During the survey the seabed for search carried hurricane “Ike” junk off the coast of Texas the remains of merchant ship “Caroline” sank in 1864 a were found. It is anticipated that they had previously been hidden by a layer of sand and silt, but the hurricane completely “cleaned” the bottom of the bay and made the splinters accessible to researchers, the Associated Press reports.
According to historical data, a private merchant vessel had tried to break through the blockade of the city Galvestoun organized by warships northerners during the Civil War years in the U.S. 1861-1865. After unsuccessful attempts to evade prosecution team had sent a ship in shallow waters where, in order to avoid enemy capture, it was burned. Remains of “Carolina” sanked.
Researchers believe that fragments detected by sonar are in the anticipated location of flooding of the merchant ship, but the exact coordinates of the findings are not disclosed. This is done to protect it from looters and “black archeologists”. The survey of the of the rubble “of Carolina” opened at the bottom by divers will take place in spring or summer in this year.
During the study bottom the location of two more wrecks during the Civil War ships were also confirmed, which had previously acquired the status of protected archaeological sites. In addition, on the sea bottom and found a lot of other things: sunken boats, washing machines, furniture and even refrigerators.
Powerful Hurricane “Ike” hit the Texas coast on Sept. 13, 2008. The victims of the elements were approximately 67 people. “Ike” destroyed many houses, washed roads, violated electricity disabled the network supplying of water and gas. According to the insurance companies, the total damage from the storm amounted to 18 billion dollars.