War Between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. For those who are aware of the ironclad role, they likely also recognize the more significant impact (John) Ericsson's first and subsequent ironclads vessel played in the development of the modern turreted capital steam warship. That role was indeed pivotal. 

COMING SOON: Recollections from John Harris, who operated the underwater video system during the trip and became a hang gliding proponent and founder of Kitty Hawk Kites in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Monitor explorer, expert and author John Broadwater.

Watts during work on the CSS Georgia in Savannah in 2017 (Picket photo)

PICKET COVERAGE OF USS MONITOR

-- Cathryn Newton: At 16, she was the youngest crew member. She says the find was a group effort.
-- John Harris: He became a hang glider pilot and founded Kitty Hawk kites. But first, he ran the 1973 expedition's underwater camera system.
-- Go deep for 50th anniversary of USS Monitor discovery: Printable 3D artifacts, webinar and a 360-degree video of ironclad's resting place
-- USS Monitor: Navy recognizes Virginia museum for cleaning of ironclad's two Dahlgren guns, which are still being conserved
-- The USS Monitor overcame doubters. Its crew trusted the ironclad, even during the terrible storm that sank the famous ironclad.
-- What do USS Monitor, Jimmy Fallon have in common? Saugerties, NY. This town morphed from industrial 'Inferno' to a cool tourist spot