A trip to the lab: It was a thrill to briefly hold a conserved Enfield rifle and see one going into a preservation tank at Georgia state park. These weapons and 18 others were found in a blockade runner wreck. The goal is to put them on exhibit

Josh Headlee prepares to place an Enfield in preservative dolution (top right); at bottom are a brass trigger guard and a piece of the wooden crate used to keep rifles in place during shipment from England (Civil War Picket photos)

There are fun days and then there are really, really fun days. Today was one of the latter.

I began my adventure by hopping into my old SUV for the leafy drive to Panola Mountain State Park near Stockbridge, Ga., below Atlanta. I was excited about finally meeting Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

We have stayed in touch by phone or email for nearly 13 years about a conservation project he calls “a labor of love.”

Of course, I was equally excited about seeing the fruits of that project: Two Civil War Enfield rifles that were part of a crate of 20 lost when a Confederate blockade runner ran aground in Charleston, S.C., in 1863. South Carolina divers brought them up in the late 1980s; the artifacts eventually came to Georgia, which had larger facilities to handle them.

The conservation of the rifles last year reached a significant milestone, with the first walnut stock emerging from treatment and appearing to be doing well outside a wet environment.

I had a chance to briefly hold the rifle stock this morning before we drove over to a laboratory housed in a former golf course building. Adrian Fox, interpretive ranger at Sweetwater Creek State Park, and I had the honor of watching Headlee dip the second gun into a preservation for a two-month bath (Picket video, above).

The British-made weapons have been displayed for nearly 15 years in a 300-gallon aquarium at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County as corrosive salts are removed. Headlee, who cleans the tank a couple times a year, chose guns 9 and 10 as the first to be treated with a preservative.

Visitors to Sweetwater Creek – about 50 miles from Panola Mountain - are a bit puzzled when they first see the aquarium, said Fox and Headlee. After all, shouldn’t it contain fish or turtles? And the mass of guns, a crate and lead lining appear to be a jumble.

Park employees tell them the gun cache is inherently interesting.

Rifles in aquarium at Sweetwater Creek State Park; below a replica used to provide context (Georgia DNR)

“It gives folks a rare glimpse to see historic preservation in action,” Fox told me. Staffers often hold a replica rifle near the tank to help them visualize what’s inside.

Conservation is a long process, so there is no timetable on when the weapons  – which have been in salt or freshwater for 163 years -- are completed. And there has been no decision on where they might be exhibited, finally free of a watery environment.

Headlee says Fort McAllister State Park below Savannah might be appropriate, given the Rebel blockade runner CSS Nashville was sunk there by the Union ironclad USS Montauk.

Blockade runner wreck served up a treasure

The Pattern 1853 Enfields were carried by the blockade runner CSS Stono and were bound for Charleston, S.C., in 1863. The rifles, stored in a wooden crate, were placed in an alternating butt-to-muzzle pattern, and blocks were used to prevent the weapons from shifting. 

The Stono, laden with precious arms, munitions and goods from Europe, ran aground on a submerged sandbar off Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor while trying to evade Federal ships.

The crate likely took a hard fall, breaking a few rifles, according to Headlee. (Picket video above and photo, right, of conserved rifle, piece of crate)

Saltwater destroyed most of the iron components, including barrels, locks and bayonets. The trigger guards, butt plates and nose caps at the end of the barrels are made of brass and are still intact.

Interestingly, the nose cap is the only metal piece still attached to the wooden stock of the treated rifle. It appears to be riveted in place and conservators don't want to risk breaking the fragile stock to remove it for treatment. 

Officials did not initially know how many of the highly prized Pattern 1853 rifles were inside, their position or condition. 

Each weapon originally weighed about 9 pounds and was approximately 53 inches long. The bore is .577-caliber. 

The treated rifle I hoisted weighed probably half of that, because much of the metal (iron) had corroded away.

