Civil War Submarines,U-Boats, Boston Fundraiser and More Fall Updates

Confederate Submarine: H. L. Hunley

Hello All,

Happy Fall!  We have been lucky to enjoy some warm weather in the past few weeks, but I fear we will soon be reminded of  typical New England weather patterns.

Well it has been a while since our last update, but I can assure you that I and the board members have been hard at work.

Over the past few weeks, I have been hitting the phones and have had many conversations with potential partners in Louisiana.  These partners have included state archeologists, underwater surveying professionals and local historians.  The intent behind these outreaches was to get a better sense of the costs, timeline and overall approach for our future survey of the wreck site. I am excited to say that these conversations were successful and we have kicked off the planning process for a potential 2015 trip.  

Obviously in order for the Project Fund to complete this future survey trip we are going to need the support of our loyal friends and family.  With this in mind, the USS Arizona Project Fund will be planning on hosting a Boston Fundraiser at a downtown establishment in either late January or early February.  We will have more details in the coming weeks, but make sure you are a fan of our facebook page to ensure we have your contact information.

On a final note, I am excited to say that over the past few months I have connected with many leaders within the Boston College History Department and have gotten the opportunity tell the story of the Arizona.  Nothing has been put into motion yet, but we are hoping to find a few opportunities for them and their students to play a role in supporting the fund in the near future.

That is all for now. Keep an eye out for more timely updates and hopefully an invitation to our upcoming fundraiser.

-Colin

Bonus: Here are some interesting Civil War/History stories that caught my attention in the past few weeks

Submarine HL Hunley's Hull Is Slowly Becoming Visible

150 Years Later, Confederate Shell Turns Up At Richmond National Battlefield Park

WW2 U-boat found with ship it sank off North Carolina

First Outreach

I happy to report that our work with the fund is really starting to gain momentum. We have spent the past month since our "soft launch" establishing many exciting connections within our community and surrounding ecosystem.  

Here are a few updates I wanted to shared:

• We have officially launched our Facebook and our LinkedIn pages so we feel free to connect with us on either site
• We are putting some final touches on our first fundraising campaign which hopefully should be rolling out by the end of the month
• We recently discovered some fascinating research regarding the court martial of  Captain Daniel P. Upton and will be sharing these findings in the near future
• We also just rediscovered a more detailed and better quality image of the USS Arizona.  We were was amazed at the visible detail in this image especially when compared to less quality versions we have posted in the past. Be sure to swing by our gallery to check it out
• We recently connected with David Quigley the Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Boston College.  As a highly respected Civil War Historian, it was a pleasure to share the story of the Arizona with him. He was extremely helpful in highlighting some contacts within the Boston College community and we hope to have additional updates in the coming months.
• On a side note, we have deeply enjoyed the recent media coverage around the reemergence of the  SS Central America aka " The Ship of Gold."  If you haven't read the book associated with the sinking of this infamous ship, we highly encourage you to do so. Below are a few links if you are interested in learning more about the one of the most valuable shipwrecks in the western hemisphere.

         Company selected to retrieve ship’s gold

         Gold recovery at SS Central America wreck

         X Still Marks Sunken Spot, and Gold Awaits

         Purchase the book at Amazon.com

That is all for now.

Colin