News Article Release
Midshipmen Find Shipwreck Off Maryland Coast
April 27, 2012
By MC2 Alexia Rivera
Approximately 25 midshipmen concluded the Naval Academy’s first three-credit course on historical shipwrecks by successfully locating the wreck site of an early twentieth century sailing ship April 24-26.
In May 1912, the Herbert D. Maxwell was a four-masted schooner sailing from Baltimore, Md., to Wilmington, N.C., with a cargo of 1150 tons of fertilizer. The schooner was 176 feet long with a beam width of 48 feet and a capacity of 772 gross tons.
On May 16, 1912, near Annapolis, Md., Maxwell collided with the SS Gloucester which resulted in its demise. Four people died with the rest clinging to wreckage in the frigid waters waiting for rescue. The Maxwell was valued at $45,000.
The course is taught by faculty from the academy's Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Oceanography, and History Departments. It provides a multidisciplinary look at historic shipwrecks, records, technology and the science behind discovery.
In the first portion of the course, students learn archival methods used to collect and document information for research.
“Mids must do the historical work first. They find old newspapers, cases and any type of information to learn all about the ship and where it might be located,” said Virginia Lunsford, associate professor in the History Department. “The archival work provides background information, which helps determine where to go for a search. You can’t just take a ship out and start looking around. You need to do serious research first.”
Students participate in hands-on lab work, exploring various computer programs that ascertain the various oceanographic conditions, such as waves, currents and tides, that would affect the motion of a vessel once it is at sea and potentially in distress.
“Eventually when a vessel sinks, by using scientific principles one can get a better understanding of how the ocean affects the longevity of the materials of which the ship is composed and eventually its final status,” said Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering professor Robert Mayer.
The engineering portion of the course brings salvage experts who have been in the field and searched for lost vessels to share their knowledge with midshipmen through various multimedia displays.
“We were able to educate the students on how an underwater search is conducted and strategies behind our search to maximize the chances of finding a lost vessel. Once the vessel has been found, we figure out how to best plan an underwater survey to document the historical artifacts that were found on the sea floor,” said Mayer.
The course culminates in a project during which midshipmen embark on a Yard Patrol craft to conduct an at-sea search. They use a device called a “towfish” with side scan sonar that provides video images of the sea floor. If the search is well planned, they are able to see underwater images of the lost vessel helps locate the wreck.
“While underway, some students directed the captain of the YP to follow their search plan tracks while another group watched the sonar on video screens and were able to see the wreck as they went over it,” said Mayer. “We made several passes over the same area and improved some of the imagery by decreasing the swath width of the sonar device, which helped get a better return signal and images on the video screens.”
Members take the information gathered from the search and compare it with what they were expecting to find, in terms of the length of the ship, the beam, number of holes, masts and others. If that information coincides with what they actually see in the side scan sonar, they can conclude that they have found the vessel they were searching for.
According to oceanography professor Peter Guth, the program started off as an online, one-credit course, which was eventually developed into a three-credit interactive course.
“We always wanted to create a course that would get into more detail,” said Guth. “This elective course offers an opportunity to see the interdisciplinary nature of the subject and get hands-on field work.”
“I selected this course because I knew it would keep me motivated,” said Midshipman 2nd Class Nikolas Lutton. “Teachers have been very helpful and gave us the necessary information to develop our projects.”