The brass pieces survived. The iron, not so much

Adrian Fox and Josh Headlee with untreated rifle, gun parts and piece of crate (Picket photo)

The craftsmanship involved in the manufacture of the guns was very good, Headlee previously said. “Enfield was top quality.” It was the second-most widely used infantry weapon in the Civil War after the Springfield.

The 1851 and 1853 Enfields, made for the British army, were an important technological advance from smoothbore to rifled muskets, increasing the accuracy and distance.

At least one of the weapons bears the mark, “T. Turner,” believed to be a Confederate inspector of the rifle. His name was on a stamped cartouche in the wood.

Iron in barrel (left) and ramrod area (right) of treated gun are gone; at center is the end of the stock where brass butt plate was attached (Picket photos; click to enlarge)

A tin and lead lining that sealed the cargo from salt air and ensured the rifles were not tampered with is in bad condition. Officials are not sure how much of that can be salvaged for display. The wooden lid to the box did survive and is resting in a freshwater tank with other components.

There is a silver lining to all of this: Components made of brass withstood the onslaught of corrosive saltwater.

Iron or steel screws holding the butt plates in place deteriorated over the years and the plates just slid off, said Headlee.

Conservators years ago found in the crate a bullet mold, tools and tampions -- cork and brass plugs inserted into the muzzle to ward off moisture. The team counted 20 tampions “in various states” of condition. 

Tampions are used on cannons and rifles to keep debris from falling into their barrels. (Picket photo, left, of tampion and other items at Panola Mountain.)

Headlee reached out to Enfield experts in England and elsewhere about the half dozen remnants of iron bayonets found stacked together. They told him bayonets normally would be shipped in a separate box.

“Why bayonets were in this crate I have no idea,” Headlee told the Picket last year. “They are all but gone. The fact we have this much is amazing.” The pieces are about an inch and a half long.

The Enfield fired a Minie ball. No ammunition was found in the crate.

A jug of preservative and a case of nerves

Headlee in 2022 selected two rifles  to be treated with a solution made by Preservation Solutions. Conservators previously used SP-11 to treat an intact coffin found in 2013 on the edge of the marsh at Fort McAllister, a Confederate river outpost below Savannah. Results on the coffin led to use on the Enfields.

Before the chemical treatment, the rifles are kept in water, which protects their cellular structure. 

Josh Headlee pours SP-11 preserver into tank with Enfield rifle (Picket photo)

The treatment takes about two months and the rifle is turned once.

Without immersion in a preserver, pieces of wood will shrink, warp and crack.

“They could literally just fall apart,” Headlee previously told the Picket.

SP-11 is designed to displace water in the wood with preservatives that help to solidify the wood so it can be permanently exposed to the air. (At left, butt plate and other components, Picket photo)

The curator has been watching the preserved rifle to see whether there is leaching, cracking or splitting of the wood. 

He has seen no problems; a white film appeared on some of the stock as it emerged from the tank, but it was successfully cleaned off, he added.

“So far, it looks good,” Headlee said during my visit.

If the second rifle does as well as the first, another two rifles will be selected for the preservation treatment, perhaps this summer. In the meantime, he will travel back to Sweetwater Creek in the coming weeks to clean the tank and inspect and care for its contents. Fox, the interpretive ranger, said the staff there is very interested in the progress of the work.

The curator concedes he was nervous when the first gun emerged from its bath, and he will probably want to babysit the second a bit, as well.

As for me, it was exciting to see the Enfield components up close, especially the wooden block (Picket video above) that held the rifles in place when they were crated more than 160 years ago. I just imagined a craftsman cutting the grooves in which the barrels rested.

Oh, what a day.

With groundbreaking, South Carolina hopes people across the country will help pay for a monument to Robert Smalls, the Black Civil War and civil rights hero

Basil Watson's rendering of the memorial (Robert Smalls Monument Commission)

The campaign to raise up to $2 million for a monument of Robert Smalls, an enslaved South Carolinian who became a Union hero after commandeering a Confederate vessel, officially gets under way Wednesday morning on the grounds of the State House.  

