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When Navy divers and NOAA National Marine Sanctuary marine archaeologists recovered the USS Monitor steam engine from the Atlantic in 2001, the pioneering Civil War propulsion unit was covered in a thick layer of marine concretion. Sand, mud and corrosion combined with minerals in the deep Cape Hatteras, NC, waters to cloak every feature of Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson’s ingenious machine, and they continued to envelop the 30-ton artifact after nine years of desalination treatment. So just this past month, conservators at The Mariners’ Museum and its USS Monitor Center drained the 35000-gallon solution in which the massive engine was submerged for nine years and began removing the 2- to 3-inch-thick layer of concretion with hammers, chisels and other hand tools. Working slowly and carefully to avoiding harming the engine’s original surface, they stripped off more than 2 tons of encrustation in their first week of work alone, gradually revealing the details of a naval milestone that had not been seen since the historic Union ironclad sank in a December 1862 storm. Get an insider’s look at this work and the Monitor’s engine out of the water for the first time in nearly a decade. Information from Jeff Johnston, program specialist with the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary: The Monitor’s steam engine was rated at around 400 horsepower and capable of pushing the ship through the water at 6 – 6 1/2 knots. This unique side lever steam engine has been undergoing active …