CSS Alabama Project Overview

2002 Daily Log and Photo Album                    2005 Daily Log and Photo Album

Background: In 2002 I was invited to participate in the CSS Alabama project by chief investigator archeologist Gordon Watts, and I thought it might be interesting to those visiting my website to hear the progress of the project. The project for 2002 started on May 26, 2002 and went until July 20, 2002. It was somewhat of an experiment for me to try to update the website from my laptop in France, but it worked and if you would like to see the daily logs from the 2002 project click the left hand link at the top of the page.  Now in 2005 Gordon will return to continue his work on the CSS Alabama and he has again invited me to join the project.   To keep you informed on what is happening in the 2005 project, I will again make a daily log so you can follow our progress.  When I start it, it will be accessible from the right hand link at the top of the page.

CSS Alabama Background
The CSS Alabama was a Confederate Commerce raider that was sunk off Cherbourg, France on
June 19, 1864 in an engagement with the USS Kearsarge.  Before this famous sea battle the CSS Alabama had sunk 66 merchant ships trading with the Union which made considerable dent in commerce for the North.  The shipwreck was located in 1984 by the French navy mine sweeper CIRCE and confirmed to be ALABAMA by French navy Capt. Max Guerout. The non-profit Association CSS Alabama was founded in France in 1988 to conduct scientific exploration of the shipwreck.

Although the wreck resides within French territorial waters, the U.S. government, as the successor State to the former Confederate States of America, is the owner of the wreck, as recognized by international agreement. On Oct. 3, 1989, the U.S. and the Republic of France signed an agreement recognizing the wreck of CSS ALABAMA as an important heritage resource of both nations and establishing a Joint French-American Scientific Committee to consider issues of protection and the conditions for archaeological exploration.