THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503030141
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Olde Towne Journal
SOURCE: Alan Flanders
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Hundreds of private boats and charters sailed across Hampton Roads to see the world's first battle of ironclads. Now, 133 years later, a tour boat operator is convinced that thousands of tourists will be interested once again in sailing over the site during a narrated tour.
Richard Seay, owner of Harbor Cruise Inc., is planning to open the Monitor-Merrimac Information Center and offer tour cruises over the Civil War-era Battle of Hampton Roads beginning April 1. Located at 917 Jefferson Ave., in downtown Newport News's Small Boat Harbor, adjacent to the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel (I-664), he hopes to capture some of the tourist trade between Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.
Seay says that he is not opening a ``museum,'' but instead is offering visitors a chance to learn about the development of both Confederate and Federal ironclads and the role they played in world maritime history.
Monitor-Merrimac Center will focus on the conversion of the 1856-era steam frigate USS Merrimack at the Gosport Navy Yard into the ironclad CSS Virginia in 1862; her March 8, 1862, destruction of wooden-hulls USS Cumberland and Congress; and the battle with the Virginia off Newport News Point on March 9, 1862.
``What we want to do is give passengers who board Harbor Cruise's two enclosed tour boats some general background about the development of ship and boat building from a local Indian dugout canoe to the era of steamships and ironclads.
``When they go out on the cruise, I want them to have a better understanding of what they are about to see and how we got that far in ship construction. But the battle between the Monitor and the CSS Virginia is the center focus of the tour. We spent a lot of time and money making it as accurate as possible.''
Seay estimates that he has spent more than $100,000 renovating a former restaurant to house three major galleries.
Gallery One, ``The Hampton Roads Room,'' will feature a series of wall murals and artifacts that highlight the colonial landing at Jamestown, log canoes, 18th century ships-of-the-line, skipjacks, steam auxiliaries, and finally the era of ironclads.
Gallery Two, ``The Battle Room,'' will hold a large diorama depicting the Battle of Hampton Roads. Constructed from scale using period maps and charts, it will incorporate information from first-hand accounts.
Gallery Three, ``The Legacy Room,'' will display examples of warships that followed the first ironclads and shows how turrets and armor were incorporated in modern warship construction.
``Once visitors leave the center, they are invited to board the World War II-era, 170-foot, `Quicksilver,' an authentic undersea salvage ship complete with a one-man submarine, submersible monitor for underwater filming, antique diving equipment and artifacts,'' Seay said.
A film and tour guides will provide hourly programs on the wreck of the Monitor off Cape Hatteras on New Year's Eve, 1862.
Docked next to the Monitor-Merrimac Center and the Quicksilver are Harbor Cruise's two tour boats - ``Harbortown Lady'' and ``Harbortown Lady II.''
``We plan on sailing along the largest, privately owned shipyard in the world, the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.,'' Seay said.
``Next passengers will see Craney Island where the Virginia was destroyed by her crew in May 1862 to prevent capture. Once we cross over to Sewells Point, they'll hear about how once a Confederate battery stood there, and see the Norfolk Naval Base, home of the Atlantic Fleet and the most modern warships of today including submarines, aircraft carriers, and Aegis cruisers.
``On the final leg of the cruise, we'll pass Fort Monroe and learn about Confederate President Jefferson Davis' imprisonment after the Civil War. On our return to Newport News Point we'll pass over the wreck sites of USS Cumberland and Congress and the battle area of USS Monitor and CSS Virginia,'' Seay said.
``I like to say that our Monitor-Merrimac Information Center offers a `wine tasting' of history where visitors are presented with enough information that they have an appetite to learn more in neighboring museums like the Mariners' and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum.''
Considering the investment, which he estimates will top $250,000, Seay understands the gamble to get people to the battle site.
But using history as his best marketing tool, Seay admits ``they came from across the nation and even Europe to see the original battle in March 1862. Now wouldn't it be nice if history repeated itself?'' MEMO: For further information, call 804-245-1533 or 800-362-3046.
ILLUSTRATION: Harbor Cruise's boats would take tourists on a trip around
Hampton Roads.
by CNB