Civil War Mystery: The USS Monitor's Last Voyage - At The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA
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TravelTranscript
00:00Welcome back to another exciting episode. Today we're going to the Mariner's Museum
00:12to check out the monitor. What is the monitor? Well, come along with us and see what we can see.
00:21In Newport News, Virginia. Now, if you want to know the cost and times and all that,
00:28go to my previous video and you'll be able to get all that information. Oh, and don't forget to pick
00:37up the map which you can get where you pay your admission fee or you can download it onto your
00:43phone via a QR code. In the main lobby there is a map and they also give you one when you pay your
00:54fee. And they do have handicapped accessible bathrooms all throughout the facility. You
01:00just gotta look for them. And they do have a limited supply of wheelchairs and baby strollers,
01:07but they are first come first serve. But first we're going to check out the lobby,
01:13which has a lot of great museum pieces and history, which gives you a little bit of a hint
01:21of just what we are going to be running into. And I highly advise you pay the small nominal fee
01:27to go into the explorers theater to check that out. It gives you a very good overview. Now, I can't
01:36show you any of the actual movie itself because it's copyrighted, but it's definitely worth your time.
01:44But now on to the big event and the reason why we're here. To explore the USS Monitor Center. And to what
01:55extent the Meadows Museum became the proud caretaker of more than 200 tons of artifacts recovered from the
02:05wreck of USS Monitor, including its revolving gun turret, Dahlgren guns,
02:13steam engine, and much, much more. In partnership with NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary,
02:22their goal is to conserve, preserve, and share Monitor's incredible story to audiences worldwide.
02:30The USS Monitor Center houses the award-winning exhibit, Ironclad Revolution. In general,
02:39Ironclad Revolution invites you to experience the story of USS Monitor, CSS Virginia, and the historic 1862
02:53Battle of Hampton Roads through a mounting of artifacts, original documents, paintings, personal accounts,
03:02and interactive exhibits that will peak all five senses. You're able to immerse yourself in the tales of the
03:12individuals who lived through and lost their lives in this pivotal period of United States American history.
03:29Additionally, you get to go back in time as you explore the building of CSS Virginia from the salvaged
03:46Merrimack at Gosport Naval Yard. But with that said, just get a load of what we saw.
03:54I'll see you next time.
03:57We'll be back.
03:59Let's go back.
04:01Now, first of all, we'll be back in time.
04:04All right.
04:05We'll be back.
04:07We'll be back.
04:09We'll be back.
04:10We'll be back.
04:11We'll be back.
04:16We'll be back.
05:22This 15-minute film is family-friendly and gives a play-by-play of the Battle of Hampton Roads.
05:35But be advised that this presentation does have unexpected loud sounds and flashing lights
05:42that may be disorienting to some visitors.
05:45Again, just like the other theater, I couldn't show you any of the actual presentation because
05:50of copyright.
05:52But this is the coolest theater I've seen in a while.
05:55You also get to walk the deck of the full-scale monitor replica and see if you can find and
06:11ring the ship's bell.
06:13Should I do it?
06:21No.
06:22No?
06:23I'm going to do it anyway.
06:25That's loud.
06:29This is pretty cool.
06:41After going back into the museum, don't forget to take a special look at every little corner
06:49of this place because there's so much to see, so many relics.
06:53And you even get to go into a reproduction of the turret when they found it.
07:03So it's upside down, but they kind of label everything the way they saw it at the time it was recovered.
07:11You even get to go into a cross-section of what the turret looked like when it was first built.
07:20So that was really cool too.
07:24And this is actually an iron plate recovered from the wreck of the USS Monitor.
07:29And here's my hand as a reference.
07:32That is one huge plate.
07:35Oh, and they do have benches throughout for you to sit down if your old bones need it.
07:40And don't forget to go downstairs because there's a whole big area down there that you can get down
07:48through steps and there is a handicap available access as well.
07:53And you'll see things like the propeller shaft that they did recover in 1998 and even the propeller itself
08:03from the actual USS Monitor.
08:07In addition, they have a reproduction of the coal bin that was used on the monitor as well as other things such as recovered relics from the engine room.
08:21And even the actual four fluke anchor that was specifically designed for the USS Monitor.
08:33And this is the spider, which is the big claw type thing, that brought up the monitor from the bottom of the ocean.
08:43It's still here.
08:45And it's not small either.
08:47So this is a reminder to keep your eyes open for hidden gems like this, as well as the largest and most advanced conservation lab
09:02of any maritime museum in the world called the Batten Conservation Complex.
09:12From the Batten Conservation Complex observation platform, you get a bird's eye view of Monitor's turret,
09:21dog and guns and the steam engine undergoing conservation treatment.
09:28And finally, you get to venture upstairs to the Batten Conservation Complex clean lab to see their conservators at work.
09:40Now, the day we were there, they weren't actually working on anything, but we were able to talk to some people off camera,
09:48and they were some of the conservators.
09:50And they told us a little bit about what they were doing and what to expect within the next coming year, which is a lot.
10:00Well, thank you for coming along with us to the Mariners Museum to check out the Monitor, the USS Monitor.
10:09And as always, have a great day.
10:12Looks good, we.
10:42We're there.
10:43Have a great day.
10:44We are fine, you're fine.
10:45We are fine.
10:46Have a great day.
10:47We are fine.
10:48We are fine.
10:49We need you.
10:50Let us know, for now, what you're saying.