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Deepseawaters
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Sea ExplorationsCumberland
Club 2007
Cumberland Club 2007
June 18 - 29, 2007
 From June 18-29, the Hampton Roads Naval
Museum (HRNM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) held a summer enrichment program,
giving students the opportunity to experience being a historian,
archeologist and marine-scientist. Named the “Cumberland
Club” after the shipwreck they would explore, rising
8th grade students primarily from the largely underserved
Norfolk Public School system, were selected to participate
in the free summer program by writing essays on “Why is history
important?”
The grant from the NOAA Ocean Explorer
education program has given interested students a once in
a life time opportunity to be part of something real. They
all want to come back next year as senior members to mentor
the new Cumberland Club kids, and are all welcome
to attend! We plan to follow up on these kids throughout their
scholastic careers, and continue to aid in any way we can,
providing them future opportunities to pursue careers in science
or history.
USS Cumberland and the Battle of Hampton Roads
 HRNM interns, Matthew Eng and Rebecca Kaczkowski, developed and tested a new pilot
program incorporating bathymetry and multibeam technology for
the Cumberland Club. The interns created an imaginary
shipwreck including log books, and a fictional background story.
Students were split into groups; each received a quarter of
the fictional multibeam image. Using clay, the students created
a three dimensional model of the multibeam image. Then putting
all four sections together, students analyzed the log books
and background information to try and determine the fate of
the sunken ship.
Nearly a year into the American Civil War, the USS Cumberland was moored off Newport News Point. On March 8, 1862 Cumberland met Confederate Iron-clad, CSS Virginia for the first and last time.
After exchanging broadsides with the wooden ship, the CSS Virginia succeeded in ramming her enemy, the USS Cumberland. With her ram stuck inside of the doomed ship, the Virginia feared it too would be brought down with the sinking sloop. The gun crews of the Cumberland gallantly continued firing, even as the ships destruction became inevitable. The ship, still containing the dislodged Virginia’s ram, settled in 65 ft. of water, and atop the masts, the United States Flag still flew triumphantly above water.
CSS Virginia continued to decimate the Union’s wooden warships in Hampton Roads until the next day, March 9th, when the USS Monitor appeared; Virginia had met her match. The Battle between the ironclads Virginia and Monitor forever changed the face of naval warfare. Iron and steam power were now seen as far superior to the wooden, sail powered ships of old.
Artifact Conservation at Naval Station
Norfolk
Today, the Cumberland’s wreckage is protected
by law. All artifacts belong to the US Navy, and the artifact
repository is HRNM. During the program, students learned how
to document, photograph and assess the condition of Cumberland
artifacts to determine which were in need of conservation.
Part of the Cumberland Club funding is being used
to conserve two artifacts from the wreck. Those pieces were
chosen by the students during the project: a grid from the
back of one of Cumberland’s cannons, and an unidentified artifact
with detailed judicial engravings on brass rivets, binding
together two pieces of wood.
ROV Building and Competition
In addition to artifact conservation, the
club worked in teams to build their own remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs). Nauticus and NOAA educators, Peter Leighton
and Krista Trono, assisted in providing supplies and expertise.
After completion, the teams competed against each other in
timed trials simulating actual ROV use in underwater
archeological expeditions. The ROVs were constructed out of
PVC pipes, stereo wire, fish tank motors, model propellers,
and of course, duct tape.
National Marine Sanctuaries
NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program
(NMSP) Educator, Krista Trono, gave an in depth lesson
about the 14 National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS), featuring
the Monitor NMS. The fun and interactive lessons ended with
a highly polarized debate between the students about the expansion
of the Monitor NMS. Students portrayed various groups impacted
by the growth of the Monitor NMS. Among these groups were
commercial fishermen, recreational scuba divers, tourism boards,
underwater archeologists and other groups that would be impacted
by changing the Sanctuary.
Shipwreck Archeology
HRNM interns, Matthew Eng and Rebecca Kaczkowski,
developed and tested a new pilot program incorporating bathymetry
and multibeam technology for the Cumberland Club.
The interns created an imaginary shipwreck including log books,
and a fictional background story. Students were split into
groups; each received a quarter of the fictional multibeam
image. Using clay, the students created a three dimensional
model of the multibeam image. Then putting all four sections
together, students analyzed the log books and background information
to try and determine the fate of the sunken ship.
Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum
The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA
hosted the Cumberland Club for a day. Head Conservator
Marcie Renner, and Conservator Susanne Grieve gave the students
an amazing behind-the-scenes tour of the new Monitor Center
and their cutting-edge conservation labs. Susanne also spoke
at our Cumberland Club teacher workshop on August
17th. The students were given free time to explore the rest
of the Mariners' Museum.
Civil War Sailors and Sailing
During the Cumberland Club, students
experienced a reenactment from Tidewater’s Marine Life Heritage
Association. Alan Mordicca taught the group about life as
a Civil Was sailor. The kids learned knot tying and sea shanties.
Then they went onboard the sailing ship American Rover for
a tour around the harbor. They learned how to operate the
rigging from the American Rover crew as they listened to Mr.
Mordicca perform shanties with his concertina.
NOAA research vessel the Bay Hydrographer
 Cumberland Club spent the second
week onboard the Bay Hydrographer, with only 4 or 5 students
fitting onboard the tiny boat each day. Our cruise departed
from the NOAA docks in Norfolk, sailed to the wrecksite of
the Cumberland, off the Newport News Point pier docks. Once
in position over the wrecksite, we all helped lower the side
scan sonar into the water. Inside the ship’s cabin, computer
screens showed the river bottom as it was recorded by the
side scan sonar. All of the data was recorded so that underwater
archeologist, Steve Schmidt could mosaic the data together
and create a complete image of the wreck. The complete side
scan image is used to evaluate the current condition of the
shipwreck, providing a “snapshot in time” of the wreck’s state
on the river bottom. NOAA researchers and crewmen allowed
the kids to help drive the boat and control the level of the
side scan. The same process was performed with the multibeam
sonar, except that the processed images are 3-dimensional
and displayed in color rather than 2-dimensional black and
white images gathered by the side scan sonar. The resulting
mosaiced images showed increased sedimentation over the wreck.
This is great news for the wreck of U.S.S. Cumberland, since
the sedimentation is protecting it from further damage and
deterioration.
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