Civil War Submarine Search Continues

Alligator Jr. Civil War Submarine, Search Team

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a good New Year.

First, a huge thanks to the entire team for their continued support, especially the local members who made the GPR technology work possible last winter. Appreciation to the University of Delaware team, who came north with all their equipment and advanced data processing capabilities, for their help last year.

While we did not conclusively determine whether the sub is present or not, your efforts provided clear evidence of where it is not. Not the data point we wanted, but a data point nonetheless. The ground penetrating radar (GPR) proved the submarine was not located at the center of the lowest peak of the magnetic anomaly as determined by the aerial MAG/Drone survey.

There was a gap in the drone data between the woodline and the mapped area that corresponds to a deep ditch shown in the historical data, and with anecdotal references to an object near the Tarzan swing in the same general area. We need to check the small gap area near the Tarzan swing location.

Second, we need to determine the cause of the large magnetic anomaly. GPR data indicated undisturbed ground near the negative peak of that anomaly with no targets. I showed the data to Ralph Wilbanks, who discovered the buried Civil War submarine, Hunley. He indicated our anomaly was quite different than the Hunley's magnetic response. Ralph is a MAG guru, and in addition to marine MAG, he and Clive Cussler have searched for wrecks using aerial drones too. His analysis suggests a vertical steel object, such as a well casing. That doesn't make sense in a marsh. As a side note, since we are working in a marsh, he has dubbed Al Jr. the "mud Sub".

Having said that, there is a possibility, as previously outlined, that the survey only covered half the aerial drone anomaly, and the target is outside the drone search data near the treeline. This is plausible given that the magnetic target is at the inflection point between the negative and positive portions of the anomaly. The aerial drone data only shows a negative response, having possibly cut off, due to non-coverage, of the positive leg.

The new survey, which includes a high-resolution walking MAG, is designed to answer both questions.

We are waiting for the gear to come back from a job, so the schedule is still up in the air. We must complete this effort before the end of February, and if these gear options cannot deliver, we will need Plan B. I always have plans B and C in mind, but plan A is the most efficient and cost-effective.

I should know more in the next week or two.

A quick side note: Steve Nagiewicz, Dr. Art Trembanis, and I are working on a book on marine technology and archaeology. A chocolate and peanut butter topic, if you will. The Al Jr search, because of the many technologies incorporated into the Al Jr effort over the years, will be included