Officials in Columbia will hold a 9:30 a.m. ceremonial groundbreaking to kick off the Robert Smalls Monument Commission’s efforts. While the endeavor has state backing, it must be paid for through “grassroots” private dollars.

The state that was the first to secede from the United States -- and was ruled for generations by white supremacists -- will honor Smalls (below) with its first monument to a single African-American individual on the Capitol grounds.

Gov. Henry McMaster previously signed a bill setting up a commission that was tasked with coming up with a design and location for the monument. While that has been accomplished, some $1 million to $2 million must now be raised before the monument becomes reality.

At the start of the Civil War, Smalls, 23, was a pilot on the steamship CSS Planter. On the morning of May 13, 1862, Smalls led the takeover of the ship by its slave crew, sailed past Charleston harbor's formidable defenses and surrendered the vessel to the Union blockade fleet. His wife and children were among those on board who gained freedom.

Smalls met with President Abraham Lincoln and lobbied him to recruit black men to serve in the Union army. The former slave served as a pilot on the ship USS Crusader.

Smalls returned to his hometown Beaufort and bought his former master’s home. After the war, he served in South Carolina’s Legislature, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served several terms.

The congressman fought against the disenfranchisement of black voters across the South, according to the American Battlefield Trust.

The groundbreaking and monument will be on the lawn in the foreground (SC Dept. of Administration)

He also fought against segregation within the military, advocated for compulsory education in South Carolina, opened a school for black children and published a newspaper, among other accomplishments.

Choosing from three finalists, the commission last year chose a statue that depicts Smalls in a three-piece suit, at the height of his power in Congress.

Artist Basil Watson of Lawrenceville, Ga., created the winning design.

The monument site is located in the northeast quadrant of the State House grounds, near the visitor entrance to the building. 

McMaster will be among the speakers at the groundbreaking. State Rep. Brandon Cox will also make remarks; at an April meeting of the Smalls commission, he said the fundraising is “going national, going real big.”

Another view of the Smalls monument area (South Carolina Dept. of Administration)

As the Post and Courier newspaper pointed out, the monument will be on a 22-acre property in Columbia dominated by Confederate memorials.

“Confederate Gen. Wade Hampton, who enslaved people, has a statue, as does Benjamin Tillman, the former governor and white supremacist whose brother George used violence and intimidation to rob Smalls of his seat in Congress before his colleagues eventually removed him from office.”

Watson’s design was straightforward, with a single likeness of Smalls, rising above panels on the base describing his service and patriotism.

One panel includes a famous line uttered by Smalls in 1895:

“My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life."

Brooke Bailey, spokesperson for the State Department of Administration, told the Picket about $41,000 has been raised so far, with some of that earmarked for marketing and publicity.

To donate to the Smalls monument, go to this page and hit the “Donate” tab.

Click Robert Smalls Monument Commission map above to see where his statue will stand (near the star, on the State House grounds in Columbia.)

Of hapless blockade runners and the 'Stone Fleet' that failed to stop them: Beach restoration project near Charleston will safeguard ill-fated historic shipwrecks

Recent beach work (City of Isle of Palms), wreck of Constance (SCIAA) and sinking of "Stone Fleet" (Courtesy MIT Museum)

The latest effort to fight beach erosion and restore dunes along a barrier island near Charleston, S.C., will work around the wrecks of three Confederate blockade runners and whaling ships the Union navy sank in an effort to prevent the merchant vessels from reaching the city.

The city of Isle of Palms and state archaeological and preservation offices are developing buffer zones around the sites in preparation for dredging this year, officials said. The goal is for dredgers to pick up sand a couple miles off the coast and bring it ashore for beach nourishment.

“This project will protect our history and our shoreline for the 4,000+ residents that call our Island home and the 20,000+ visitors that enjoy our beach every day in the summer,” the city said in a recent social media post.

Scores of blockade runners tried to reach Charleston during the Civil War, but many ran aground off the Isle of Palms and nearby Sullivan’s Island. Shoals and shallow water, along with fire from Federal ships and batteries, were a constant danger.

