Only one crew member has been positively identified through DNA tests. In 2001, the shiny talisman was found in the laboratory, along with Dixon’s presumed remains. They had to have some faith in Dixon.”ĭixon and his courageous crew, which included four European-born men, would target the Housatonic, the closest blockade ship.ĭixon routinely kept a worn good-luck charm in his pocket: A gold coin that was bent when he was wounded nearly two years before at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. “They know some other people had drowned in it. I wouldn’t want to go in there,” says forensic genealogist Linda Abrams, who has conducted extensive research on the Hunley crew.
Still, those who volunteered for the mission against the 205-foot USS Housatonic must have been well aware of the perils when approached by Hunley skipper Lt. Still, the vessel would be mostly under the water line during an attack. The Confederate commander of Charleston, concerned about the loss of life and the expense of recovering the Hunley, ordered that any attack be made on the surface. The second crew’s eight members succumbed in October when the Hunley failed to return to the surface. The Union fleet was well aware of the Hunley’s danger – to its own occupants.įive members of the first crew died in August 1863 when it accidentally dived while its hatches apparently were open. The Federal Navy had deprived the Southern city of vital military supplies. That was hand power.”Ĭonfederate officials ordered the Hunley to Charleston, where it and other ships prepared to challenge a blockade of the harbor. “This is a case where they settled on what would work. “We don’t know how real well the submarine functioned,” says Scafuri. Batteries and a steam-powered engine proved impractical for the submersible. The Hunley was dependent on the crew hand-turning a crank to power the single propeller. The captain had a difficult time monitoring certain movements. There was constant concern about a sufficient oxygen supply for the crew, which limited its dive time. The 40-foot vessel, described as “curious” looking and resembling a whale, had watertight hatches, two short conning towers, sea cocks, pumps and ballast tanks.īut there were shortcomings. The cold case begins in Mobile, Alabama, where the Hunley was built for the Confederate government.
‘Curious’ submarine a danger to its crews, too “It is like detective work – with a really cold case.” “There may be several things (factors) happening at the same time,” according to Mardikian.Īrchaeologist Michael Scafuri says the team is trying to ascertain the truth of what happened that chilly night a few miles offshore from Charleston. “I am confident this is all going to fall into place,” says Mardikian.īut don’t be surprised if everything falling into place won’t result in a “smoking gun” that points to a single cause. “If the submarine was hit by a bullet, you should be able to see that in the metal,” says the conservator.īy combining new findings with previous study, including that of the remains of the crew, experts believe they will be able to tell the complete story of what happened to the Hunley, which was brought to the surface amid much fanfare in August 2000. Patrons at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center also see the encrusted sediment, known as concretion – a mix of sand and remains of sea life – that Mardikian likens to a “black box.”īy removing the material, he says, researchers will be able to do more precise analysis of holes in the hull and its condition, the Hunley’s speed and performance in the Atlantic Ocean and whether gunfire from the USS Housatonic, its target, contributed to the submarine’s demise.
Dive planes and remnants of other submarine components, including ballast tanks, are evidence of the innovation and care of the sub’s designers and builders. You are going to look at the face of the submarine for the first time,” says Paul Mardikian, the project’s senior conservator.Īlready, the Hunley impresses visitors who gaze down to a 90,000-gallon freshwater conservation tank. A chemical bath will peel away the final layer of sediment that covers the exterior of the well-constructed hull and the Hunley’s interior. The Hunley Project, a consortium of researchers, scientists and state and federal agencies, this year begins a conservation phase that might add an important piece to the puzzle of what happened to the submarine. There is hope that some additional clues may emerge soon.
0 kommentar(er)
