On 6 March at the Navy Memorial in Washington, NOAA unveiled the clay-cast reconstructed faces of two skulls that had been recovered from the iconic turret of the famed Civil War ironclad USS Monitor after it was raised and transported to the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia, during the summer of 2002. The hope is that someone will emerge who may be a descendant and willing to compare their DNA with that collected from the remains of the two Monitor crewmen who perished with 14 shipmates when the ironclad sank in December 1862 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. This would help ascertain their identities, after which the remains will be buried with full military honors, possibly at Arlington National Cemetery. The following photo essay captures this momentous event, which included an unveiling ceremony and a lecture detailing the engineering feats that brought the largest of the Monitor’s artifacts from the ocean floor to the surface.
Featured speakers for the unveiling ceremony were: Retired Navy Vice Admiral John Totushek, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation, who delivered the opening remarks; David W. Alberg, superintendent of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary; Mary H. Manheim, director of Louisiana State University’s Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) laboratory, which performed the reconstruction; and retired Navy Rear Admiral Jay A. DeLoach, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, and Daniel J. Basta, director of NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
Among the distinguished group gathered for the event were: Retired Navy Rear Admiral William Thompson, who guided the establishment of the Navy Memorial, sharing a laugh with Clyde Smith, special projects director and trustee for the National Underwater & Marine Agency—both of whom accompanied novelist and explorer Clive Cussler on the dives that eventually located another Civil War vessel, the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley; retired Navy Captain Barbara L. “Bobbie” Scholley, on-scene commander of the expedition to raise the Monitor’s turret and commanding officer of the Navy’s Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two; Dr. John D. Broadwater, now retired from NOAA, was chief scientist for the Monitor Expedition 2002 turret-raising and manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary; and Dr. James P. Delgado, director of NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program in the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, who said prior to the event: “It is poignant and powerful when you realize these men [the Monitor crewmen] died 150 years ago in service to the nation. They could be the kid or guy next door.” Following the program, a wreath to honor the Monitor crew was placed beside the iconic “Lone Sailor” on the plaza of the Navy Memorial.