Drones pinpoint buried treasure in the form of Confederate blockade runners that ran aground in Charleston and have since disappeared into shifting sands

Archaeology team at work on beach (SCIAA), map of wreck sites (U.S. Coast Survey),.wreck of Celt (Library of Congress)

As the Union’s nautical noose tightened around Charleston, blockade runners daring to bring vital goods to the Confederacy typically  took the shortest route into the harbor, sailing close to Fort Moultrie on the southwestern tip of Sullivan’s Island.

But first, enterprising captains likely weighed the risk/reward ratio of using Maffitt’s (or Beach) Channel to enter or leave the besieged city.

Pros: Straighter shot into the harbor and protected by a string of Confederate batteries along Sullivan's Island to keep Union blockaders at bay;

Cons: Tricky to make the passage into the harbor due to a jetty off Fort Moultrie that created unique currents and counter-currents. 

And there was another downside, says South Carolina underwater archaeologist Jim Spirek.

“100-pdr Parrott and other shells heading your way if spotted by the Union batteries on Morris Island after the fall of Battery Wagner.”

Click map to see Main Channel, Battery Wagner and Fort Moultrie area (U.S. Coast Survey)

So it’s no surprise numerous blockade runners ended up littering the shore or shallow waters. Some were sunk by enemy fire while others intentionally (or not) ran aground.

While the whereabouts of many are known, the state wanted to know more about four that are no longer visible, Spirek told the Civil War Picket. His office this week announced it used drones to conduct a survey of the “forgotten” wreck sites.

“Because Sullivan’s Island has been marching steadily southward in the area around Ft. Moultrie since the construction of the Charleston Harbor jetties, what once was water for ships to wreck in is now dry land,” said a social media post.

“The remains of these vessels are now buried deep below the beach and adjacent woodlot. Our drone was able to fly over the rough coastal terrain with its attached magnetometer, and detected the magnetic anomalies of two (or three) of the four historically recorded wrecks. Knowing the precise locations will help to preserve our knowledge of this part of Charleston’s history for future generations.”

Archaeologists believe they have located the “magnetic anomalies” of the Celt and the Beatrice or Flora (or both). The blockade runner Presto did not show, but is believed to be buried, like the others, below about 5 feet of sand. (At right, a jetty near Fort Moultrie is highlighted)

“The situation of shipwrecks appearing and then disappearing again is very typical of this type of sandy shoreline,” Civil War naval expert Andy Hall told the Picket. “Wrecks come and go (seemingly) as alternate cycles of erosion and accretion expose and rebury them."

The announcement was first reported by McClatchy News.

Engineers moved to keep Ft. Moultrie from eroding

Spirek, other archaeologists and historians have studied harbors along the Atlantic Coast and forces that present opportunities and challenges for shipping.

Charleston Harbor is behind Fort Moultrie fortifications in this NPS photo

I came across a fascinating article by local historian Nic Butler while researching this post. Entitled “Navigating the Bar of Charleston Harbor: Gateway to the Atlantic,” the piece describes shifting sandbars, silting and dangerous currents. Dredging, skilled captains and beacons countered some of the threats.

“Thanks to the construction of an artificial channel through two massive stone jetties, South Carolina’s principal port continues to flourish,” Butler writes.

The federal government got involved in safeguarding navigation in the first half of the 19^th century, when Fort Moultrie was endangered because of severe erosion. Works on the jetties and dredging began. Capt. Andrew Bowman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a jetty and breakwaters off Fort Moultrie to help stave off erosion.

But the Bowman and North Charleston jetties also had a negative effect, building up sand around them and reducing the depth of water ships could work with.

During the Union blockade, multiple ships ran aground off Sullivan’s Island as they traversed Maffitt's Channel (named for Rebel commerce raider John Newland Maffitt, right).

“Based on geo-referencing an 1865 nautical chart that marked the location of shipwrecks, obstructions, etc. in and around the harbor onto the modern landscape, (the evidence) suggested that four blockade runners were now buried on the beach,” said Spirek.

These four blockade runners met their doom here

The state’s Maritime Research Division this fall deployed drones over beach areas near Fort Moultrie. They were equipped with magnetometers.

Survey looked for Celt, Presto, Beatrice and Flora, mislabeled as Flamingo (SCIAA)

“The magnetometer detects the earth's ambient magnetic field and we use the tool to detect fluctuations, or anomalies, in the field caused by ferromagnetic metals, and in this case, three large iron-hulled blockade runners and one wooden-hulled,” said Spirek, adding no pieces of wreckage were found. “The Celt was reportedly last seen in the early 1980s.”

