South Carolina Naval Wreck Survey

From 1998 through 2003, the Maritime Research Division (MRD) of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology (SCIAA) at the University of South Carolina (USC) conducted research into the presence of US Navy shipwrecks in South Carolina waters. The US Navy claimed 96 shipwrecks in the state. However, historical research confirmed that, in fact, only 47 Navy-owned vessels met their demise in state waters. The remaining shipwrecks include, US Army transports, vessels owned by the Confederacy at the time of their sinking, and a number of vessels that flew foreign flags. The United States Navy maintained a presence in South Carolina from the late 18th century until 1996, when the Charleston Navy Base was closed. The 200 plus years of the US naval presence in South Carolina has resulted in a number of shipwrecks caused by war, nature, and accident. The War Between the States saw the largest casualty rate for warships on both sides of the conflict, many of which met their end in state waters, where much of the naval conflict occurred. Following historical research, the UAD took to the water, locating or verifying the existence of shipwrecks in each category using state-of-the-art remote sensing equipment especially developed for the Division. This lecture presents the results of the multi-year study that partnered the Division with the Naval Historical Center (NHC) in Washington, DC. The presentation consists of 51 slides. The first six pages of the downloadable file is the text which accompanied the presentation, and the remaining 51 pages are the presentation slides