The lower Yazoo and the site of the Cairo’s sinking.
In their own minds the trio of explorers knew they had found the Cairo. It was in the right place, and its construction and dimensions matched those in the historical specifications. Still they wanted to be absolutely sure. They worried that another steamer or a barge, sunk here long ago and since forgotten, might have coincidentally met all the same criteria as those of the Civil War gunboat. A long shot, of course, but real scholars must be absolutely sure before reaching any conclusion. They wanted more tests, more data.
Diagram showing position of Cairo in Yazoo River.
For 3 years they waited to confirm their conclusions about the underwater wreckage. Then they got the break they needed. They managed to persuade two scuba divers (Ken Parks and James Hart) from Jackson, Miss., that diving for the old wreck would be fun. In October 1959, Bearss, Jacks, and the divers headed up the Yazoo once more, carrying all the necessary equipment and a host of questions Bearss hoped the underwater men could answer. Finding the answers wasn’t easy. The river was so muddy that the divers had to work blind, and the swift current made the operation even trickier. Still, they found that the pilothouse protruded above the mud. They tried to get inside the vessel through the house, but mud completely filled the interior. In the end they had to be satisfied with the port covers from the pilothouse and a few planks for testing. But Bearss and the others now knew for certain that the wreck was the Cairo. The armored port covers had wiped away all doubt.
A 32-pounder naval gun and carriage are pulled from the mud, October 1963.
Courtesy, William R. Wilson
Still they were unsatisfied. The port covers made them want more. Visions of raising the whole boat danced enticingly before them. It could be done. It was worth a try. First they needed public support, then money. A spectacular find, the resurrection of a significant fragment, might do it. Local people succumbed to their persuasion. They gave or lent equipment. A lumber company donated the services of a tug and a derrick. The skilled divers spent 10 days sluicing the silt out of the pilothouse with jets from a firehose. Then, working in total blackness, they passed 1-inch cables through four of the ports. The tug pulled the derrick into position, workmen attached the cables, and in a few moments the pilothouse broke water. A significant portion of the historic vessel felt the free air for the first time in almost a century. Buffs and workmen cheered in excited delight. But there was more. After dark, an 8-inch naval gun on its wooden carriage joined the pilothouse on the bank. Both were in excellent condition, almost perfectly preserved. They caught the popular imagination just as the planners hoped. Interest in the project spread far and wide. But the hoped-for money failed to appear.
A year passed. Public interest waned without the stimuli of exciting new discoveries. Then Gov. Ross Barnett of Mississippi came to the project’s aid. Long interested in history, the Governor persuaded several State agencies to provide funds. Historian Bearss appeared on a nationwide television quiz program and won the $10,000 jackpot for his knowledge of the Civil War. This money, too, went into the project. In the autumn of 1962, Bearss, Jacks, Vicksburg National Military Park historian Albert Banton, and scuba divers Parks and Hart began a 30-day survey to determine the condition of the Cairo’s structural timbers. The New England Naval and Maritime Museum joined them in the effort. Firehoses cleared the silt from the spardeck, and the divers forced their way inside the casemate to get at the beams. Every one they tested was sound.
Encouraged by this survey, the Mississippi Agricultural and Industrial Board superintended a drive in the autumn of 1963 to raise the ship intact. A mighty gravel dredge sucked the mud and debris away from the hull. Divers, both U.S. and professional, cleared the silt from the gundeck, and workmen pulled all the remaining cannon and carriages to the surface, along with hundreds of other historical objects of all kinds. The treasure hoard of Civil War artifacts began to accumulate.