william keeler, one of the 46 survivors, wrote to his wife when he was safely a short saying, " a heavylled over our bow, dashing against the pilot house and searching out -- surging out. words cannot depict the agony of those moments as our little company gathered on top of the turret with a massive sinking iron beneath us." crews from the randolph ventured into lifeboats to say the men of the monitor. sailors struggling to save other sailors. at 1:00 in the morning in the pouring rain and pitch blackness, monitor slipped below those raging seas. 16 men went with her. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> when was it discovered and how was it discovered? mr. alberg: it was discovered in 1973 by researchers from duke university under johnny, horton watts, and another gentle man named sheridan. they were out testing a new kind of sonar, side scan sonar. they were looking for a target it would be clearly identifiable. they picked the monitor as a way to test the equipment. in august of 1973 they identify the target that had this unique shape that was similar to the monitor. what they had not expected was the ship i