Onboard Gear

Engine Register

Monitor’s engine register. Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum

In 2001, the circular engine register that was mounted to the Monitor’s coal-fired engine steam engine was recovered. It was the first artifact recovered from the wreck with the vessel’s name on it, and as of now, the only one. The faceplate reads “Monitor” written in filigreed Victorian script arcing under the top curve of the plate, and the year that the Monitor was launched, 1862, along the bottom. The middle of the disk has six rectangular spaces where numerical digits could be seen. These digits were on small metal discs that would slowly click over to show the engineer how many hours were on the ship’s engine.