Another Possible Location for the Bonhomme Richard?
“I have not yet begun to fight,” the immortal words uttered by Captain John Paul Jones, have served as the model of grit and determination for generations of U.S. sailors.
Now, Jones’ retort also can describe what is becoming a fight to prove which between competing claims is the actual location of his lost flagship, the Bonhomme Richard.
Academics, oceanographers, and naval historians have been following the search for the Continental Navy warship for years. Then, this past November, a small satellite imagery firm in England announced it had pinpointed the wreck’s location just off the Yorkshire coast.
Combining data from historical accounts of the Bonhomme Richard’s 3 September 1779 battle with HMS Serapis and publicly available satellite imagery and X-ray data, a team from Merlin Burrows is confident it has located the wreck of Jones’ famed ship, said Bruce Blackburn, the firm’s chief executive.
Scans of the wreck show what Blackburn believes are a ship’s bell and a figurehead from the Bonhomme Richard. The British press, including the BBC, ran stories of the find with photos of burnt timbers said to be from the famous ship.
Across the Atlantic, however, U.S.-based researchers who have been searching for the ship for decades say not so fast. The same historical documents Blackburn used, such as eyewitness accounts, ship logs, and sea drift modeling, suggest Jones’ ship sank farther from shore, contends Melissa Ryan, vice president of the Connecticut-based Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration and the organization’s lead Bonhomme Richard researcher. Ryan started the foundation’s Bonhomme Richard project in 2006, working with U.S., British, and French navy officials.
Wooden shipwrecks, such as the one Blackburn found, litter the sea floor close to shore along the eastern coast of Great Britain. Some probably date as far back as Viking times. As searches move away from the coast, however, Ryan says shipwrecks are farther apart and the vessels tend to be modern in design—made of steel and with engine components. This part of the coast is called Torpedo Alley because of the abundance of shipping sunk by German submarines during both world wars.
In the middle of Torpedo Alley in 2012, Ryan’s team found what the ocean explorer says is definitely a wooden shipwreck. “Why would a wooden ship sink that far offshore when it hadn’t run up against a rock or reef?” Ryan asks.
The answer is simple, she says. The wreck her team found suffered damage in battle. Based on the history of the Bonhomme Richard’s engagement with the Serapis, Ryan says both ships moved toward the horizon. Jones, in victory, took over Serapis and salvaged what he could from the Bonhomme Richard, which was severely damaged and drifting with the current.
Her team has found an anchor that corresponds in size to one believed to have been on the Continental Navy ship and rigging material that suggests the wreck is from the appropriate era.
Blackburn realizes other researchers are skeptical of his team’s findings. “It’s obviously a bitter pill to swallow. Their ladder is up against the wrong wall,” he said of the skeptics. “We don’t expect them to be jumping for joy, but our discovery of the Bonhomme Richard is 100 percent absolutely true.”
Blackburn has offered to sell his data to the U.S. Navy, considered the owner of the long-lost ship. He’s still waiting for a response. “We were going to charge money,” the Merlin Burrows CEO said. “We are a business.”
The wreck Ryan’s team found is mostly buried by compacted sediment, which likely kept the ship’s remnants well preserved. She hopes the find will shed light on what it took to retrofit what originally was a merchant ship into the warship Bonhomme Richard.
“The ship’s bell is the holy grail because it would have Duc de Duras, the ship’s original name,” Ryan said.
—Ben Werner
New Clue May Help Explain Civil War Sub’s Loss
Clemson University conservators have uncovered new evidence that may help explain why the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley vanished off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, on 17 February 1864. The new discovery resulted from the long process of removing concretion—a rock-hard layer of sand, shell, and sea life—that gradually had encased the Hunley during the nearly 136 years she rested on the sea floor.
Removing the concretion revealed several clues that are helping scientists piece together the events that led to the loss of the world’s first successful combat submarine. The most interesting discovery was a broken pipe that may have allowed water to flow into the submarine the night the crew perished.
