The Hunley

We visited the civil war submarine known as the Hunley today.  This 1860's era human powered submarine actually sank the Union Housatonic during the Civil War.  The Hunley as it turns out, was one of number of early prototypes.  On February 17th of 1864 the Hunley made history and then disappeared.  That is until the 3rd of May in 1995...

The sunken submarine was relocated to this facility in North Charleston.

A mock up of an earlier prototype.  This vessel allowed the early engineers to prove out ballast tanks, pumps and snorkels

The Hunley sits in a vat of hydrogen peroxide as a means to stabilize corrosion

Clemson University is leading the research and restoration.

Pieces have been removed as restoration slowly progresses

A photo of the inside of the Hunley.  The bench the soldiers sat on in neutral buoyancy is at a strange angle... the weight of the soldiers would cause the sub to rock downward on this side.  To achieve true neutral trim, pig iron was stacked on the opposite side of the sub. 

A visual depiction of the two contestants

The Captain of the Hunley on its last voyage was carrying these effects.  The gold 20 dollar piece is bent from deflecting a bullet in a previous battle.

 Hope you liked the pics,

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