Perry
CSS Tuscaloosa and CSS Huntsville
Mon May 14 16:55:23 2001


According to this site: www.ameritech.net/users/maxdemon/confed.htm and a few books I've read, the CSS Huntsville and the CSS Tuscaloosa were sunk 12 miles above Mobile in the Spanish River. This piqued my interest and I emailed Robert Holcombe curator of the Port Columbus Museum about any recover work that might have been done on the two ships. His response was as follows, but has anyone heard of any recovery of artifacts from the two ships since they were located?

Remains of the Confederate ironclads Huntsville & Tuscaloosa were located in the early 1980s by a group from Mobile headed by Sidney Schell, local attorney. Both wrecks were found buried under bottom sediment, with only a small portion of one jutting above the bottom. I believe the wrecks were investigated several times but to my knowledge no more has been done. You might be able to find out more by contacting the Mobile office of the Corps of Engineers. Dottie Gibbens and Jerry Nielson were archaeologist with the Mobile District Corps but I'm not at all certain they are still there - it's been a while since I had contact with either.

Hope this information helps.

Robert Holcombe
Curator/Naval Historian
Port Columbus