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CSA C.S.S. HUNLEY SUBMARINE


ken1224
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I remember reading that when they raised the boat LT. George Dixon had a 20 dollar gold piece in his pocket that saved his

life getting hit and bent with a shot in a previous battle. Lt. Dixon called it his life preserver.

Truth better than fiction.

CYA

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I have belonged to "The Friends of the Hunley" since the group was formed. I have seen the sub several times in person. I sat inside the replica from the movie. The real sub is actually smaller than what I sat in. You have no idea how small the sub is. I have also read every book about the Hunley. It is so interesting to hear everything they are finding in the sub. The Hunley was MUCH more technologically advanced than historians ever knew. This is one of my passions.

 

When excavating the inside of the sub, they found the gold coin. I have a replica of the sub, a replica of the coin, and a signed painting of the sub done by Mort Kunstler. On the back of the coin is engraved "Shiloh April 6th, 1862 My Life Preserver G.E.D."

 

...Kat

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Kat, you are extremely lucky! I have been down to Charleston several times and have not been able to tour the Hunley once! I stopped by the office and they said if I can get a large enough group (and the money), I can tour the Hunley on a weekday.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I had the honor of marching in the funeral procession for the final crew that was recovered. It was truly an amazing thing I will never forget. They gave us black arm bands to wear, which is now framed with the Kunstler print. Several months prior to the funeral, I and my unit served as an Honor Guard in the conservation building, standing guard by a pine coffin, with the actual remains behind a wall to our rear. They gave us a private viewing of the sub in the tank it was being "cured" in and let us dip our battle flag into the water until it touched the conning tower. For the service of the Honor Guard, each of us got a numbered medal. Mine is in the frame with the print (but was lucky to get an extra one). Later that nite, we got to have a few beers with the diver that actually confirmed the site.

As a cadet at The Citadel, one of the earlier crews remains were discovered buried at our football stadium.

Anyway, I have a great iinterest in the Hunley, too.

G

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  • 3 weeks later...
greensquid68-69

Hello - I've followed the Hunley news from it's discovery, but have been out of touch with it lately. Last I remember they had some good re-constructions of the faces. Where is the best place to get up-to-date news & photos of the finds?

 

Jim

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I got an e-mail today from the Friends of the Hunley. They are going to turn the Hunley upright. There is a you tube video of how they will be turning it straight. It is amazing all of the artifacts they have found inside the Hunley. I can't wait to hear the next clues.

 

 

...Kat

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teufelhunde.ret

BY BRIAN HICKS

postandcourier.com

 

CHARLESTON -- Scientists hope to soon see a new side of the Hunley.

 

The starboard side, that is. On Friday, officials at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center announced plans to rotate the Civil War-era submarine into an upright position early next year.

 

That move will allow scientists their first look at an entire flank of the submarine that has remained covered by the lifting straps used to hoist it out of the Atlantic Ocean 10 years ago this weekend. The sub's rotation might help solve the mystery of why the Hunley disappeared in the waning days of the war. "In its current position, we have no way to access the surface of the submarine," said Paul Mardikian, senior conservator on the project. "This is going to be the moment of truth when we look at the skin of the sub."

 

The Hunley, which became the first successful combat sub when it sank the USS Housatonic off the coast of Charleston in February 1864, was lost at sea for more than a century. In 1995, it was discovered four miles off the coast by Clive Cussler and his dive team. The Hunley was found five feet beneath the ocean floor, listing at a 45-degree angle. Scientists insisted the sub be raised in that position so the location of artifacts inside the sub would not be disturbed.

 

It has rested at that angle ever since. Now the sub has to be removed from its lifting truss so that scientists can begin to remove the concretion -- hardened sand, sediment and shell -- that cocooned the hull in its 136 years under the sea. Removing that concretion is the final step before restoration of the hull begins, using chemicals and electrical currents. But it will be delicate work, and in some places, that shell is stronger than the iron hull beneath it.

 

"It is like pouring concrete on an egg and then trying to remove it without breaking the egg," Mardikian said. Rotating the submarine will also be a delicate procedure, one scientists have studied for the past few years. Some parts of the hull are weaker than others and that has concerned scientists and slowed the process. Mardikian and his team has built a model to test the slow rotation process and are now convinced it can be done without damaging the sub.

 

"People have asked why it has taken 10 years to get to this point," said Sen. Glenn McConnell, chairman of the state Hunley Commission. "Because we get it right." The rotation is the biggest news out of the Hunley lab in a while, and could potentially lead to important new discoveries. The starboard side of the sub has remained largely unseen, even in Conrad Wise Chapman's painting of the sub, the most detailed contemporary portrait of the Hunley. Officials hope that side of the sub will hold clues to what happened to the sub on Feb. 17, 1864, in the hours after the Hunley sunk a Union blockade ship. Some theories say the sub could have been hit by a ship coming to the aid of the Housatonic. If so, the clues may be hidden on the unseen side of the Hunley.

