Museum Offers Macabre Opportunity

 

On December 30th  and 31st, the Mariners Museum in Virginia is offering an unusual opportunity—six winners of an auction will be able to step inside the USS Monitor turret on the anniversary of its sinking, 150 years ago. This Civil War warship has an incredible 120-ton wrought iron revolving gun turret. The individuals bid in an online auction offered by the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News and the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary which ended on December 2. In addition to the turret, the Museum also houses the USS Monitor’s vibrating side-lever steam engine and two XI-inch Dahlgren shell guns and their gun carriages.


To find out more about the history of the USS Monitor and its excavation, TAMU Press’ book USS Monitor: A Historic Ship Completes Its Final Voyage by John D. Broadwater gives its full history. With lavish illustrations, photographs, and site drawings, USS Monitor can be enjoyed by naval warfare buffs, professional involved in maritime archaeology, or Civil War aficionados. Broadwater is a retired chief archaeologist from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.