The three blockade runners in the project area – the Georgiana, Mary Bowers and the Constance – are near the remains of what were called “Stone Fleets.”

In late 1861 and early 1862, 29 whaling and merchant vessels brought from the Northeast were deposited in the channels leading into Charleston. The idea was to hinder blockade runners who ran the extra risk of slamming into ship timbers, sand bars or stones carried in the hulls. Ships often carried stones to give them stability, improved handling and a lower center of gravity.

SCIAA graphic shows blockade runners and "Stone Fleet" areas below, above city

“The Stone Fleet’s efficacy was almost immediately diminished by the force of the natural scouring of tides as the redirected tidal waters of the harbor made new channels,” according to the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA). Most of the wrecks were dispersed by currents and shifting sand.

South Carolina underwater archaeologist Jim Spirek said while the $32 million project will encompass the three blockade runners, “the location of the current proposed borrow area is our attempt to deflect encroachment on the nearby Stone Fleet vessels.”

While the strategy was ultimately ineffective, Stone Fleet wrecks remain important cultural sites today, the city said. Ballast mounds are still visible by side-scan survey.

Beach nourishment areas in blue (City of Isle of Palms)

Dredging is anticipated to begin late spring or early summer. Sand will be placed along three placement areas, which include homes, beach access areas and the site of a playground.

The Picket has reached out to city officials for comment but has not heard back.

Wrecks 'disappeared' at nearby island

Over the years, Spirek and his colleagues have surveyed and/or dived on many blockade runner and “Stone Fleet” wrecks.

While the whereabouts of many are known, the state wanted to know more about four that are no longer visible off Sullivan’s Island. Spirek’s office last years used drones to conduct a survey of the “forgotten” wreck sites.

The remains of those vessels are are now buried deep below the beach and adjacent woodlot.

'Stone Fleet" ballast mound captured by sonagram (City of Isle of Palms)

The planned beach nourishment at the Isle of Palms has prompted Spirek to advise the State Historic Preservation Office on how to safeguard the sites.

In a case like this, “typically we propose a buffer zone around the sites to protect them from dredging and other ancillary activities, i.e., anchoring, cables,” the archaeologist said in an email to the Picket.

Bad luck be a baby for three runners

Spirek has written numerous articles about the history of these vessels and the bad luck they encountered.

That history begins with the Union blockade strategy

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. They typically sailed through Maffitt’s (or Beach) Channel.

Many did not make it, or get back to sea safely.

The Georgiana, Mary Bowers and the Constance were among the victims. Interestingly, they lie together because two ran into the wrecks of the other, the state says. We’ll explain

Georgiana: The Scottish-built ship may have been intended for military service or privateering. After picking up goods in the Bahamas, it sailed to Charleston, arriving on March 18, 1863. Federal gunner’s spotted the Georgiana in Maffitt’s Channel and crippled it. The crew abandoned the ship, according to an American Battlefield Protection Program report by Spirek. Union ships pulverized the ship and set it afire. Over the following days, Union crews salvaged various items from the wreck including Enfield rifles, bayonets, battle axes, sabers and other sundry goods.

Captains of "Stone Fleet" vessels that left New Bedford, Mass. (New Bedford Free Public Library)

Mary Bowers: This runner that stopped in Bermuda tried to enter Charleston Harbor on Aug. 31, 1864, but it struck Georgiana. It quickly sank. “Union sailors found a 16-year old boy aboard who told them he knew of no cargo other than coal, and that the steamer was to leave laden with cotton bound for Halifax, Canada.”

Constance: The side-wheeler sailed from Nova Scotia, struck the Mary Bowers on Oct. 6, 1864, and quickly sank. One sailor drowned. The next morning, USS Wamsutta reported a strange wreck lying near the wrecks of Georgiana and Mary Bowers. Casting anchor, the blockader investigated the wrecked vessel, which had two smokestacks and masts, sidewheels, lying in three fathoms of water.

State officials believe the three wrecks were near the area of the "Second Stone Fleet.”

