The Civil War in the Gulf is defined by the Northern strategy of the blockade
of Southern ports and the daring attempts by Confederate vessels to run this
blockade. A number of important Civil War
vessels have been located in state waters, such as the Confederate ironclads CSS
Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, and the Huntsville and Tuscaloosa in
the Mobile River. The remains of the Union
ironclad Tecumseh, whose sinking by a Confederate mine prompted Farragut’s
famous order "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" are well known off Fort
Morgan, Alabama. Only one U.S. warship, however,
was sunk at sea in the Gulf. This important
shipwreck, the USS Hatteras, has been the subject of repeated investigations by
the MMS, the Texas Historical Commission, and Texas A&M University at Galveston.
Constructed in 1861 by the Harlan and Hollingsworth Company of Wilmington,
Delaware, for the Charles Morgan line of Gulf coast
steamships, the vessel was originally known as the St. Mary. An iron-hulled
steamer of 1450 tons, the side-wheel steamer was purchased by the U.S. Navy in
September 1861 and converted into a gun boat during the same year.
The vessel was armed with four 32-pounder cannon
(a 20-pounder rifled cannon was added later) and renamed Hatteras.
After distinguished service in the South
Atlantic Blockading Squadron, the vessel was transferred to the Gulf Blockading
Squadron on January 26, 1862. In less than a
year, the Hatteras captured seven Confederate blockade runners off Vermilion
Bay, Louisiana. Early in 1863, she was ordered
to join the squadron under Rear Admiral David Farragut, who was attempting to
retake the key Texas port of Galveston, Texas.
As the blockading squadron lay off the coast on the afternoon of January 11,
1863, a set of sails was sighted just over the horizon and the Hatteras was
ordered to give pursuit. She chased the intruder
for four hours, closer and closer into shore, and farther and farther from her
supporting fleet. Finally, as dusk was falling,
the Hatteras came within hailing distance of the square-rigged, black-hulled
vessel. Commander Homer C. Blake demanded to
know the identity of the ship. "Her Britannic
Majesty’s Ship Vixen," came the reply. Blake ordered one of Hatteras’ boats
launched to inspect the "Britisher." Almost as
soon as the boat was piped away, a new reply came from the mystery ship, "We are
the CSS Alabama!" A broadside from the Alabama’s
guns punctuated the reply. Within 13 minutes,
the Hatteras, sinking rapidly, surrendered.
The Hatteras today rests in 58 feet of water about 20 miles off Galveston.
Her 210-foot long iron hull is completely buried
under about three feet of sand. Only the remains
of her 500-horsepower walking beam steam engine and her two iron paddle wheels
remain exposed above the sea floor. Since the
site’s discovery in the 1970's, MMS has engaged in periodic monitoring of the
wreck to ensure that it is not damaged by surrounding oil and gas lease
development. Although the wreck remains the
property of the U.S. Navy, MMS has joined forces with the THC and Texas A&M at
Galveston to preserve this important archaeological treasure for posterity.
The wreck of the US Hatteras is an integral part of the story of the Civil War
on the Texas coast, the defense of which is regarded as one of the greatest
military feats of the Confederacy. The ship’s
dramatic history, along with the fact that the remains of the vessel are
virtually intact, make it one of the most important underwater archaeological
sites in the United States.
Further Reading:
Arnold, J. Barto, III
and Richard J. Anuskiewicz. “USS Hatteras: Site Monitoring and Mapping” in
Proceedings of the Society for Historical Archaeology and Conference for
Underwater Archaeology pgs., 82-87.
J. Barto Arnold III and Jack Hudson, "The U.S.S. Hatteras: A Preliminary Report
on Remote Sensing Data and Litigation," in In the Realms of Gold: The
Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Underwater Archaeology, ed. W. A.
Cockrell (San Marino, California, 1981).
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (8 vols., Washington: U.S. Navy,
1959-81), Vol. 3.
Ships of Exploration |
19th Century Steamships |
Civil War Shipwrecks
World War II Shipwrecks |
Deepwater Shipwrecks