{"id":9965,"date":"2018-05-30T08:33:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T12:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=9965"},"modified":"2018-06-16T21:56:18","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T01:56:18","slug":"currents-diving-into-darkness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/previous-issues\/2018-2\/spring-2018\/currents-diving-into-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"CURRENTS: Diving into Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JULIE LEIBACH<\/h3>\n
\"\"

Divers can barely make out their hand in front of their faces at the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> wreck site. Can you see the porthole?<\/p><\/div>\n

Underwater archaeologist Greg Stratton knew he had reached the wreck site of the Agnes E. Fry<\/em>, a Civil War-era blockade runner, when he scraped his hand against its iron hull during a reconnaissance dive in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just took all the skin off my knuckles,\u201d says Stratton, who works for the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology<\/a>. \u201cI was like: Oh, there\u2019s the vessel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The underwater conditions at the site are, in a word, terrible. The ship rests near Oak Island less than three miles from the Cape Fear River mouth, and less than a quarter-mile from the upwell pipes of a nuclear power plant. The pipes\u2019 output \u201cconstantly churns the water,\u201d Stratton says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s literally like diving in coffee, every time,\u201d he says. \u201cThe five times I\u2019ve been out there, my best day was a foot of visibility. Three of the times it was completely zero visibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Agnes E. Fry<\/em> is one of about 5,000 wrecks thought to exist off North Carolina\u2019s coast. Of those, the state has site files on nearly a thousand, according to Stratton.<\/p>\n

Where Civil War wrecks are concerned, the Cape Fear area is a hotspot. Historical records show the waters off Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties contain 34 vessels \u2014 the highest density of Civil War-era ships in the world. Many have been added to the Cape Fear Civil War Shipwreck District, under the National Register of Historic Places. The majority are iron-hulled steamers like the Agnes E. Fry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

FOLLOWING A HUNCH<\/h3>\n

\"\"Archaeologists first located what they thought was the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> on Feb. 27, 2016, after acting on a hunch.<\/p>\n

John W. \u201cBilly Ray\u201d Morris, deputy state archaeologist with a maritime focus, and fellow underwater archaeologist Gordon Watts had been conducting an updated survey of Civil War-era wrecks around the port of Wilmington as part of a National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program grant.<\/p>\n

Shifts in sediment had exposed those sites to an extent Morris and Watts had never seen in their combined 80-plus years of experience. They wondered if the same sediment conditions might hold elsewhere in the vicinity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there were three wrecks on the other side of the river \u2014 three blockade runners \u2014 that had never been found: the Agnes Fry<\/em>, the Georgiana McCaw<\/em>, and the S<\/em>punkie<\/em>,\u201d Morris says.<\/p>\n

With their scheduled survey work done for the day, Morris and Watts decided to investigate. They motored toward Oak Island, following a path where they suspected the blockade runners to be.<\/p>\n

Equipped with sonar and a magnetometer, which detects changes in Earth\u2019s magnetic field, they searched for a signal. Astonishingly, they found one. \u201cWe both cracked up,\u201d Morris recalls.<\/p>\n

From their instruments readings, it was clear they\u2019d found the remains of an ironhulled ship stretching more than 200 feet. \u201cWe were pretty sure we had Agnes Fry<\/em>,\u201d Morris says.<\/p>\n

Since the wreck\u2019s discovery, researchers have confirmed the identity, without a shred of doubt.<\/p>\n

For the past two years, they\u2019ve been intensively studying the vessel through remote sensing, reconnaissance diving and archival digging. The effort is part of a collaborative research project led by the state\u2019s Underwater Archaeology Branch<\/a> and the Institute for International Maritime Research<\/a>, based in Washington, N.C.<\/p>\n

North Carolina Sea Grant provided research funding, and the project team submitted its final report in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis maritime heritage research was extremely interesting,\u201d notes John Fear, deputy director of Sea Grant. \u201cWe were pleased that the results helped to identify this cultural resource as the Fry<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

WEAVING A TIMELINE<\/h3>\n
\"\"

A comparison of images of the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> created by sector-scan sonar, left, and side-scan sonar, right, reveals the precision of the former technique. Courtesy Nautilus Marine Group and DNCR<\/p><\/div>\n

Scottish shipwrights originally built the vessel for a mail service company. The boat quickly changed hands when the Wilmington-based Crenshaw and Company purchased it for use as a blockade runner. During the Civil War, the Confederacy employed these stealthy steamers to sneak supplies past Union blockades and into Southern ports.<\/p>\n

Historical records show that, after several attempts to break through a blockade of Wilmington, the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> made one successful delivery in November 1864. On Dec. 27, the ship met its demise, running aground less than a month before Fort Fisher fell to Union forces.<\/p>\n