Examples of "First Stone Fleet" ballast left on ocean floor (SCIAA)

“While the Second Stone Fleet effectiveness as a deterrent to using the Maffitt’s/Beach Channel to enter Charleston Harbor may have been marginal, the presence of the sunken vessels along with the floating vessels, made any voyage through the blockade at Charleston Harbor potentially disastrous,” a report asserts.

All three wrecks were located in the late 1960s and 1970. Numerous items were removed in licensed, private salvage operations. Sports divers later recovered artifacts from the Mary Bowers and Georgiana.

Postscript: Melville's ode to the doomed ships

Right before I published this post, I came across a December 1861 poem about the doomed “Stone Fleet” vessels by acclaimed author Herman Melville. Some of the old ships were sent to the Savannah River in Georgia to blockade enemy ships.

Melville paid tribute to them in “An Old Sailor’s Lament.”

  I have a feeling for those ships,
    Each worn and ancient one,
    With great bluff bows, and broad in the beam:
    Ay, it was unkindly done.
        But so they serve the Obsolete--
        Even so, Stone Fleet!

    You'll say I'm doting; do you think
    I scudded round the Horn in one--
    The Tenedos, a glorious
    Good old craft as ever run--
        Sunk (how all unmeet!)
        With the Old Stone Fleet.

    An India ship of fame was she,
    Spices and shawls and fans she bore;
    A whaler when the wrinkles came--
    Turned off! till, spent and poor,
        Her bones were sold (escheat)!
        Ah! Stone Fleet.

    Four were erst patrician keels
    (Names attest what families be),
    The Kensington, and Richmond too,
    Leonidas, and Lee:
        But now they have their seat
        With the Old Stone Fleet.

    To scuttle them--a pirate deed--
    Sack them, and dismast;
    They sunk so slow, they died so hard,
    But gurgling dropped at last.
        Their ghosts in gales repeat
        Woe's us, Stone Fleet!

    And all for naught. The waters pass--
    Currents will have their way;
    Nature is nobody's ally; 'tis well;
    The harbor is bettered--will stay.
        A failure, and complete,
        Was your Old Stone Fleet.

Drones pinpoint buried treasure in the form of Confederate blockade runners that ran aground in Charleston and have since disappeared under 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)

First of 20 Enfield rifles to be preserved emerges from wood treatment at Georgia lab. After 160 years in water, weapon made for South appears to be doing fine

Right side of treated rifle, bottom portion, nose cap at end of barrel, two rifles chosen for treatment (Georgia DNR)

Conservation in Georgia of 20 Enfield rifles has reached a significant milestone, with the first walnut stock emerging from treatment and appearing to be doing well outside a wet environment.

“I was thinking about it; this is the longest this rifle has been out of water in over 160 years,” said Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“I want to give it a little time to monitor it closely and make sure nothing bad is going to happen to it. However, I think it’s going to work. The rifle seems pretty stable,” he said.

The British-made weapons – which went down with a Confederate blockade runner in Charleston Harbor -- have been displayed for nearly 15 years in a 300-gallon aquarium at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County as corrosive salts are removed.

The stack of Enfield rifles in lining and crate at Sweetwater Creek State Park.

Saltwater destroyed most of the iron components, including barrels, locks and bayonets. The trigger guards, butt plates and nose caps at the end of the barrels are made of brass and are still intact.

The state’s aim is to eventually exhibit the wooden remnants of the rifles.

Lab picked two rifles for initial treatment

Headlee in 2022 selected two rifles (left, Georgia DNR) to be treated with a solution made by Preservation Solutions. Conservators previously used SP-11 to treat an intact coffin found in 2013 on the edge of the marsh at Fort McAllister, a Confederate river outpost below Savannah.

Before chemical treatment, the rifles are kept in water, which protects their cellular structure. 

Without immersion in a preserver, pieces of wood will shrink, warp and crack. “They could literally just fall apart,” Headlee previously told the Picket. (Treated rifle above, Georgia DNR. View shows were the lock and hammer would have been.)

