On the evening of February 2, 1864, Confederate Commander John
Taylor Wood led 250 sailors in two launches and twelve boats to
capture the USS Underwriter, a side-wheel steam gunboat anchored on
the Neuse River near New Bern, North Carolina. During the ensuing
fifteen-minute battle, nine Union crewmen lost their lives, twenty
were wounded, and twenty-six fell into enemy hands. Six
Confederates were captured and several wounded as they stripped the
vessel, set it ablaze, and blew it up while under fire from
Union-held Fort Anderson. The thrilling story of USS Underwriter is
one of many involving the numerous shipwrecks that occupy the
waters of Civil War history. Many years in the making, W. Craig
Gaines's Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks is the definitive
account of more than 2,000 of these American Civil War--period
sunken ships. From Alabama's USS Althea, a Union steam tug lost
while removing a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River, to
Wisconsin's Berlin City, a Union side-wheel steamer stranded in
Oshkosh, Gaines provides detailed information about each vessel,
including its final location, type, dimensions, tonnage, crew size,
armament, origin, registry (Union, Confederate, United States, or
other country), casualties, circumstances of loss, salvage
operations, and the sources of his findings. Organized
alphabetically by geographical location (state, country, or body of
water), the book also includes a number of maps providing the
approximate locations of many of the wrecks -- ranging from the
Americas to Europe, the Arctic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. Also
noted are more than forty shipwrecks whose locations are in
question.
Since the 1960s, the underwater access afforded by SCUBA gear
has allowed divers, historians, treasure hunters, and
archaeologists to discover and explore many of the American Civil
War-related shipwrecks. In a remarkable feat of historical
detective work, Gaines scoured countless sources -- from government
and official records to sports diver and treasure-hunting magazines
-- and cross-indexes his compilation by each vessel's various names
and nicknames throughout its career.
An essential reference work for Civil War scholars and buffs,
archaeologists, divers, and aficionados of naval history,
Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks revives and preserves for
posterity the little-known stories of these intriguing historical
artifacts.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
April 2008 |
First published: |
May 2008 |
Authors: |
W.Craig Gaines
|
Dimensions: |
254 x 203 x 26mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards / With dust jacket
|
Pages: |
264 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-3274-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8071-3274-8 |
Barcode: |
9780807132746 |
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