Ike Uncovers Mystery Shipwreck

The waves of Hurricane Ike uncovered a wooden shipwreck on an Alabama beach that experts think could be a Civil War schooner, the Mobile Press-Register reports. The wreck's length matches that of the Monticello, which ran aground in the area in 1862 while trying to sneak past the US Navy on a run from Havana.

Other clues indicate that the ship, full of rusty iron fittings, may be the wreck of a schooner lost in the area in 1933. Curious tourists have been flocking to the beach and archaeologists are keen to dig up the wreck for a closer look. "It's a valuable artifact," one said. "They need to get this thing inside before it falls apart or another storm comes along." (More Civil War stories.)