"It was an overwhelming feeling, like going back into the history books" says Tim Askew, Harbor Branch's Director of Marine Operations of the first time he saw the wreck of the USS Monitor, sitting in 240 feet of water 16 miles off the coast of Hatteras, North Carolina. Since that day in 1977, the modern history of the wreck has been intimately tied to HARBOR BRANCH, which has been involved in numerous expeditions to the site. In July, the R/V Seward Johnson and the Johnson-Sea-Link (JSL) were back again as preparations were made to lift the Monitor's most historical and memorable feature, the revolving gun turret complete with its two large cannons. That gun turret, far more than any feat in battle, is responsible for the Monitor's enduring fame. The Monitor actually only had one clash at sea, which ended in a draw, against the Confederate ironclad Virginia, which many know as the Merrimac, the name of the ship whose hull it was made from. The Monitor did attack several Confederate sites on land, but its prominence in Civil War history comes from its revolutionary design. The rotating turret, a crucial military advance because it allowed guns to be aimed no matter how a ship was positioned, was the first ever on a ship. The Monitor also marked the beginning of a new era of ironclad vessels that would lead directly to today's modern warships. The Monitor's short life ended when it faced a gale off Hatteras on New Year's Eve, 1862, less than a year after she was launched. A steamer called the Rhode Island was towing her from Virginia to Charleston because the Monitor moved slowly under its own power. With only 12 inches of freeboard, or hull exposed above the waterline, it is no surprise that stormy seas doomed the Monitor. Witnesses reported that a red lantern was the last thing they saw before the ship sank, killing 16 of the 62 men aboard. The Monitor wreck was discovered in 1973 by Duke University researchers, but it was the Johnson-Sea-Link that allowed humans to visit the wreck for the first time in 115 years during a HARBOR BRANCH-sponsored expedition, in 1977. Askew piloted the JSL on that historic dive. Ironically, the first thing he saw was a red lantern, in all likelihood the very same one seen before the Monitor sank. Askew says underwater archaeologist Gordon Watts from East Carolina University, the passenger in the submersible sphere with him, thought at first that they were simply seeing a Coke can. The Navy, which had legal jurisdiction over the wreck at the time, was initially reluctant to allow the NOAA-HBOI team to retrieve the lantern, but it eventually relented, fearing that the artifact could be covered over in sand, never to be seen again. The lantern is now on display at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia, the repository for all Monitor artifacts. On later expeditions, observers watched from year to year as the Monitor's wreckage steadily deteriorated. "We've seen quite a bit of the collapse of the hull section and the stern section," says Don Liberatore, Manager of Undersea Vehicles and Chief Submersible Pilot, who has been to he wreck site both as a pilot and lockout diver numerous times since 1979. "It doesn't look anything like it did back in the 70's," he says. Finally, in 1996, managers decided that key artifacts would have to be removed or lost. The ultimate goal became removing the famous gun turret, which is 20 feet wide, nine feet high and weighs an estimated 150 tons, but getting to it was a major multi-year endeavor. The ship's steam engine was one of several things blocking the path. It was lifted from the wreck last year and shipped to the museum where it is now being preserved. This summer marked the beginning of the most elaborate phase of the Monitor's excavation, and once again HARBOR BRANCH was on hand. From June 24 to August 17, the site was transformed, through a unique partnership between the Navy and NOAA, into an oceanic industrial park. Anchored above the edge of the wreck was a 300-foot barge called Wotan that supported everything from a 500-ton crane to facilities for Navy divers. On the bottom divers worked around the clock under the watchful eyes of remotely operated vehicles, supervisors who could see their work via cameras mounted to the divers' helmets, and at times, the JSL. Thanks to funding from the NOAA's Ocean Exploration program, the R/V Seward Johnson arrived on-site late on July 14 and spent the week supporting several JSL dives each day. The main goal for those diving in the submersible was to document the wreck site using high-quality digital still and video images. The JSL also proved an important tool for revealing the site and the excavation work to people such as marine archaeologists, historians, and reporters who would not otherwise be able to see it up close. William Broad, a writer for the New York Times, took a dive that he later described in a July 18 Times article. Even with all the deterioration and some pieces removed, the wreck is an impressive site from the submersible. Though few ribs are visible any longer, the armor band reveals the outline of the Monitor's hull. Within that perimeter lies a gaping space strewn with rubble. Limited excavation of some of this area has revealed such treasures as still working thermometers and a mustard jar. But the summer's main focus was the turret, now located near the ship's bow. The first major task was to remove an impressively stout 5-foot-high armor band made of oak and pine timbers surrounded by iron. This band, which was the ship's main protection, stretched well below the waterline and all around the top of the ship's hull. When the Monitor sank the turret fell from the deck and then the ship turned and fell on top of it, leaving the belt across the turret. Planners expected the armor belt to be fragile at least in places, forcing removal in several pieces, but it turned out to be solid and a 30-foot section over the turret was removed whole on July 5, after being cut free by divers. Divers then set to work carefully clearing out inside the newly exposed turret to prepare it for lifting and to retrieve any artifacts. On July 17, a specially designed 25-ton, eight-legged claw was lowered by a barge crane over the turret. During the days that followed, divers struggled to shift it into the proper position before closing the arms to grip the turret, which was raised on August 5 and shipped to the Mariner's Museum for preservation. Many of those from HARBOR BRANCH who have been fortunate enough to be involved in work at the Monitor consider it a highlight of their career. Thanks in part to their efforts, everyone else for generations to come can visit the museum to see preserved pieces of the Monitor and take their own brief trip into a history book. Mariner's Museum - Newport News, Viginia - http://www.mariner.org NOAA Ocean Explorer - Monitor Exploration 2002 - http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov @Sea - Return to the U.S.S. Montior - http://www.at-sea.org/missions/monitor/mon_pre.html [ VIDEO FOOTAGE - QUICKTIME REQUIRED ] Panning the Wreck - extended video sequence of the U.S.S. Monitor wreck site Raising the Anchor - short sequence of the U.S.S. Monitor anchor being raised Turret Close-up - closeup footage examining the recovered turret Turret/Hull - panning shot of the turret and hull of the U.S.S. Monitor Wreck Details - closeup footage of the entire wreck