Civil War Shipwreck in Way of Savannah River Dredging (USA)

Before government engineers can deepen one of the busiest seaports in the US to accommodate future trade, they first need to remove a US$14 million obstacle from the past – a Confederate warship rotting on the Savannah River bottom for nearly 150 years, the Post Courier reports.

Confederate troops scuttled the ironclad CSS Georgia to prevent its capture by General William T Sherman when his Union troops took Savannah in December 1864. It’s been on the river bottom ever since.

Now, the Civil War shipwreck sits in the way of a government agency’s US$653 million plan to deepen the waterway that links the nation’s fourth-busiest container port to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Post Courier said the ship’s remains are considered so historically significant that dredging the river is prohibited within 50ft of the wreckage.

[mappress]

Dredging Today Staff, May 8, 2012; Image: usace