The intake pipe was meant to fill the forward ballast tank with water, but scientists found a roughly 1-inch gap where the pipe should have been mounted on the side wall of the submarine. If the pipe broke off the night of the Hunley’s historic mission, it may have contributed to the sinking of the submarine and the loss of her crew.
This new evidence is not conclusive. The pipe could have become disconnected over time while the Hunley was lost at sea. “Unfortunately, there are no easy answers when investigating what led to a complex 150-year-old sinking,” said Clemson University archaeologist Michael Scafuri. Still, it is a significant discovery that should help tell the full story of the Hunley’s fate.
The Hunley disappeared in 1864 after sinking the USS Housatonic, marking the first time a submarine sank a warship in combat. She would remain lost for more than a century, until New York Times best-selling author Clive Cussler located her in 1995. The Hunley was raised in 2000 and sent to a laboratory in North Charleston to be preserved, but scientists had a difficult time studying the artifact until the layer of concretion was removed. Now they can finally see the finer features and operations of the innovative submarine that forever changed naval history.
The broken pipe discovery intrigued archaeologists because it could offer new information about whether the crew drowned or died from lack of oxygen in the sub. If the pipe did burst the night of the attack, the submarine certainly would have taken on water. But would it have been enough to drag the vessel down to the ocean floor? Researchers at the University of Michigan, who partnered with Clemson University and the Office of Naval Research on the Hunley investigation, say yes.
Another possibility is that the pipe simply could have broken over time while the submarine rested on the sea floor. Archaeologists say the pipe already was under stress given the way it was mounted to the curve of the hull, making it a likely fracture or failure point.
Removing the concretion was physically and mentally exhausting. Conservators stayed curled in various awkward positions for hours working in the small crew compartment. One mistake—a drop of a tool or a slip of the hand—could cause permanent damage to the fragile artifact.
Now that the Hunley has been mostly cleaned of this material, she will sit in a conservation bath for approximately five years to preserve the metal and make her ready for permanent public display.
Pensacola Lighthouse Marks 160th Anniversary
Nearly 100 invited guests attended an 11 January ceremony on board Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola marking the 160th anniversary of one of northwest Florida’s most well-known landmarks.
The Pensacola Lighthouse and Museum, accessible through NAS Pensacola on Pensacola Bay, was celebrated at the hour-long ceremony, during which Pensacola Lighthouse Association founders offered remarks about the 171-foot tower. The celebration marked not only the structure’s 160th anniversary but also the end of a four-year, multimillion-dollar restoration effort.
The current lighthouse is the second iteration in Pensacola; the first was completed in 1824 but was deemed “insufficient, too short, and light not bright enough” by sea captains working in the area. Congress appropriated funds in 1854 for the current lighthouse; construction began in 1856 and was completed two years later. The lighthouse’s Fresnel lens was lit for the first time on 1 January 1859.
Restoration efforts during the four-year refurbishment included repair of 300 feet of linear cracks on the exterior, replacement of 110 of the structure’s 177 stairs, restoration of the ironwork at the top, restoration of the lens, and complete restoration of all associated buildings. According to Jon Hill, executive director of the museum: “All work was completed without the benefit of federal dollars. It was completed entirely through earned income, donations, and grants.”
NAS Pensacola Commanding Officer Captain Christopher Martin, guest speaker at the ceremony, remarked on how the iconic lighthouse is part of the history of a base that has trained naval aviators for a century.
Since the lighthouse was lit in 1859, the structure has survived cannon fire, two lightning strikes, and the Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886. In 1965, the lighthouse became automated and was no longer manned by the U.S. Coast Guard. Although still in use, most of the Pensacola Lighthouse’s historic buildings, including the lighthouse keeper’s quarters, were left to decline and in 1991 were slated for demolition. An effort from Navy Cultural Resource Officer Richard Callaway, however, saved the facility’s structures and helped found an organization to care for and restore the lighthouse.