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1 small team of archaeologists and research divers that will explore it in person, 240 feet below, sixteen miles offshore of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. “Bottom in sight,” reports Roger Cook from the pilot sphere forward of us. Roger is Harbor Branch’s mission director and our sub pilot. “Bottom in sight,” Don responds into his headset. A flash of light catches my eye and I see a large fish just outside the viewport. “There’s the amberjacks,” Don says. “The Monitor must be pretty close.” Apparently, the jacks hear the sub’s thruster motors and see its floodlights so they’ve ventured out from the wreck to see who’s come to visit. “Wreck in sight,” Roger calls out, right on cue. “Roger, wreck in sight,” Don acknowledges. “Better get ready, John.” High-pitched whirring sounds from the thrusters signal us that Roger is crabbing the sub into the current that almost always flows over the wreck. Another sound, higher in pitch and longer in duration , reverberates off the chamber walls. From our training dives I know that’s the sub communicating with the mother ship on the surface through hydrophones . It’s Roger reporting our status to the mission coordinator on the bridge. As I zip up my wet suit jacket, Don taps me on the shoulder and points out the starboard viewport. At first I can’t see anything, but as I lean closer to the I twist my body to peer through the tiny viewport. The cobalt blue Gulf Stream water darkens to everdeeper shades as we descend toward the sea floor. Huddled in a cramped aluminum cylinder, I’m struggling to control my fear of close spaces. I have to stay focused, because I am sealed in the dive chamber of the Johnson-Sea-Link, an incredible research submersible that can reach depths of 1,000 feet. Even though we aren’t going nearly that deep, my claustrophobia leapt out as soon as the hatch closed. Across the chamber, my dive tender, Don Liberatore , is concentrating on the sub’s gauges, digital numbers, and lights, but I know he’s also keeping a close eye on me. Don will make sure I don’t get into trouble today, since this will be my first deep sub dive. He is an experienced research diver with the Harbor Branch Foundation, the Florida-based oceanographic institution that designed, built, and operates this sub. Don clearly senses my apprehension , gives me a confident grin and quips, “Well, you’re finally going to see her, John.” I grin back, because that’s the reason I’m willing to stuff myself into this little dive chamber that I described to my friends as “a fifty-five-gallon drum with a hatch.” I’m getting ready to dive on the famous Civil War ironclad USS Monitor. As a boy, I built a plastic model of it, as an archaeologist I searched for it, and in 1974 I helped produce a mosaic photograph of its remains. Now, five years later, I am one of a Prologue  FIRST ENCOUNTER 2 p r o l o g u e port I detect a dark shape. As the sub moves forward the shape materializes into a recognizable image: it’s Monitor’s bow. The unique circular anchor well is clearly visible, and I can see anchor chain draped over the side of the armor belt and disappearing into the sand. A slender vertical shape comes into view; it’s the plastic pipe that our archaeological director, Gordon Watts, installed yesterday. My job is to complete the installation of two more reference pipes, one near the turret and one at the bow. Our goal is to install a row of four survey pipes, parallel to Monitor’s hull, which we will use for mapping the wreck. Roger expertly settles the sub onto the seabed near Monitor’s port side, in the lee of the Gulf Stream’s flow. “On bottom.” Don acknowledges, and Roger reports poor visibility , only twenty to thirty feet, adding that the sub is positioned near Monitor’s amidships bulkhead, facing the turret. Gordon thoroughly briefed me on my assignment, and I understand exactly what I am to do. I’m just a bit apprehensive—I’ve been this deep before, just never with all this equipment and all the procedures associated with diving from a submersible. Don undogs the exit hatch, which is being held tightly in place by the outside water pressure...

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