Hurricane Isaac unearths shipwreck on Alabama coast

NOTE: This blog story is a short respite from the Wake Island series, which will continue soon. 
This wreck is in my home state of Alabama and was uncovered last week during the most recent hurricane.

The 20th century vessel has been buried for decades along the Alabama shore.

Hurricane forces once again unearthed a shipwreck thought to be the remains of the Rachael on the Alabama shore.

The Wreck of the SS Rachael on the Alabama Gulf Coast

The vessel has been buried for decades but is exposed every few years when severe storms hit Fort Morgan, Ala., according to WALA, a local Fox affiliate.

“It’s just something that you really have to go see,” Adriana Mutan told the station. “I mean, I’ve seen so many pictures, heard so many stories, and now I’ve seen it.”

The shipwreck — last uncovered when Hurricane Ike hit in 2008 — attracted gawkers to the shore over the weekend, after Hurricane Isaac passed.

The Rachael was a 150-foot, 20th century schooner that sailed until the 1930s, when archeologists say the crew hit a storm and lost control. The boat was reportedly looted and set on fire.

Experts debunked earlier beliefs that the ship was a blockade runner during the Civil War, noting that the riggings were post- Civil War.

Archaeologist Greg Cook, of the University of West Florida, studied the ship after it washed up in 2008. Cook believes it was built in 1919 in Moss Point, Mississippi, according to WALA.

After Hurricane Camille hit in 1969, researchers identified the ship as the Monticello, CNN reported. The Monticello was a Civil War battleship that sailed from Havana and ran aground in 1862. It reportedly crashed trying to get around the U.S. Navy.

See the complete New York Daily News, including additional photographs