A team of underwater archaeologists from USC will begin work to locate and raise three Confederate cannons each weighing upwards of 15 tons from the silty sediment at the bottom of Mars Bluff on the Pee Dee River.

Led by state underwater archaeologist Dr. Christopher Amer, researchers from the university's S.C. Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology will use remote sensing technology, including a magnetometer that identifies the presence of iron, to survey the Confederate Mars Bluff Navy Yard on the Pee Dee River and locate the nine, 10, and 15- ton cannons. The Navy Yard is on the east side of the river in Marion County.

The survey is set to begin April 30, with location of the cannons and excavation of the Naval Yard taking place in late May to mid- June. Once located and verified, the cannons, also called gun tubes, will be raised as early as this fall. The project is funded in part by a $200,000 grant from the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation in Florence.

The cannons to be located and recovered are from the 170-foot gunboat C.S.S. Pee Dee, which was constructed at Mars Bluff and launched in January 1865. and cut short when Gen. William T. Sherman's Union troops advanced northward.

www.cas.sc.edu/sciaa/ or 803-777-8170.