- May 20, 2004
- 1,721
- 152
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excal 1000
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I think your going to love this, apparently there are no archaeologists in Alabama!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
By RUSS HENDERSON
Staff Reporter
A possibly historic segment of a shipwrecked vessel found under a Dauphin Island house after last year's hurricanes has been hauled off to a north Mobile County landfill, according to a businessman who volunteered to preserve the artifact.
Looking to recover the wreck is island business owner Doug Ford, who promised in March to conserve it as a tourist attraction inside one of his two Hurricane Katrina-damaged restaurants.
"Why would they pay to haul it all the way to this landfill when they could have hauled it half a mile down the road to my restaurant?" Ford said.
Ford and a score of local history buffs volunteered to help preserve the 40-foot-long hunk of wood after a Mobile-born marine archaeologist reported finding it in February.
The possibly historic wreckage had sat on the roadside on the island's west end, drying out under the hot sun, since the property owner's contractor dragged it there six months ago. Ford said he had hired two different contractors to move the wreckage and repair his restaurants, but each deal fell through.
Ford said Tuesday that workers with his current contractor -- Ducky Johnson House and Structure Movers of Grand Ridge, Fla. -- arrived at the site last week to move the ship fragment to his property only to find it gone. The hulk appeared to have been taken away sometime in the last two weeks, Ford said.
Ford said the workers since had determined the fragment was disposed of in a north Mobile County landfill and is still in one piece. He said he had been given no landfill name, and Press-Register efforts to contact Ducky Johnson were unsuccessful.
Ford said he hopes the wreckage can be recovered and returned to the island as early as today.
Ford and town officials said the owners of the home where the wreck was found, Wayne and Alice Moore, had paid to dispose of the ship fragment. When the Press-Register contacted Alice Moore by telephone at the couple's New Orleans home Tuesday, she declined comment.
Glenn Forest, an archaeological diver, found the wreckage in February and persuaded a home repair crew not to cut it into pieces and haul it to the dump.
After Forest called for aid, dozens of volunteers with shovels and a backhoe arrived to help uncover the wreckage. Finally, the approximately 15-ton hulk was moved to the roadside by the homeowner's own contractor.
Forest said Tuesday that Ford's efforts are likely in vain.
"That thing was probably broken to smithereens" on its trip to the dump, Forest said. Even before it was moved, six months in the scorching summer sun reduced most of what remained of the wood's moisture-holding cells to dust, he said.
"Doug has gone above and beyond the call of duty," Forest said. "If there's some way of helping in the future, though, I will."
Forest said he doesn't fault the property owner for getting rid of the wreckage. During the next hurricane, the heavy bulk could become a massive "bowling ball" and slam into west end homes like pins in a bowling alley, he said.
Ford, with his mother, owns two adjacent buildings that before Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29 were Rita's Sunset Grill and Hurricanes. In the first week of March, Ford offered to help preserve the artifact in order to later make it an attraction at one of his restaurants.
Forest has long criticized the Alabama Historical Commission for what he says are its failures to make proper efforts to preserve or identify marine artifacts that wash up on state shores.
After a buried fragment -- possibly the same as the one battered by Katrina and Rita -- was uncovered by Hurricane Georges in 1998, an Alabama Historical Commission crew re-covered it with sand, saying the chance of excavating items of historical value from it was low and the chance of losing the fragment to deterioration under the sun's rays was high.
Commission officials have said the agency doesn't have the funds to identify and preserve every boat fragment that washes up. Also, such wrecks are not Alabama state property if they come ashore on private property, rather than behind the high tide line. Such wreckage is the property owner's responsibility, commission officials said.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
By RUSS HENDERSON
Staff Reporter
A possibly historic segment of a shipwrecked vessel found under a Dauphin Island house after last year's hurricanes has been hauled off to a north Mobile County landfill, according to a businessman who volunteered to preserve the artifact.
Looking to recover the wreck is island business owner Doug Ford, who promised in March to conserve it as a tourist attraction inside one of his two Hurricane Katrina-damaged restaurants.
"Why would they pay to haul it all the way to this landfill when they could have hauled it half a mile down the road to my restaurant?" Ford said.
Ford and a score of local history buffs volunteered to help preserve the 40-foot-long hunk of wood after a Mobile-born marine archaeologist reported finding it in February.
The possibly historic wreckage had sat on the roadside on the island's west end, drying out under the hot sun, since the property owner's contractor dragged it there six months ago. Ford said he had hired two different contractors to move the wreckage and repair his restaurants, but each deal fell through.
Ford said Tuesday that workers with his current contractor -- Ducky Johnson House and Structure Movers of Grand Ridge, Fla. -- arrived at the site last week to move the ship fragment to his property only to find it gone. The hulk appeared to have been taken away sometime in the last two weeks, Ford said.
Ford said the workers since had determined the fragment was disposed of in a north Mobile County landfill and is still in one piece. He said he had been given no landfill name, and Press-Register efforts to contact Ducky Johnson were unsuccessful.
Ford said he hopes the wreckage can be recovered and returned to the island as early as today.
Ford and town officials said the owners of the home where the wreck was found, Wayne and Alice Moore, had paid to dispose of the ship fragment. When the Press-Register contacted Alice Moore by telephone at the couple's New Orleans home Tuesday, she declined comment.
Glenn Forest, an archaeological diver, found the wreckage in February and persuaded a home repair crew not to cut it into pieces and haul it to the dump.
After Forest called for aid, dozens of volunteers with shovels and a backhoe arrived to help uncover the wreckage. Finally, the approximately 15-ton hulk was moved to the roadside by the homeowner's own contractor.
Forest said Tuesday that Ford's efforts are likely in vain.
"That thing was probably broken to smithereens" on its trip to the dump, Forest said. Even before it was moved, six months in the scorching summer sun reduced most of what remained of the wood's moisture-holding cells to dust, he said.
"Doug has gone above and beyond the call of duty," Forest said. "If there's some way of helping in the future, though, I will."
Forest said he doesn't fault the property owner for getting rid of the wreckage. During the next hurricane, the heavy bulk could become a massive "bowling ball" and slam into west end homes like pins in a bowling alley, he said.
Ford, with his mother, owns two adjacent buildings that before Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29 were Rita's Sunset Grill and Hurricanes. In the first week of March, Ford offered to help preserve the artifact in order to later make it an attraction at one of his restaurants.
Forest has long criticized the Alabama Historical Commission for what he says are its failures to make proper efforts to preserve or identify marine artifacts that wash up on state shores.
After a buried fragment -- possibly the same as the one battered by Katrina and Rita -- was uncovered by Hurricane Georges in 1998, an Alabama Historical Commission crew re-covered it with sand, saying the chance of excavating items of historical value from it was low and the chance of losing the fragment to deterioration under the sun's rays was high.
Commission officials have said the agency doesn't have the funds to identify and preserve every boat fragment that washes up. Also, such wrecks are not Alabama state property if they come ashore on private property, rather than behind the high tide line. Such wreckage is the property owner's responsibility, commission officials said.
The Fisher group is following a debris trail around the tip of Florida out into the gulf...hmmmm.
