UHEXSO MARINE ARCHEOLOGY PROJECTS

Above: Photo taken by Eric Welch of one of the WWI wrecks in the Sabine. You can see the outer planking and rib spacing. Also notice the iron rods protruding up through the timbers. This makes working in the area a little more hazardous than normal. The tide condition on the day of the photo was unusually low.

The Sabine River Project--2000

The UHEXSO dive team is currently conducting a project to survey and map sixteen World War I wooden-hulled freighters scuttled in the Sabine River in 1921. The ships were built in Orange, Texas as part of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, which was enacted in 1917 by President Woodrow Wilson. The ships were built to compensate for the shortage of existing steel shipyards, thus bridging the gap in shipping created by the wartime emergency.

UHEXSO started on the Sabine River Project in 1999. The project is being overseen by Steven Hoyt, State Marine Archeologist for the Texas Historical Commission. UHEXSO conducted two trips to the site in the fall of 1999. The first trip was a scouting trip to check out the location and assess the resources available to us. We found the site to be in shallow water with a mud bottom and less that two feet of visibility. The wrecks were driven up onto the banks of a spoil island on the Texas side of the river and along a bayou on the Louisiana side of the river. We found no suitable place to establish a land base camp, so all work will have to be from boats. Navigation in the area is tricky, with some nasty navigation hazards at low tide. The more exotic marine life in the area includes alligators, poisonous snakes and the ever-present gulf coast mosquito. The spring and summer months should prove quite interesting as these "critters" are more active when it's warm. Also interesting is the possibility that a confederate gun boat, the JESSIAH BELL, is wrecked in the same area. Keep checking this page for more details and updates as they become available. If you would like to participate in or offer support for this project, please e-mail UHEXSO's Executive Director at UHEXSO@airmail.net. Remember that UHEXSO is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, so contributions are tax-deductible. For a list of shipwrecks in the Sabine, check out the TASA web site; for more information on the Sabine River, go to the Sabine River Authority site.

	The photograph to the left shows the UTINA while it was under construction. The UTINA is representative of the style of ship that was being built in Orange, Texas. The UTINA was a wooden cargo ship (Ferris design) of a single-deck type, with wooden deck houses on the bridge deck, a poop deck and forecastle deck. She had a round stern and straight stem. The UTINA had four cargo holds, two forward and two aft. The total forward cargo hold capacity was rated to 50,440 cubic feet. Total cargo capacity was around 150,452 cubic feet. Her length over all (LOA) was 261' and a 46' beam, with gross tonnage estimated at 2,384. The UTINA was capable of 10 knots at sea fully loaded. The Ferris design originated in New York and was criticized as being merely a steel ship redrawn for wood. Adaptations of the Ferris design led to ships being constructed from concrete and from a combination of wood and steel. The Sabine may contain examples of each.
On the right you can see the rounded design of the stern; notice the rudder and keel design as well.
	The photo on the left shows the camouflage paint scheme designed to break up the ship's silhouette. This made it more difficult for German U-boats to target and range the ships at sea.
UHEXSO team members working on site, taking measurements and recording data. October 1999. In the water are Russell Miller (foreground) and Russell Potocki. On the boat are Brent and Jennifer Schwan, our data recorders for this trip. The MOAV Queen belongs to Bill Gronvold and the picture was taken by Pete Petrisky.

Above: Another photo taken by Eric Welch of one of the Sabine WWI wrecks. This is believed to be the stern section of one of the wrecks. You can see the heavy amount of overburden inside the wreck. The UHEXSO team will try to remove this overburden so as to gain better access and understanding of the internal construction. For more information, please email UHEXSO at: UHEXSO@airmail.net

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