Below is a closer look at each of the four blockade runners. It's important to note that Union forces seized Morris Island in September 1863, allowing them to fire long-range artillery at vessels approaching Charleston

Celt: The steamboat was lost Feb. 14, 1865, when it tried to leave Charleston Harbor. Celt had run ashore near the breakwater at Fort Moultrie several days before the evacuation of the harbor by Confederate forces. “Inspection by the Union navy after the Confederate evacuation found a valuable load of cotton aboard, of which 190 bales were subsequently recovered and sent north, with the remainder to follow,” says a 2012 report for the American Battlefield Protection Program.

Hall, in his Dead Confederates blog, wrote this about the Celt after examining a Library of Congress photo (above) of its wreckage:

“There’s some interesting detail in the photograph that hint at the vessel’s origins as a local craft built under the exigencies of wartime. Celt has two engines that, while partially submerged, appear to be arranged as in a Western Rivers boat, and the valving shown looks to be almost identical. Such engines were reliable and simple but not overly efficient. They also operated under very high pressure compared to most seagoing ships, and so may have required a more robust set of boilers. Similarly, the paddlewheels are of very simple construction, with wooden arms and fixed floats (paddle blades). As with the engines, this is a very basic design, easy to build and maintain, but not efficient and somewhat coarse by shipbuilding standards of the time.”  

Interesting, a second shipwreck appears to be in the photo's background.

Beatrice: This iron screw steamer was lost on Nov. 27-28, 1864, when it came under heavy Federal fire and grounded on Drunken Dick Shoal while it was approaching the city. A local newspaper, the Charleston Mercury, summarized what happened: Bound from Nassau, the Beatrice had grounded on the beach of Sullivan’s Island during a fog earlier that morning. The steamer on attempting to enter the harbor was surrounded by Union picket barges which kept up a constant fire of grape and musketry on the vessel. The captain and eight of the crew to Battery Rutledge just as Union sailors boarded the vessel. Thirty of the crew were unaccounted for and thought captured.

Flora: The recent survey suggests the remains of the Beatrice and Flora might be next to each other (image above of magnetic field at that area, Maritime Research Division). Flora, a sidewheel steamer, grounded on Oct. 22, 1864. The crew was pursued long before reaching South Carolina and had to dump its cargo to speed away. Things really became hairy as it approached Charleston. “Passing the inner picket boats the vessel grounded in shallow water on the south side of Beach Channel. Stuck fast and impossible to refloat, the steamer was spotted in the daylight and the Union batteries on Morris Island began shelling the vessel,” according to Spirek. (Flora was mistakenly called Flamingo by the Union navy.)

Presto: The Scottish-built sidewheeler struck the wreckage of the Minho off Fort Moultrie on Feb. 2, 1864. It ran ashore while trying to enter the harbor. Federal monitors fired up the Presto, and Confederate batteries answered. By 1 p.m., the mainmast was cut away and the vessel was in flames. Several shells passed through below the waterline and most likely damaged machinery and cargo. The wreck was bombarded for a couple of more days causing the vessel to burn to the waterline. Confederate troops later salvaged sardines, jellies, fruit and liquor.

“I'm not sure why we didn’t locate Presto, as I know that it isn’t in the water,” said Spirek. 

At high tide, most of the Celt would be underwater, but the Beatrice/Flora would still be dry, officials said. Most of the Celt appears to be buried in the intertidal zone although the forward end of the wreck would still be under land rather than submerged at high water,” said Spirek.

Safeguarding, but no excavations planned

Summarizing the latest drone surveys, the archaeologist said the aim was to determine the presence or absence of the blockade runners.

Portion of Bowman's Jetty remnants with buoy (Courtesy A Civil War Traveler)

“Back in 2001 and again in 2009, we had undertaken marine remote-sensing operations to locate these four and other blockade runners in the water. While detecting several adjacent to Bowman's Jetty, we did not appear to locate the four, which gave us the idea that they were now buried under the accreted beach.”

There are no plans to conduct excavations of the presumed sites. 

“Now that we know the approximate positions of the two or three wrecks, we want to fly over them in a single flight to get a nice magnetic record of each one. We'll enter the information into the State Archaeological Site Files for record-keeping purposes and then just monitor the sites for any changes, such as erosion that may uncover portions of the wreck.” 

Search area and shifting shoreline (SCIAA-Maritime Research Division)