Clues into the ship\u2019s final moments came from an unexpected source: a diary belonging to one of its crew, Bernard Roux Harding. His great-granddaughter Mary Timberlake Parker had inherited Harding\u2019s manuscript and sent an annotated version to the state\u2019s underwater archaeology office shortly after it announced the wreck\u2019s discovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got an actual firsthand account of how the ship ran aground,\u201d Morris says. Based on Harding\u2019s notes, the Agnes E. Fry\u2019s<\/em> pilot had panicked at what he thought was an enemy vessel. Researchers now suspect that the pilot hadn\u2019t spied a foe, but rather a sister blockade runner already run aground.<\/p>\n

For his part, ship captain Joseph Fry survived the mishap, though he met his own fate nine years later. Cuban authorities caught him running munitions for insurrectionists during an uprising against Spanish occupation. Officials executed 53 crew members \u2014 including Fry<\/em>. Though Americans clamored for war, the U.S. resolved the affair peacefully.<\/p>\n

A U.S. naval vessel went to retrieve Fry\u2019s ship \u2014 a former blockade runner called the Virginius<\/em>. In a historical coincidence, it, too, ran aground near Wilmington.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, within 11 miles of each other, we have two blockade runners from two different wars built on the same river in Scotland commanded by the same captain,\u201d Morris says.\u201cNow how cool is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

GAINING PERSPECTIVE<\/h3>\n
\"\"

Divers recovered a handmade knife handle from the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> wreck. Courtesy DNCR<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Divers also found a deck light, a low-tech device used to reflect light into dark crannies. Courtesy DNCR<\/p><\/div>\n

Several years after the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> struck bottom, the U.S. Navy extracted some of its machinery. Then in 1909, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed sections that obstructed navigation but salvaged nothing else.<\/p>\n

The final official record of the ship \u2014 a 1920 report from the Oak Island Life Saving Station \u2014 describes the Agnes E. Fry<\/em>\u2019s general location. That the station didn\u2019t mark its precise position on any charts is a \u201cmystery,\u201d Stratton says.<\/p>\n

For the last century, the vessel has remained largely undisturbed, 18 feet underwater.<\/p>\n

Despite the abysmal diving conditions at the site, archaeologists have managed to collect three artifacts, including a piece of coal, a deck light \u2014 a low-tech device designed to reflect light into dark places \u2014 and a handmade knife handle. \u201cWhen you put it in your hand, you can actually feel the finger joints,\u201d Stratton says.<\/p>\n

The items were \u201cjust lying there inside the vessel, in the bottom sediment,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

For a clearer picture of the Agnes E. Fry\u2019s<\/em> current state, the project team used two types of sonar: side-scan sonar pulled by boat over a site, and sector-scan sonar. The latter is positioned in the water at different points around a site and scans in a 360-degree rotation.<\/p>\n

The researchers recruited special ops divers from the Charlotte Fire Department Rescue Squad to position the sector-scan sonar, which was donated by Nautilus International Marine Group. Together sector scans form a composite called a mosaic, which is far more precise than the data collected from side-scan sonar.<\/p>\n

The Agnes E. Fry<\/em> looks good for its age. In fact, it\u2019s one of the best-preserved blockade runner wrecks discovered to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how intact it is,\u201d Stratton says. What\u2019s more, additional artifacts might be hiding within.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the Agnes Fry<\/em> ran aground right at the end of the war \u2014 right before the Union attacked and captured Fort Fisher \u2014 it was never unloaded,\u201d Morris says. Given its superior state of preservation, \u201cthere\u2019s a really good chance that her cargo is still on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project team is currently determining \u201cthe best methodological approach\u201d to investigating the cargo holds, Morris says.<\/p>\n

STEAMING AHEAD<\/h3>\n

Last year, the state named the Condor<\/em>, another Civil War-era blockade runner, as its first heritage dive site<\/a>. Sea Grant also supported research on that vessel, which sits near Fort Fisher, 25 feet underwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Condor<\/em> is infinitely more diveable\u201d than the Agnes E. Fry<\/em>, Stratton says. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing \u2014 they\u2019re both about the same depth, about the same distance from shore, but one sits up here in front of the [Fort Fisher] museum, and the other sits down off the mouth of the river.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the public won\u2019t be diving on the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> any time soon, they might someday marvel at a 3D model. The project team also plans to nominate the vessel for listing in the Cape Fear Civil War Shipwreck District as part of an effort to add all the known vessels from that time period.<\/p>\n

Despite the various challenges, documenting archaeological sites like the Agnes E. Fry<\/em> is critical to preserving the state\u2019s maritime heritage. A wreck is a \u201cnonrenewable resource,\u201d Stratton says. \u201cOnce it\u2019s gone, it\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JULIE LEIBACH Underwater archaeologist Greg Stratton knew he had reached the wreck site of the Agnes E. Fry, a Civil War-era blockade runner, when he scraped his hand against its iron hull during a…<\/p>\n

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