The first artifacts from the Confederate Civil War ship CSS Georgia have been recovered. The ship, which was built in 1862 but never fired a shot in the Civil War, has begun yielding items that haven't seen the surface for 150 years before being excavated near Savannah, Georgia . Among the 400 recently recovered bits of history include leg irons worn by prisoners on the ship and cannon firing equipment. Scroll down for video . Divers have recovered 400 artifacts from the CSS Georgia, which is being excavated after sitting in the Savannah River for the last 150 years. Above, leg irons for prisoners were smoothmetal  before corrosion . Civil War items recovered from the sunken ship including cannon equipment including a iron gun carriage trunnion cap (above), which allowed gunners to aim their weapons . Though the CSS Georgia never fired a shot during the Civil War, leg irons were likely used to keep deserts locked aboard . The CSS Georgia has sat at the bottom of the water along its namesake state's coast since it was deliberately sunk by its crew in 1864 to prevent it from being taken by the approaching United States army of Major General William Sherman. The iron clad ship, estimated to be up to 250 feet long, was too heavy to move under its own weight and was kept stationary at the mouth of the Savannah River with a large supply of cannons. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but an agreement was made to explore its contents before deepening its resting place, according to the Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District. Artifacts from the lost ship will be studied by researchers from Texas A&M University's Conservation Research Laboratory, with hopes that many will eventually be displayed in museums. There is only one photo thought to show the CSS Georgia during its time being used by Confederate troops . Big items such as the ship's cannons will be taken out of the water in the summer, though equipment for the guns is already being recovered by divers . Because of bad visibility near the sediment of the river, divers are forced to use their sense of touch to find artifacts such as a cannon trunnion cap (left) and a serving dish (right) Iron eyes for tackle (above) assisted the CSS Georgia's crew in moving their guns into firing positions aimed along the Savannah River . A group of divers led by principal investigator Stephen James are scouring 40 feet below the water's surface . However, sediment conditions at the bottom of the Savannah make visibility in the water next to nothing, meaning that divers contracted to find the historic items are searching with their hands rather than their eyes. 'You are doing archaeology by braille,' Conservation Research Laboratory project manager Jim Jobling told Daily Mail Online. The divers use a 3D positioning system created by previous sonar studies of the ship wreckage, though the skilled archaeologists may only be able to complete a couple of 10ft by 10ft grids because they can only work during high and low tide. They hope their rewards will help enhance knowledge of the mysterious ship, for which historians have found no building plans. The excavation process began in January, but larger items will be recovered in the summer when Navy salvage teams arrive. Thousands are artifacts from the 1860s are expected to be found, including artillery shells, four cannons, two engines and a propeller, according to CNN. Mr Jobling said that all ordnances, including possible ammunition in the cannons, will need to be neutralized by the Marines before being studied. While iron items have survived long years and are in various states of corrosion, wooden bits of the ship have largely deteriorated. Due to limited resources during the Civil War, the builders of the CSS Georgia used railroad irons to armor the ship's sides . Researchers hope that personal items such as this ironstone pottery will help illuminate what life aboard the ship was like for soldiers . Due to limited resources, the ship used railroad iron to armor its slanted sides, called casemates, which were about 12 feet high. Sections of the casemates will be recovered after the current small item phase and the large weapons in the summer. Many items such as the cannons will have excess material removed after they are transported to Texas by placing them in 1,300 gallon electrolytic tanks with sodium hydroxide solution. Conservators are hoping the remaining bits of ship and personal items will help tell about what life aboard the ship was like for crew. Mr Jobling has already been contacted by historians and researchers from around the country. He says that beyond written descriptions of the Civil War, the actual artifacts 'really brings it home' and help students of the period piece together day-to-day life. A  man recently snapped a copy of the only known photo of the ship at a Georgia garage sale, though he did not have the money to take the important artifact home. Conservators are appealing to the public to help find the photo or others like it to add to their knowledge of the vessel. CSS is the abbreviation used for Confederate States Ship, as opposed to USS for United States Ship. It was made after a group called the Ladies Gunboat Association of Savannah raised $115,000 during the war for its construction. The process of removing the CSS Georgia's to deepen the Savannah harbor costs about $15million. The CSS Georgia is technically owned by the US Navy, which classifies it as a 'captured enemy vessel,' according to the Army. Though many iron items remain, pieces of wood (pictured) are either entirely or mostly deteriorated from years underwater . The US Army Corps of Engineers has used previous dives to map where they will recover larger items such as cannons and a propeller . As opposed to modern battleships or earlier galleons, gunboats during the Civil War sometimes used a slanted body composed of casemates .
Confederacy's CSS Georgia was scuttled off the Savannah coast in 1864 . Ship is being excavated as part of plans to renovate the city's harbor . First artifacts include leg irons for prisoners and cannon equipment . Four cannons, artillery shells and engines to be recovered in the summer . Divers face zero-visibility conditions and are 'doing archaeology by braille'