Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley Book

[Ken E.]

Saw this review in today's Wall Street Journal, but haven't yet read the book, "In The Waves", by Rachel Lance. The Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship, in this case, the Union warship USS Housatonic near Charleston SC. The Hunley did the deed using a spar on it's bow with about 200 lbs of black powder attached and an impact fuse. The book examines how the sub's crew probably met their demise by blast trauma, being too close to the explosion, similar to later subs being destroyed by depth charges. The author, an engineer, examined the Hunley's loss as part of her Ph.d dissertation. Any TF Civil War history buffs may be interested in this book.

 

[HopCar]

I read an excerpt from the book today. Seems really well written.

 

[menzies]

There is a very good interactive/hands on museum in Charleston on the Hunley. In the old navy base

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. m. "...interactive/hands on..." eh? Do you get to drive the boat or crank the prop?

 

[menzies]

Greetings,
Mr. m. "...interactive/hands on..." eh? Do you get to drive the boat or crank the prop?

Both!

 

[Zoar]

Fascinating story. The captain's remains were identified by the lucky coin he had in his breast pocket that stopped a bullet in a battle early on in the war. so many theories and aecdotal stories. Supposedly after the sinking the Hunley did give the blue signal light that it had been successful. Then as they had trained it was suppose to dive down and hang out on the bottom until the commotion topside reduced. Sitting on the bottom tge crew breathing as little as possible. This is what they trained for. Unfortunatrly, in prior training sessions thry stayed a moment yoo long and the weehole crew died. But they recovered the sub. One theory is this is what happened because all the bodies were in very relaxed positions at their stations.

 

[ssobol]

The part about the Hunley and the Civil War would be interesting, Not too keen on "a personal story of professional and private obstacles".