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  • July

    Wetland acquisition advances SHEP progress

    The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) continues to make progress, most recently demonstrated by the completion of another environmental mitigation requirement. After acquiring Abercorn Island in February, the Georgia Department of Transportation recently transferred the 2,080-acre property to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

  • February

    Contractors on pace to finish 5 SHEP-related features in 2017

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – To say Spencer Davis has a few irons in the fire is an understatement. As the senior project manager for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, or SHEP, Davis manages the multimillion-dollar project that has eight separate environmental mitigation features outside of the actual harbor and entrance channel deepening. Now more than two years in, contractors continue to push the project forward on several fronts and are expected to wrap up four contracts this year.

  • September

    SHEP mitigation projects trucking along

    Nearly two decades in the making, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, or SHEP, continues to gain momentum with more contracts awarded and new ground broken.

  • June

    Metro Savannah-area teachers join marine archaeologists, Civil War re-enactors and other specialists to learn how to integrate science, technology, engineer and math (STEM) lessons from the recovery of the ironclad CSS Georgia into their classrooms. As part of the four-day institute delivered by Georgia Tech University in Savannah, the educators visit Old Fort Jackson, the location where the under-powered warship was anchored in the early 1860s. The visit to Old Fort Jackson allowed them to learn how evolving technology impacted the soldiers and sailors at the fort and aboard the CSS Georgia. Through hands-on demonstrations, the teachers employed several basic engineering and technology actions which can be adapted to classroom instruction. They also observed underwater archaeology techniques used to locate the CSS Georgia wreck on the bottom of the Savannah River. The teachers saw first-hand the methods used to pinpoint thousands of artifacts recovered from the scuttled vessel during 2015. Leading marine archaeologist Stephen James demonstrated the sophisticated equipment used to guide divers through the zero-visibility waters of the Savannah River. The Teachers’ Institute ran from May 31 through June 3, 2016, and was funded through the community involvement portion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP). The SHEP will deepen the Savannah harbor from 42 feet to 47 feet.

    Educators turn lessons learned into lesson plans

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – The school year continued for 15 educators who returned to the classroom to unearth ways to bring curriculum to life during the CSS Georgia Teacher’s Institute held May 31 – June 3 at Georgia Tech Savannah.

  • November

    A row of 6.4-inch Brooke shells wait in buckets filled with seawater prior to being inerted, Nov. 4. Technicians inerted 170 Brooke shells and Dahlgren projectiles in two months.

    CSS Georgia’s parting shot

    SAVANNAH, Ga. — Ben Redmond and Matt Christiansen are breathing a little easier now that the most dangerous part of their job is over. The pair, along with a handful of engineers and technicians, spent the last two months inerting 170 Dahlgren and 6.4-inch Brooke projectiles that Navy divers recovered from the CSS Georgia this summer.

  • October

    Archaeologists with Panamerican Consultants, Inc. spray down pieces of the CSS Georgia’s armor or “casemate” during the mechanized recovery phase, Sept. 24. The mechanized recovery is one of the final phases of the project that will remove the ironclad before deepening the Savannah harbor.

    Mechanized recovery reveals more of CSS Georgia’s gems

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – Six days a week, Loren Clark comes home covered in mud, soaked in seawater and physically exhausted from 12 hours of hard labor.

  • September

    ROTC Cadet Justin Wynne on a survey boat before the CSS Georgia recovery station.

    California cadet finds element in the 'Hostess City'

    On the heels of his freshman year at UCLA, Army ROTC Cadet Justin Wynne arrived with a lean understanding of the Corps as a new intern with the Cadet District Engineer Program here. By week four, he departed fleshed with experience on some of the district’s principal works, including the all-encompassing Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.
  • Another unexpected surprise: A crane raises a Dahlgren rifled cannon from the CSS Georgia site in the Savannah River, Sept. 15.

    A second Dahlgren is twice as nice

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – As the mechanized stage of recovery began in earnest this week, marine archaeologists working on the CSS Georgia had just started to dig in for the long haul – anticipating tedious, 12-hour days of sifting through concretion-covered objects from the dregs of the Savannah River.

  • August

    The CSS Georgia continues to surprise archaeologists. Case in point, this 9,000-pound Dahlgren rifled cannon that archaeologists thought was a different type of cannon before raising it to the surface July 21.

    A wreck reborn: Recovering the Civil War ironclad CSS Georgia from the Savannah River

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – As cities along the East Coast scramble to bolster their infrastructure and employ massive dredges to deepen their harbors, Savannah began its harbor expansion with a team of 10 people who used wire baskets to raise a handful of objects at a time.

  • July

    Video: Navy divers recover first of 4 remaining cannons

    SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Navy divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 6 raised the first of four remaining cannons from the CSS Georgia, July 15.

  • June

    Nautical tackle from the CSS Georgia. Tackle was used to move objects topside on the ship. A closer look reveals tracks left by teredo worms, which are organisms that consume wood in watery environments. Damage from teredo worms can be seen on the right side of the artifact.

    Divers continue to unveil ‘little shards of life’ from CSS Georgia

    SAVANNAH, Ga. - Last week marine archaeologists diving on the CSS Georgia entered their fifth and final month of the small artifact recovery phase. And though the number of artifacts they have been discovering has slowed to a trickle, the nuance each new item adds to the growing narrative cannot be understated.
  • Parker Brooks, a conservator and graduate student from Texas A&M University’s Conservation Research Laboratory, demonstrates the function of an elevator screw prior to a free lecture on the CSS Georgia at the Savannah History Museum, June 2.

    As archaeologists recover artifacts, more questions rise to the surface

    SAVANNAH, Ga. — She has been stripped by salvage rigs, battered by dredges and had her hull shredded by teredo worms, yet the tattered remnants of the CSS Georgia that were all but forgotten until the 1960s continue to intrigue archaeologists and the community here.

  • April

    Jim Jobling, a project manager with Texas A&M University’s Conservation Research Laboratory, positions two separate eyes for tackle from a pivot gun carriage. At left, a brass eye compared to an iron version of the same.

    New artifacts reveal more about Civil War life

    SAVANNAH, Ga. -- As archaeologists recover more CSS Georgia artifacts from the murky waters of the Savannah River, the day-to-day hardships of serving as a Confederate sailor are becoming clearer.

  • March

    Beneath the barnacles: Archaeologists battle elements to uncover ironclad history

    SAVANNAH, Ga. — Each day as tourists saunter through the city’s famous squares, another group of visitors explores a different set of squares at the bottom of the Savannah River.

  • January

    Recovery of CSS Georgia remains in progress after 150 years in Savannah River

    Recovering the CSS Georgia ironclad scuttled on the Savannah River floor marks the beginning of the construction phase of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.