Sorry Anita Ward. Didn't mean to horn in on you song, EVEN if it WAS DISCO.
The National Museum of the US Navy in Washington, DC, has received the ship's bell of the USS Merrimack from private collector Adrian Piersall. It is not known if the bell were aboard the CSS Virginia, the ship built on the Merrimack's hull, during its famous fight with the USS Monitor.
It appears to have fire damage and a large dent, perhaps caused by a large timber falling on the heated bell when the merrimack was set fire.
The Grand Army of the Republic got it after the war and had it on exhibition until the 1920s when it passed into the hands of private collectors.
Ding Dong, the Bell is Back. --B-R
