Thanks to Kathy in Tuscaloosa for passing along these images, captured by her brother in Gulf Shores, who writes…
“Hi everybody, I had an interesting day to day. After Ike had passed and the water finaly went down word spread around the island that a ship wreck had washed up on the beach down by Fort Morgan. I grabbed my camera and hauled butt down there. There were a bunch of people already there, a ton of armchair experts, saying it was a Spanish galleon from the 1500s, another said it was a “rum runner ” from the 1920s. So heres my take, I’ve seen the union iron clad gunboat on display at Vicksburg Miss. and the hull construction of this boat is the exact same. 10×10 beams were used for the hull with what look to be 10×10 transverses go across the boat. The ship is about 120ft long by 25ft wide. It had aparently been burnt to the waterline. I may be wrong but, the battle of Mobile Bay in Aug. 1864 happened just 3 miles to the west. It might be a Union ship lost in the battle because I dont think we had any. Anyway the state police are guarding it now and some experts are coming to figure it out.”
