USS Monitor

Survey of marine life at wreck site

Biology News

USS Monitor (click to enlarge)

The Monitor fought its southern counterpart, the CSS Virginia (formerly the CSS Merrimack), to a standstill during a two-day battle, 8-9 March, 1862, the world's first encounter between armored warships. It went down in a storm later that year off the coast of North Carolina and lies now in 240 feet of water 16 miles south of Cape Hatteras. The shipwreck site was designated Monitor National Marine Sanctuary in January 1975.

The NOAA expedition will investigate how the wreck affects marine organisms living in sanctuary waters. Using non-invasive techniques, divers will conduct an inventory of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, cnidarians, corals, and sponges.

"The information collected during this expedition will help us to better understand the role the historic shipwreck has played as an artificial reef and may be important to our efforts to continue preservation of the USS Monitor," said David W. Alberg, superintendent of the sanctuary.

The biological research will be conducted by dive teams from the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, the Outer Banks Dive Center, Ocean Explorer Charters, and Associated Design. The data collected will be analyzed by the Smithsonian Institution's Marine Botany Department.

"It is vital that we can better understand the wreck as a reef as we move forward in determining how best to manage the Monitor sanctuary," said Jeff Johnston, historian for Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. "The collaboration of private citizens and a state and federal agency working together to gain a better understanding of one of America's most significant ships is a great story in itself."