Early in the war, the British bark Amstel was speeding to Mobile, Ala., to pick up sought-after cotton in advance of a Union blockade. In its haste, Amstel ran aground on a sand bar known as Mobile Bar or Dixey Bar, some two nautical miles southwest of Fort Morgan. Nobody was lost, but Union forces confiscated the ship's cargo of railroad axels and 2'/2-inch thick slabs of Pennsylvania blue stone. This story came to light when a 31-inch 700-pound bronze bell was recovered from a wreck that was suspected to date from the early 1900s. David Anderson of Fathom Exploration, which raised the bell, told Mobile's Press-Register it wasn't until he began cleaning it and discovered an 1860 date that he realized it was "something special." Anderson pieced the story together through captains' logs and newspaper clippings. Early June marked the 150th anniversary of the ship's running aground.
展开▼
