Living in Alabama – The Agerton Wreck
By Tommy Smedley – February 15, 2006
Last Saturday the Alabama Historical Society, under the leadership of archaeologist Stacye Hathorn, presented the excellent program Current Research in Alabama Archaeology. Rick Murchison, his nephew, and I were the only local divers who attended a most interesting presentation by researchers at Northwest Florida University on the wreck of the Agerton in Baldwin County.
Archaeologists began study of the wreck in May 2006. The starboard paddlewheel lies on the riverbank and the boat lists to the bottom at a 44 degree angle. Even though the visibility is poor, technology like the digital side-scan sonar lets us paint accurate pictures and study her remains without the risk of damaging her century old skin.
Locals say that Agerton was built in New York and used to transport Yellow Fever victims to Staten Island during the great epidemic. Researchers found a corroded brass plate on the engine that reads “John M. Carne – New York 1870.” The plate is a tiny, fragile, and easily overlooked piece of evidence that backs up their theory.
She was 109 feet long and 27 feet wide at the axles. Her design legacy rests proudly along with the Ticonderoga (the last existing Walking-Beam boat) and the Maple Leaf of Civil War fame. Unlike her sister ships, Agerton sported a rounded stern with extended deck and guard rails that suggests passengers moved freely about without fear of falling overboard. This simple addition would be an important accessory considering the population of alligators and poisonous snakes along the river’s path.
Walking-beam machinery on the Agerton proved exceptionally efficient. Much like oil well pumps that you see in Texas fields today, a long arm, counterweighted on one end and attached to a crank on the other, provided consistent and powerful torque to side mounted paddlewheels.
In 1712 the Englishman Thomas Newcomen invented his engine that used condensed steam to form a vacuum and atmospheric pressure forced the piston downward. This engine was probably the first that used a walking-beam to transfer power to turn shafts or drive pumps. James Watt made improvements to Newcomen’s design in 1769. Watt separated the condenser from the engine and used a combination of vacuum on one side of the piston and positive pressure from steam on the other. His patent included improvements like oil lubrication and insulation to maintain high temperatures needed for efficient operation. Although he didn’t actually invent it, Watt’s improvements earned him credit as “Father of the Steam Engine” and thrust us headstrong into the Industrial Revolution.
Southern Lumber Company purchased Agerton in the late 1800s and placed her into service ferrying supplies to lumber camps around Seminole on the Blackwater River. It is very possible that she carried logs back to Millview. She was rather low-beamed with a shallow draft designed for calm water lakes, bays, and rivers. With an abundance of wood to burn and a river of water to make into steam Agerton was indeed the ideal form of low-country transportation.
She was not a small boat and a big mystery lies in how she moved from New York to Lower Alabama without being destroyed by ocean waves. These were, after all, days before the Tennessee-Tombigbee or the Intracoastal Waterways. The nearest railhead would have been Chattahoochee, Florida with connection to the Apalachicola River many miles to the East.
Another and more pressing mystery is how and when Agerton met her fate. She rests in a bend in the river less than three miles from highway 90. Informants agree that it was sometime between 1906 and 1926. We know that between 1896 and 1926 several severe hurricanes caused residents to move Seminole to higher ground.
There are local folks who claim to know exactly where the Seminole commissary and the casino sat. The only problem is that all their exact locations are in different places. The lumber industry proved so efficient that it self-limited. By1920 useful trees were gone and sawmills lay silent. We do know that Witchwood (owned by the Murchison family) in Perdido was built in 1910 from lumber milled at Millview near Seminole.
Agerton could have been beached and sank during a storm, or she could have simply been abandoned. She lies sulking in her watery grave and jealously guards her secrets. The fun lies in preserving what remains, studying her artifacts, and unlocking the pearls of her past. To paraphrase Stacye, “It will take many cold beers and lots of heated discussion around a warm campfire to outsmart the old girl’s chilly silence!”
Thinking of it makes me smile – I like to smile!
