Iron from the deep

"Robert Sheridan has been part of the Monitor story since the 1970s, when his research vessel first made sonar contact with the long-lost wreck of the famous Civil War ironclad and he collected the first identifiable artifact. In this book he combines his perspective of the Monitor's discovery and efforts to save her artifacts with an authoritative history of the ship that revolutionized naval design. Opening chapters discuss the ship's construction, her successful battle with the Merrimac in 1862 that spelled the end of wooden warships, and the Monitor's sinking later that year off Cape Hatteras. Comments from the secretary of the navy who spurred the building of the Monitor, the captain who engaged her, and the young lieutenant who survived the sinking add color to these historically significant events." "Sheridan follows with a personal account of the discovery of the Monitor and addresses the issues of control over the wreck and its recovery. He also describes his nearly twenty years of lobbying to convince Congress that the Monitor's deterioration called for action. The book's final chapters chronicle the raising of artifacts from this national treasure."--Jacket.