Virginia, Maryland Honor Confederate Sailors Who Died Aboard Stricken Submarine (Hunley)

AP ^ | Mar. 27, 2004

[nuconvert]

Virginia, Maryland Honor Confederate Sailors Who Died Aboard Stricken Submarine

Mar 27, 2004

By Erik Stetson/ Associated Press Writer/

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Two sailors who died aboard a Confederate submarine were honored during elaborate ceremonies in Virginia and Maryland as officials prepared to bury the crew of the H.L. Hunley. Sediment collected from inside the submarine was carried by casket through Richmond and Libertytown, Md., Friday to honor the crew of the Hunley, which sank off the coast of South Carolina in 1864.

The sailors' remains were recovered when the Hunley was brought up from the ocean floor in 2000. Confederate groups seeking to honor the men had sought their remains, but the South Carolina Hunley Commission, citing legal reasons, would send only the sediment.

Richmond re-enactors organized the procession with all the honors of a military funeral, complete with a riderless horse, riflemen marching in formation and a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace."

They delivered a casket containing the sediment to a Confederate color guard, which assigned soldiers to watch over it at the state Capitol.

The coffin honored Frank Collins, a Fredericksburg native who died aboard the Hunley after it rammed a torpedo spar into the wooden-hulled Union ship Housatonic.

The Housatonic also sank, securing the Hunley's place in history as the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. A funeral for the Hunley's entire eight-man crew is scheduled for April 17 in Charleston, S.C.

"I'd have much preferred the skeletal remains," said Brag Bowling, Sons of Confederate Veterans Virginia Division commander. "But I remain convinced there was a portion of Frank Collins here today."

In separate ceremonies in Libertytown, members of a color guard greeted a white hearse bearing a coffin meant to honor Joseph Ridgaway, a Maryland native who served aboard the Hunley. Seven men wearing Confederate uniforms carried the casket into a funeral home, where it was to remain until Sunday, surrounded by Civil War artifacts.

"This is a physical reminder of the heroism on both sides," Carl Berenholtz, commander of the Maryland division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told The Frederick News-Post. "People who stepped up and did their duty for what they thought was a just cause."

The Hunley Commission declined to send remains because of concerns that if they were removed from Charleston, the descendants of a crew member could sue to take possession of them, Berenholtz said.

Commission chairman Glenn McConnell said the sediment was taken from a region of the sub where there would "not be any chance of an atom" of human remains being in it.

[mylife]

[TXBubba]

The Hunley Commission declined to send remains because of concerns that if they were removed from Charleston, the descendants of a crew member could sue to take possession of them, Berenholtz said.

How horrible!!!

BTW thanks for the post.

[nuconvert]

[nuconvert]

An 8 man crew?
Talk about sardines........whew!

[Riley]

If anyone gets a couple of free hours in the Charleston area, go to the Lasch Conservation Center and see the CSS Hunley. It is an astoundingly preserved piece of history. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit last fall.

[Riley]

They have a partial mockup of the Hunley that you can get into in the Visitor Center. Very cool!

[nuconvert]

Is it really as small as it looks?

[mylife]

I got news for ya nuconvert they All pack you like sardines.

;^)

[mylife]

Scale mock up in Chareleston

[gdc314]

descendants of a crew member could sue to take possession of them

? WTF? Why on earth would they care if the families took custody of their ancestors bodies? The tone of this is creepy to me...

[nuconvert]

WOW. Thanks. That's looks mighty uncomfortable for an overnighter.

[Riley]

Sure seems that way inside. It's got a slightly larger vertical profile than a 55 gallon drum, so imagine you and seven of your closest friends doing heavy physical labor with no fresh air inside of a row of 55 gallon drums that are standing upright next to one another.

http://www.hunley.org/

You can only look down into a pool of water where they keep the actual Hunley. You can clearly see it, but you cannot actually touch the real one. You get a very good view though.

[nuconvert]

Wow. Hard to imagine those guys in there.

Conservation Center sounds neat.

[Riley]

It was fascinating. As you go in, there is are kioska selling Civil War and Hunley related things, the hull mockup, a small theater continuously showing the TNT move "The Hunley", and a Confederate Color Guard that is changed every fifteen minutes to the tone of a ship's bell.

[NCC-1701]

All your sardines belongs to us.

[nuconvert]

Thanks for the link.

[mylife]

My First Boat

Put 100 Guys in here

[nuconvert]

wow. Looked up some info on it.
It was decommissioned in 2000.....

I really like sub movies. Don't know how guys can stand being in them for so long though.

Thanks for your service.

[mylife]

hehehe Its an adventure to be sure.

I was A direct support rider. We would come on (about 20 of us) in addition to the regular crew. this additional cramping of quarters did not go down well with ships company!

The didn't like us breathing their air!

There were bunking shortages which resulted in either placing some wood and a mattress atop torpedoes or "hotracking" with a shipmate. Hot racking is when you share a bunk. This isn't done at the same time, one sailor is on watch while the other sleeps then the process is reversed..the bed would still be warm hence "hotracking"