 

"There is a good chance they'll find the final pieces of the jigsaw puzzle buried under that concretion," McConnell said.

 

http://www.postandcourier.com/search/?q=+h...operator=search

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  • 2 months later...

Digging thru some stuff, trying to get things organized before I head out to Jackson, I came across a medal I got a few years back. I used to do Civil War re-enacting with the 43rd NC and one of the highlights during that 12-year span was serving as an Honor Guard for the last crew of the CSS Hunley and later, marching in the funeral procession for them.

The Honor Guard was quite an experience. We would work in groups of three or four, in 30 minute shifts. Marching into the area were the caskets were set up in the conservation building. Behind us was a wall, and behind that, the remains of the crew were being preserved and held for burial. There was more to it all, but it's been a few years, and I haven't located my notes from it all. In any case, having done this, we were eligible for an Honor Guard medal, sold by the Hunley Commission. Each was numbered, and suspended from a black ribbon drape. Here's a pic of the medal:

post-297-1288991950.jpg

and the back of the planchet:post-297-1288991960.jpg

 

Later that night, our unit was taken into the conservation room to climb up the catwalk to have a private viewing of the doomed submarine. It was in a huge tank, filled with water and some chemical concoction to preserve it. When the archaeologists were ready to work, they would drain the tank, and refill when the day's work drew to an end. Looking down at that little sub was just an amazing thing. None of us dared speak above a whisper, knowing it had been a tomb for so many years. One of the guys in charge gave us a unique opportunity. They let us dip our battle flag into the tank, and actually draped the forward conning tower. Several years later, when our flag was retired, it was cut into pieces for each of us to have. I made sure I got a piece from that portion that draped the conning tower.

 

Anyway, awhile later, we were invited to mark in the funeral parade. That was amazing! Seemed like thousands and thousands of Confederates were marching. For me, the thing I recall most was carrying a bunch of muskets because so many of our guys were out of shape and were having trouble keeping up with the formation. We marched from the Coast Guard "base" at the Battery to Magnolia Cemetery. Because there were so many people there, we never actually got to see the actual ceremony or even the plot (until much later). Anyway, here's the framed dedication for that experience in my den:

post-297-1288992560.jpg

 

Thanks for looking,

G

Mods, if this would be more appropriate elsewhere, please relocate.

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  • 7 months later...
teufelhunde.ret

Hunley gets a lift

First step completed in process of standing Civil War-era submarine upright

By Brian Hicks

[email protected]

 

Crane operators hoisted the H.L. Hunley three feet into the air on Wednesday, the first step in a two-week process to stand the Confederate submarine upright. It was the first time the submarine has moved in nearly 11 years, and scientists watched anxiously -- calmed by the knowledge that the guy at the controls had done this before.

 

Cecil Douglas of Parker Rigging Co., who controlled one of the two cranes that lifted the Hunley, is the same guy who put the sub into its tank at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on Aug. 8, 2000, just hours after it was lifted out of the Atlantic Ocean. This time, Douglas said, was easier. "I would say it's a walk in the park for us," said Douglas, a crane manager for Parker Rigging. "It's a lot lighter than it was last time."

 

When the sub was recovered it was a sealed time capsule, filled with sand, sediment and artifacts. Since then, scientists have removed several pieces of the sub and completely excavated its interior, recovering the crew and 2,000 artifacts. The sub was raised at a 45-degree angle, as that's how it was found and scientists did not want to risk moving the artifacts inside, and no one knew exactly how fragile the iron sub would be after more than a century in salt water.

 

But now the Hunley has to be set upright and taken out of its lifting truss to complete the restoration of the 148-year-old Civil-War-era ship.

 

rest of story - pic's - video: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/ju...ey-gets-a-lift/

Hunley_Lift634_t600.jpg

Hunley_Lift893_t500.jpg

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Niner Alpha

Here's a footnote. As those who are familiar with the history of the sub know, it was built and tested......with the result of lost lives more than once.... in Mobile Alabama before being put on a train and sent to Charleston and the historic action that resulted in it going down for the last time. Many of the men who were lost on the sub at one time or other were from Mobile and there is a special marker in their honor in Confederate Rest in Magnolia Cemetary in Mobile.

post-6574-1308328253.jpg

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Here's a footnote.

 

I have read several books regarding the Hunley. Amazingly, every time the sub sank during testing, there was no shortage of men volunteering to replace the crew members who had perished.

 

Thanks for posting the marker in Alabama.

 

....Kat

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Here is a video showing the sub being raised so it can be rotated. I read that the same man who is raising the sub to be rotated is the same man who raised the sub in the Charleston Harbor.

 

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teufelhunde.ret

hunleylaser_t600.jpg

 

As engineers continued the slow work of setting the Hunley upright Thursday, scientists got their first good look at the Confederate sub's right flank. It was sort of like Christmas morning for archaeologists. "This is an amazing opportunity to see the sub from this standpoint," said Maria Jacobsen, senior archaeologist on the Hunley project. "It makes a large difference."

