Conservators from The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., and scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently burst the bubble of believers in an enduring Civil War myth.
In late August they said they were able to debunk a 142-year-old legend with 90-percent confidence after spending most of the month documenting and excavating the bore of both XI-inch Dahlgren Shell Guns from the USS Monitor's gun turret. They did not find a cat.
A spokesman said one of the most popular legends in the history of the Monitor began with crewmember Francis B. Butts who claimed that during the night the ironclad sank, he shoved his coat and boots in one cannon and a cat in the other.
In a December 1885 article entitled “The Loss of the Monitor,” Butts wrote:
“I took off my coat - one that I had received from home only a few days before (I could not feel that our noble little ship was yet lost) - and rolling it up with my boots, drew the tampion from one of the guns, placed them inside, and replaced the tampion.
“A black cat was sitting on the breech of one of the guns, howling one of those hoarse and solemn tunes which no one can appreciate who is not filled with the superstitions which I had been taught by the sailors, who are always afraid to kill a cat. I would almost as soon have touched a ghost, but I caught her, and placing her in another gun, replaced the wad and tampion; but I could still hear that distressing yowl.”
Mariners' Museum Assistant Conservator David Krop said: “We've excavated and screened enough material from both cannons to say with certainty that neither cannon is loaded. We have also failed to find any trace of organic material such as leather, wool or bone.”
At the time of the announcement he said, “Although we are still clearing concretion and sediment from inside both bores that may hide cat bones or organics, I seriously doubt anything will turn up.”
“The excavations confirmed my suspicion that Francis Butts fabricated the whole story,” said Monitor Sanctuary Historian Jeff Johnston, who has uncovered other instances in which Butts apparently stretched the truth in giving his account of service aboard the Monitor.
The shell guns were removed from the Monitor's gun turret in 2004 as part of the ongoing conservation process. They were filled with concretions and sediment that must be removed as one of the first steps in the conservation process.
Conservators used caution during this process in case Butts's story ended up true, and because they could not immediately verify if the guns were or were not loaded, according to spokesmen.
“Sediment removal has been difficult due to the amount of coal in each barrel, but also because we are constrained by the dimensions of the conservation tank the artifacts are in,” said Eric Schindelholz, Monitor lead conservator. “We've improvised by creating a variety of tools that will help us in our efforts, and have partnered with our colleagues at Northrop Grumman to borrow a bore scope so that we can get a good look inside each cannon and see what we're dealing with.”
The barrels will individually undergo an electrolytic reduction conservation process to reduce their corrosion and remove chlorides from the iron. The process will take approximately five years.
Conservators will also focus on saving the engravings that were made on each cannon after the Monitor's March 9, 1862, battle at Hampton Roads, Va., with the CSS Virginia. One engraving reads “Worden Monitor & Merrimac,” in honor of the Monitor's captain; the other reads “Ericsson Monitor & Merrimac,” in honor of the vessel's designer. [The Virginia was originally commissioned as the USS Merrimack.]
A year ago when the guns were removed from the turret artillery historian Wayne E. Stark told The Civil War News that the Dahlgren shell guns, Registry Numbers 27 and 28, were completed at West Point Foundry in 1859. They were inspected by Navy ordnance officer Timothy A. Hunt. Stark said the guns weigh 15,720 and 15,617 pounds, respectively.
The Monitor guns are the lowest numbered surviving XI-inch Dahlgren Shell Guns. He said, “They brought the total number of known survivors to 24 out of the 465 made from 1856-1864.” Eight foundries produced the guns.
The Monitor's unique feature was its revolving gun turret with the two huge Dahlgren guns that rested amidship. It allowed the Monitor to aim the guns more efficiently and at advantage over the Virginia, which had 10 cannon, but had to aim by moving the entire ship.
The Mariners' Museum in partnership with NOAA broke ground for a $30 million, 63,500-square-foot USS Monitor Center last year. It will open March 9, 2007. Fundraising is ongoing. For information go to www.monitorcenter.org.