Jim Delgado at Annapolis Monument

 

While this photo from Jim's web site is labeled as being the "Mexican Monument" at Annapolis, I think it may be the monument the Navy Plebes (?) climb as a class, with the first one to reach the top said to be favored to be the first admiral. This monument is named after an officer from the Mexican War?, which is around the time that the USS Somers sank off Mexico. Admiral Denny talked about this monument when he was at Somers Mansion on Richard Somers Day (2009).

Jim Delgado participated in the search and discovery of the deep dive wreck USS Somers, and has plans for doing a documentary TV show on the search for the wreck of the USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor.

Both the USS Philadelphia and the Intrepid sunk in Tripoli Harbor, but washed ashore along the east side of the harbor, near an old breastwork fort, called the English Fort and other name on old maps. Both ship wrecks are also located near the location of the Old Protestant Cemetery, which is about 100 yards from the harbor shore and within walking distance of the old English Fort.

According to the article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (August, 2009), Dr. Anag, the director of Antiquities at the museum in the old castle fort, both the Philadelphia and the Intrepid wrecks have been covered over with cement, which should have served as a good preservative.

Jim said that he wanted to film the documentary on the Philadelphia wreck with John Davis, for a History Channel or National Geographic Channel special, but the once friendly atmosphere suddenly changed with the release of the convicted Lockerbe bomber, and the US relations with Libya remain rocky.

The cooperation that is necessary for the humanitarian maintenance of the Old Protestant Cemetery and the repatriation of the remains of American naval heroes is precisely what is needed to restore the friendly initiatives.

One of the things that the United States can bring to the table, other than our willingness to buy oil, is the educational, scientific and humanitarian programs that Libya could use, especially in the fields of archeology and the media.

In the interview Dr. Anag gave to the archeology magazine, he says Libya needs young archeology students, interns and tourists who want to work the many sites now being excavated, and some just being discovered.

While many of these are centuries old, the Tripoli Harbor sites of the Philadelphia and Intrepid wrecks, the English Fort, the original grave site and Old Protestant Cemetery are only two hundred years old, only yesterday in their scheme of things.

What would we hope to find?

At the wreck of the Philadelphia, they could expect to find cannons, and whatever one would expect to find in a frigate of that era.

There would be less of the Intrepid, but the hull should be easy to find, and it is said that the mast, which was blown onto the rocks by the explosion, may have been salvaged by the Libyans and could even be on display in the old castle fort museum run by Dr. Anag.

The mast of the Inrepid may be hanging near Ghadaffi's little Volkswagon Bug that he drove into Tripoli during the 1969 coup, and along with a box with the "bones and buttons" of the men of the Intrepid.