Shipwreck in the mountains?

Right here in my hometown in 12' of water...

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thedahloneganugget.com/articles/2010/06/09/news/02%20site%20of%20century-old%20steamboat%20pinpointed.txt

	Quote:	Posted by {author}
Underwater archaeologist Chip Wright said he's seen a lot of shipwrecks in his day, but he usually doesn't find them in the foothills of the Appalachians. ?You wouldn't think there'd be one in the North Georgia mountains,? said the Gainesville resident as he floated in the Chestatee River, just a few feet from the submerged hull of a century-old steam boat. The big discovery was made late last month when, under the direction of local historians Anne Amerson and Chris Worick, Wright pinpointed the wreckage of the boat which was owned by 1800s mining entrepreneur P. H. Loud. It was this boat that carried his specialized diving bell that had been salvaged from the waters nearly 30 years ago. With a restored bell on the way to downtown Dahlonega, a natural interest in the boat that carried it began to develop. Worick poured over ancient microfilm as he narrowed down the craft's watery demise to the year of 1877. Amerson talked to locals who were there when the bell was towed from the waters in 1983. And then, last month, they convinced Wright to join in the search. They would soon discover that the 12-foot deep section of the river that winds past the 18th green of the Achasta golf course had been hiding much more than driftwood and lost golf balls all these years. Visibility was good beneath the surface of the Chestatee Saturday, May 22 as the diver meticulously moved through a mental grid he had established at the bottom of the river. Wright had spent much of the day submerged, but wasn't having any luck. ?At that point I took my grid and basically moved it upstream,? he said. ?I got up underneath a root ball of a big tree that had snagged in the river. I was searching around and trying to find anything that might tip me off as to something manmade. Then I grabbed a log, what I thought was a log, to pull myself out. And I was like ?Son of a gun, that's not a log. That's actually a timber.' That's when I realized that I had grabbed on to the side of the ship.? Amerson was standing on the river bank when an excited Wright burst to the surface. ?He popped up and said ?I found it!'? she said. Amerson made a call to Worwick who was on duty in the guard booth of the country club. ?She was giving me the play by play,? said Worick. Amerson used two words to describe the discovery. ?Sheer elation,? she said. ?We've been waiting to find out about that boat for so long.? Now that the location has been pinpointed, the real detective work begins. Last Friday Wright was able to determine that about half of the boat appears to be underneath the banks of the river, which have collapsed on the back of the hull. He has also located the hole in the deck which apparently housed the diving bell that started it all. More discoveries are sure to follow as the group will begin to gather information on the size and shape of the boat, while hopefully uncovering some preserved mining tools in the process. ?I'll tell you, every time you do this it's just like the first time,? said Wright. ?Because it's like searching for a needle it the haystack. You know it's there, but you don't know if it's going to reveal itself. And when it does, it's just amazing.?