Cornwell to Help Solve Hunley Mystery

AP ^ | 2/14/6 | BRUCE SMITH

[SmithL]

Charleston, S.C. -- Best-selling crime author Patricia Cornwell will donate at least $500,000 to help researchers solve the mystery of the sinking of the Confederate submarine Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship.

"This is a crime scene and you are doing an autopsy on that submarine," Cornwell told The Associated Press Tuesday. "It's much like Jack the Ripper — you take the best modern science and apply it to a very old investigation and see if you can make the dead speak after all these years."

The eight-man, hand-cranked sub rammed a spar with black powder into the Union blockade ship Housatonic off Charleston on Feb. 17, 1864. The Hunley never made it back.

The sub was located off Charleston 11 years ago and raised in 2000.

Cornwell, whose 20 crime books include her series of thrillers featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, often conducts research in working labs to give her novels added realism. She visited the Hunley in its conservation lab a month ago and worked with Dr. Jamie Downs, the coastal regional medical examiner for the state of Georgia who has worked on the Hunley project.

Cornwell said one of the purposes of her donation is to bring in equipment such as high-tech computers that might help solve the mystery of the sinking. That equipment includes an infrared device able to show structural weaknesses in metal.

She also said she may recruit other scientists she has met over the years — including experts in metal from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory — who may be able to help unravel the Hunley mystery.

"They may not find anything that answers the question," she said in an interview from New York. "I'm simply saying this should not be put to rest without us doing everything...

[colorado tanker]

I wouldn't read much into the fact the men were at their posts. The interior was so cramped there wasn't anywhere for them to go or float. It does seem clear, however, they weren't in the process of evacuation.

[Tallguy]

If indeed the Canandaigua was the instrument of her demise, then she was sunk as a result of enemy action. Not due to a flaw in her design or tactics.

I would not have gone quite that far in assessing the design. After all, the Hunley killed 2 crews before the attack on the Housatanic.

I wasn't aware of many of these facts uncovered since the recovery of the vessel. I can't argue with the conclusions that you've drawn from them.

[Dante3]

The made for TV film, "The Hunley" with Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland, is excellent. It's available in video, might come out in DVD.

[ThanhPhero]

That makes more sense than any other explanations I have seen. It takes less supposing.

[75thOVI]

Thank you for your comments, sir.

[stainlessbanner]

Confederate Sub in the News

[stainlessbanner]

Fantastic!

[75thOVI]

I take your point. The Hunley may stretch the definition of "Sucessful" to the breaking point. My thoughts are that if she wasn't blown up by her own torpedo, or drawn into the Housatonic's wound, as some have proposed, Then her attack was indeed sucessful. A flaming datum is the signal of sucess for any submariner. Of course the evasion and escape part of the plan could have use a bit more work.

[Leatherneck_MT]

Good article and in alot of ways, makes sense. We'll probably never know however, what happened to her.

[RebelBanker]

Excellent detective work! Your theory is as clear and logical as anything the so-called experts have put forth.

I know the remains of the crew have been laid to rest (I participated in the ceremony) but I hope the investigators took some samples to test. Perhaps this additional money will allow for some additional work in this area.

[Colt .45]

Or perhaps one point no one has mentioned is that the shock of the explosion travels with more force underwater than through the air. So the boarding hatch could have been warped by the force of the shock wave, and the crew was unable to close it thereby allowing water to flood into the craft. Just a thought.

[75thOVI]

Good point. Colorado Tanker brought up a point earlier about the crew being found at their post. It's been a while since I wrote that article and I couldn't remember just why I made the assumption that the crew compartment, (people tank) remained dry for some period of time after the boat bottomed out. There are two reasons for thinking this is so. First, had the boat filled with water first, as the bodies decayed, they would have become disarticulated to some greater or lesser extent. Some parts would have been found on the deckplates. Some of the extremities and the crania at least. Secondly, the book I referenced states that as sediment was removed, some stalactites, (not rustcicles, which can form underwater) were found hanging from the overhead. I've not been able to verify this from any other source, but it suggests that the hull remained watertight for quite some time.

Something that runs repeatedly through my mind is the apparent damage to the forward conning tower and hatch. Shortly after the Hunley was found, a generalized map of it's location was published. Of course it was deliberately inaccurate to protect the wreck site, but back in the day, when I was riding the Von Steuben out of Charleston, that was the general area where we tested the anchor! I gotta wonder.