By Tommy Smedley – February 15, 2006
Last Saturday the Alabama Historical Society, under the leadership of archaeologist Stacye Hathorn, presented the excellent program Current Research in Alabama Archaeology. Rick Murchison, his nephew, and I were the only local divers who attended a most interesting presentation by researchers at Northwest Florida University on the wreck of the Agerton in Baldwin County.
Archaeologists began study of the wreck in May 2006. The starboard paddlewheel lies on the riverbank and the boat lists to the bottom at a 44 degree angle. Even though the visibility is poor, technology like the digital side-scan sonar lets us paint accurate pictures and study her remains without the risk of damaging her century old skin.
Locals say that Agerton was built in New York and used to transport Yellow Fever victims to Staten Island during the great epidemic. Researchers found a corroded brass plate on the engine that reads “John M. Carne – New York 1870.” The plate is a tiny, fragile, and easily overlooked piece of evidence that backs up their theory.
She was 109 feet long and 27 feet wide at the axles. Her design legacy rests proudly along with the Ticonderoga (the last existing Walking-Beam boat) and the Maple Leaf of Civil War fame. Unlike her sister ships, Agerton sported a rounded stern with extended deck and guard rails that suggests passengers moved freely about without fear of falling overboard. This simple addition would be an important accessory considering the population of alligators and poisonous snakes along the river’s path.
Walking-beam machinery on the Agerton proved exceptionally efficient. Much like oil well pumps that you see in Texas fields today, a long arm, counterweighted on one end and attached to a crank on the other, provided consistent and powerful torque to side mounted paddlewheels.
In 1712 the Englishman Thomas Newcomen invented his engine that used condensed steam to form a vacuum and atmospheric pressure forced the piston downward. This engine was probably the first that used a walking-beam to transfer power to turn shafts or drive pumps. James Watt made improvements to Newcomen’s design in 1769. Watt separated the condenser from the engine and used a combination of vacuum on one side of the piston and positive pressure from steam on the other. His patent included improvements like oil lubrication and insulation to maintain high temperatures needed for efficient operation. Although he didn’t actually invent it, Watt’s improvements earned him credit as “Father of the Steam Engine” and thrust us headstrong into the Industrial Revolution.
Southern Lumber Company purchased Agerton in the late 1800s and placed her into service ferrying supplies to lumber camps around Seminole on the Blackwater River. It is very possible that she carried logs back to Millview. She was rather low-beamed with a shallow draft designed for calm water lakes, bays, and rivers. With an abundance of wood to burn and a river of water to make into steam Agerton was indeed the ideal form of low-country transportation.
She was not a small boat and a big mystery lies in how she moved from New York to Lower Alabama without being destroyed by ocean waves. These were, after all, days before the Tennessee-Tombigbee or the Intracoastal Waterways. The nearest railhead would have been Chattahoochee, Florida with connection to the Apalachicola River many miles to the East.
Another and more pressing mystery is how and when Agerton met her fate. She rests in a bend in the river less than three miles from highway 90. Informants agree that it was sometime between 1906 and 1926. We know that between 1896 and 1926 several severe hurricanes caused residents to move Seminole to higher ground.
There are local folks who claim to know exactly where the Seminole commissary and the casino sat. The only problem is that all their exact locations are in different places. The lumber industry proved so efficient that it self-limited. By1920 useful trees were gone and sawmills lay silent. We do know that Witchwood (owned by the Murchison family) in Perdido was built in 1910 from lumber milled at Millview near Seminole.
Agerton could have been beached and sank during a storm, or she could have simply been abandoned. She lies sulking in her watery grave and jealously guards her secrets. The fun lies in preserving what remains, studying her artifacts, and unlocking the pearls of her past. To paraphrase Stacye, “It will take many cold beers and lots of heated discussion around a warm campfire to outsmart the old girl’s chilly silence!”
Thinking of it makes me smile – I like to smile!