The Civil-War-era submarine has rested at a 45-degree angle since it was raised from the Atlantic Ocean in 2000, its starboard side lying against the 30 slings holding it in place.

 

This week, engineers have worked to tilt the sub upright a few millimeters at a time -- moving slowly to keep from possibly putting stress on the rusted iron hull. The sub is now almost dead upright, and the rotation is supposed to conclude with the sub lowered into a holding track today. By late Thursday afternoon, with the Hunley listing by less than 10 degrees, the folks inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center got their first look at features on its right side, including a pie-sized hole in the bow and a protective fin that probably was designed to keep rope or other refuse from jamming the Hunley's dive planes.

 

While the port-side fin is covered in hardened sand and shell and slightly eroded by the current, the starboard fin is sleek and unblemished, and looked almost silver. It is similar to the shape of a shark's dorsal fin. "It was buried beneath the ship in the sand, and that protected it," Jacobsen said. As interesting as that rare, untouched piece of the sub was, Jacobsen was most intrigued by the intense scouring on the starboard side of the bow. Years of seawater and sand rushing beneath the sub ate away at the hull, smoothing it and thinning it.

 

The hole exposed Thursday was exactly in the path of the scouring. "There has been very serious scouring," Jacobsen said. "We could tell by the bow that there had been some, but you can tell from the starboard side that the scouring was intensive. This is going to tell us something about what happened to it. "Those answers will come after the rotation is complete, when conservators begin the arduous task of removing the concretion that coats most of the hull. Removing that hardened sand and shell is the last step before the Hunley undergoes a chemical bath to restore its metal hull.

 

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/ju...-of-the-hunley/

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  • 1 month later...
Took a photo yesterday of a full size replica. It's at Battleship Park in Mobile.

 

Great picture. One thing they discovered after raising the Hunley was that it was smaller than previously thought. It is amazing to see in person that the real Hunley is even smaller than the one in this picture. I get claustrophobic just looking at the sub. :lol:

 

....Kat

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I always get a chill down my spine when I think of the 21 men this submarine carried to a horrible death (there is speculation the third crew passed out from lack of oxygen after sinking the Housatonic and went down then, instead of drowning while conscious). Three times it sank and I can’t imagine being trapped inside it, in total darkness, with water coming in, knowing full well that nobody can hear your screams and nobody will be coming for you until long after you’ve drowned in utter blackness. The second sinking suggested the crew survived for a while before the water eventually came in. NOBODY deserves to go out like that. The start of the TNT movie shows to a decent degree the terror or drowning in a metal tube with no hope of rescue.

My parents bought me a membership for the group that recovered it, and I still have the hat and t-shirt. I haven’t been a member since then, but have followed it closely. I’ve never gotten to see it in person, though. I have long been meaning to get one of the replicas of Lt Dixon’s legendary coin, this thread has motivated me to finally order one. :thumbsup:

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The second sinking suggested the crew survived for a while before the water eventually came in. NOBODY deserves to go out like that. The start of the TNT movie shows to a decent degree the terror or drowning in a metal tube with no hope of rescue.

My parents bought me a membership for the group that recovered it, and I still have the hat and t-shirt. I haven’t been a member since then, but have followed it closely. I’ve never gotten to see it in person, though. I have long been meaning to get one of the replicas of Lt Dixon’s legendary coin, this thread has motivated me to finally order one. :thumbsup:

 

I have read a bunch of books about the Hunley. The second sinking was caused because the captain tripped over some rope and accidentally stepped on the dive lever. The sub started sinking and taking on water so fast that only the ones right by the hatch could get out. The last man to escape had his leg trapped in the door of the hatch and was pulled down. When the sub hit the bottom, the pressure came off the hatch and the man swam to the surface.

 

As many times as the sub sank, there was no shortage of volunteers to step up and be the next crew.

 

The TNT movie is great. I sat in a replica of the sub that was used in the movie. I am 5'8" and the crank was hitting my knees. It was hard to sit in the sub.

 

I have also belonged to "The Friends of the Hunley" since it first started. The sub is fascinating to see in person. I also have Lt Dixon's coin replica. :thumbsup:

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  • 1 month later...

I just got this e-mail notification. It looks very interesting. I wonder if they will show The Hunley upright:

 

"The National Geographic Channel investigates the disappearance of the Hunley submarine in Secret Weapon of the Confederacy, a documentary premiering at 9 p.m. EST on Thursday, September 15.

 

This two hour documentary will delve into the possible theories to explain why the Hunley vanished after succeeding in her against-all-odds mission to sink the USS Housatonic.

 

Including a live action weapons test and state-of-the-art digital animation, this documentary is like no others. It explores the plausibility of popular theories and covers the Hunley's journey from conception and development to modern-day science. "

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