'Old Hull' Gets Marker on Tuesday

A piece of Lowcountry lore, that until recently had little documentation to back up its history, will on Tuesday get proper recognition.

Mount Pleasant Billy Swails, the Mount Pleasant Historical Commission and town council will hold a historical marker unveiling ceremony at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, at Memorial Waterfront Park for the remains of the 130-foot Col. J.E. Sawyer, a cement ship that sunk in Charleston Harbor in the 1920s.

Most folks know of the vessel as the concrete ship or the "Old Hull," but recent research proves the ship is one of nine cement passenger ships launched in 1919.

IF YOU GO
Who: The public is invited to join the mayor, town council and historical commission.
What: Historical marker unveiling for the "Old Hull."
When: 11 a.m. Tuesday
Where: Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park

The Sawyer was the first concrete passenger vessel built in the U.S., according to research performed by Victoria Musheff, chair of the Town of Mount Pleasant Historical Commission. It was operated by the U.S. government for roughly three years before being sold as surplus.

It came to Charleston along with an identical ship, the Maj. Archibalt Butt, and was likely used as a commercial vessel, Musheff writes. But sometime between 1923 and 1926, the Sawyer sunk in Charleston Harbor.

For some time, the ship was a navigational hazard near Adger's Wharf. In 1929, It took nearly a month to raise the 700-ton vessel from the river's floor, according to newspaper archives. The ship was towed to the Mount Pleasant side of the harbor where it rests today.

Boaters had shared stories and lore about the ship's hull for years, but few knew its true history. Most thought the ship was the Archibald Butt, according to a Post and Courier story, but that might be simply because Butt was a more interesting figure, an Augusta, Ga., native who died aboard the Titanic.

The Butt actually survived and was on display at an aquarium in Miami.

Tuesday's ceremony will be the first time the ship's hull will get official recognition of its history. The town will place a marker at the park on Tuesday.

A second marker will go up along a walking trail at the planned Bridgeside II development, the 40-acre hotel-retail-residential project planned for the land between Patriots Point and the Ravenel Bridge.