SP-11 is designed to displace water in the wood with preservatives that help to solidify the wood so it can be permanently exposed to the air.

The curator said he is watching the preserved rifle to see if there is leaching, cracking or splitting of the wood as it continues to dry.

If this weapon remains stable, Headlee said, the second Enfield will undergo the treatment. “We’re slowly picking the hard crusty layer off of it before we put it in the wood preserver,” he added. (Left side of the rifle, above)

The items are being treated at a facility at Panola Mountain State Park east of Atlanta.

Divers pulled up prized weapons decades ago

The Pattern 1853 Enfields were carried by the blockade runner CSS Stono and were bound for Charleston, S.C., in 1863. The rifles, stored in a wooden crate, were placed in an alternating butt to muzzle pattern, and blocks were used to prevent the weapons from shifting.

The Stono, laden with precious arms, munitions and goods from Europe, in 1863 ran aground on a submerged sandbar off Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor while trying to evade Federal ships.

An archaeological diver pulled up the box carrying the 20 rifles in the late 1980s. One end was damaged, apparently when the ship sank. Some of the Enfields were damaged.

Officials did not initially know how many of the highly prized Pattern 1853 rifles were inside, their position or condition. 

Each weapon originally weighed about 9 pounds and was approximately 53 inches long. The bore is .577-caliber. (At right, treated gun, Georgia DNR. It shows were the trigger guard and assembly would have been.)

The craftsmanship involved in the manufacture of the guns was very good, Headlee previously said. “Enfield was top quality.”

The Enfield was the second-most widely used infantry weapon in the Civil War after the Springfield.

The 1851 and 1853 Enfields, made for the British army, were an important technological advance from smoothbore to rifled muskets, increasing the accuracy and distance.

At least one of the weapons bears the mark, “T. Turner,” a reference to well-known English gunmaker Thomas Turner, who turned out quality weapons in the mid-19^th century.

Barrel plugs called tampions remarkably survived

 A tin and lead lining that sealed the cargo from salt air and ensured the rifles were not tampered with is in bad condition.

But there is a silver lining to all of this: Components made of brass withstood the onslaught of corrosive saltwater. Conservators are still trying to determine how to treat them.

Iron or steel screws holding the butt plates in place deteriorated over the years and the plates just slid off, said Headlee.

Conservators years ago found in the crate a bullet mold, tools and tampions -- cork and brass plugs inserted into the muzzle to ward off moisture.

The team counted 20 tampions (above, Georgia DNR) “in various states” of condition. Tampions are used on cannons and rifles to keep debris from falling into their barrels.

Headlee finds it remarkable much of the cork used for the Enfield tampions remains.

“They were just found in a grouping. We feel like they were in a box or bag in the crate.”

A closer look at chains and bayonet remnants

The Enfields featured a nipple protector, which kept the hammer away from the firing mechanism when not in use. A chain was attached to a plug placed over the weapon’s nipple.

Headlee last year sent me a photo of one chain from the Stono guns (above, Georgia DNR). “Some of them are still on the rifles.”

He reached out to Enfield experts in England and elsewhere about the half dozen remnants of iron bayonets found stacked together. They told him bayonets normally would be shipped in a separate box.

“Why bayonets (remnant below, Georgia DNR) were in this crate I have no idea,” Headlee said. “They are all but gone. The fact we have this much is amazing.” The pieces are about an inch and a half long.

The Enfield fired a Minie ball. No ammunition was found in the crate.

Eventually, if all goes as hoped, the 20 rifles will go on display somewhere in the state.

“Even up to the end of the (Civil War), the Enfield rifle was kind of the M16 rifle of the day,” said Headlee. “It had been used for years and years. Bang for the buck, it was as good as any standard weapon.”

Springfield and Enfield rifles were neck and neck in effectiveness, he added. “They were like a Ford and a Chevy.”

Interestingly, the  nose cap is the only metal piece still attached to the wooden stock of the treated rifle. It appears to be riveted in place and conservators don't want to risk breaking the fragile stock to remove it for treatment.