“A Most Disastrous Accident”

The loss of Walker off Absecon Inlet on the New Jersey coast is discussed in detail with an account of the particulars of the wreck, the rescue of the survivors, public reaction, the response of the U.S. Coast Survey, and the subsequent career of the steamer’s last captain, John Julius Guthrie.

Walker’s Survey Career, 1849–1860

The majority of Walker’s career was spent surveying the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of Pensacola, Florida, Mobile, Alabama, and Louisiana. The work, accomplishments, experiences of the crew, and the various commanding officers of the steamer are discussed.

Charting America’s Coast

The career and work of the steamer Robert J. Walker, its first commanding officer (Carlile Pollock Patterson) and nature of hydrographic surveying and creation of nautical charts done from Walker are discussed.

The Coast Survey Expands and Acquires Steamships

The U.S. Coast Survey survived political challenges and the death of its founding director to thrive under a new director, Alexander D. Bache, after 1844. The story of the survey, its expansion into a truly national entity, and the acquisition and work of its expanding fleet including new “experimental” iron steamships, are discussed.

Wreck Divers and Rediscovery

The occasional tension between wreck divers and professional archaeologists, the rise of community and avocational maritime archaeology, the response of the New Jersey diving community to the identification of the wreck, NOAA’s community outreach, and the origins of the Walker Wreck Project are discussed.

The Robert J. Walker Shipwreck Project

The origins, politics, organization, planning, and work done in the field as a partnership of wreck divers and NOAA’s archaeological team to extensively study, map, and document the wreck using underwater survey and underwater photography, and in doing so confirming the wreck’s identity, as well as the friendships that developed, are discussed.

The Archaeology and Appreciation of a Steamship and Its Crew

The results of the maritime archaeology project, from the documentation and interpretation of the shipwreck through its remains, its colonization by marine species, memorials and museum displays such as the Absecon Lighthouse, and the challenges and opportunities remaining are discussed.

Introduction

This chapter introduces the background conflicts between the groups that came together cooperatively to explore and preserve the Robert J. Walker shipwreck. As sport and wreck diving expanded globally through the last decades of the twentieth century, legislation regulating diving was enacted Some divers defied regulations and rules. Government officers boarded vessels, making arrests and seizing artifacts. When the government proposed creating underwater reserves in the U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries, divers were part of the vocal resistance, citing restrictions to access, the need for permits, and actions by government officials that they viewed as capricious and harsh.

Walker’s Lost Crew

Through a review of genealogy, immigration records, and pension records, the biographies of most of the crew lost with Walker, as well as the subsequent impacts, when known, on their families, are recounted.

The 25 Dollar Wreck

This chapter discusses the post-sinking history of the shipwreck: first as an unmarked wreck impacted by fishing activities, then its rediscovery by wreck divers, the development ashore of nearby Atlantic City, and the factors leading to the identification of the wreck, as well as the work done to identify it.