Waves from Ike uncover shipwreck on Alabama beach

FORT MORGAN, Ala. (AP) - Hurricane Ike did a lot of damage along the Gulf Coast, but on one Alabama beach it’s also helped reveal something that’s got archaeologists buzzing.
   
About six miles from Fort Morgan, Ike’s waves have uncovered a ragged shipwreck they say could be a Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862, or perhaps another ship that went down 70 years
later.
   
The wreck had been partially uncovered when Hurricane Camille cleared away sand in 1969. Researchers at that time identified it as the Monticello, a two-masted battleship that partially burned when it tried to force its way into Mobile Bay during the Civil War. A marine archaeologist with the Museum of Mobile says Ike’s excavation shows the wreck’s length matches the Monticello.
   
But the wreckage appears to have some other pieces, such as steel cables, that point to the possibility that it’s a schooner that ran aground in 1933. Positive identification will require more excavation before another storm makes that impossible.