Mariners’ Museum Panel on U.S.S.Monitor Crew Identification

Posted in Memory by Andy Hall on December 7, 2012

From the museum:

Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 7 PM, The Mariners’ invites you to join us for a special panel discussion entitled Giving Back Their Names: The Effort to Identify the Lost Monitor Boys.

The discussion will feature USS Monitor experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and The Mariners’ Museum, who will talk about the ongoing effort to identify two Monitor sailors whose remains were recovered 10 years ago. Panelists will also discuss the night 150 years ago that the Monitor sank, in a gale off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., claiming 16 lives.

The discussion will broach facial reconstructions by Louisiana State University forensics experts, and historical and archaeological information about the Monitor‘s final moments. The experts will also discuss the upcoming dedication of a memorial for the sailors, and ongoing efforts to inter the sailors at Arlington National Cemetery.

The panelists will also reveal and discuss recently conserved personal possessions from Monitor‘s crew that were recovered by archaeologists from the revolving gun turret. These special artifacts have never before been displayed in the Monitor Center.

Panelists at the Dec. 11 event will include David Alberg, Superintendent of NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, John Broadwater, former Chief Archaeologist at the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and David Krop, Director of the USS Monitor Center. The session will be moderated by Anna Holloway, Curator of the USS Monitor Center.

This event is free and open to the public. Members are encouraged to reserve a seat by calling (757) 591-7751.

For information on the fall 2012 lecture series, click here.