CSS Arkansas: Cussler's search

Cussler recounts his search for the Arkansas in his book, The Sea Hunters (1996).

In November 1981, Cussler set out to look for the CSS Arkansas.

Cussler says that he ran an ad in the Wall Street Journal: "Men wanted to fund search for historic shipwrecks. Some danger. Much frustration. Long, tedious hours at sea. Failure often possible. Return on investment unlikely. Great personal satisfaction when successful.

According to Cussler, he receieved only two replies - just curiosity seekers, - and no offers of funding.

How disappointing! I would have thought people would have jumped at the chance. I would have jumped at the chance. But perhaps they recognized the name and just thought it was a stunt for his book...

Cussler, Colonel Walt Schob, and a piece of equipment called the Schonstedt gradiometer, "hunted up and down the Nississippi River and discovered the Confederat ironclads Manassas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

"The best piece of advice I can give anyone who is looking for a historic site in a small town is to head directly to the sheriff or police chief's office. Explain what you are hoping to accomplish and ask for his help and blessing. By being straightforward and honest, I have yet to encounter problems, and have always received a warm welcome and friendly cooperation. Too often, strangers poking around a small town's river or fields are treated with undisguised suspicion by the local residents, but if you tell them the sheriff is behind your project, you're always greeted like an old friend."

In this case, Sheriff Bergeron loaned Cussler his search boat.

"We began our search above Free Negro Point at Mulatto Bend Landing, four miles north of Baton Rouge. This was recordec as the site where Arkansas was run aground by her crew before she was put to the torch. The only question was, how far did she drift around and below the bend before she actually sunk?"

Cussler read a book, A Confederate Girl's Diary, by Sarah Morgan Dawson, which mentioned the Arkansas.

"Her account put the ironclad precisely on the west bank at the river's bend when the crew set it on fire."

Dismmising other reports that seemed unreliable for a variety of reasons, Cussler started his search for the Arkansas ... and found it.

(He recounts that he started at the furthest possible point he thought the ship could have sunk, and worked backesrdf from there.

"It's called 'not knowing where it is, but knowing where it ain't."

Cussler turned their findings over to the Louisiana State archeologists, who confirmed their findings.