It wasn’t me, but I do know something on the subject. The torpedo had a barbed spike on the forward end. This lodged in the Housatonic’s hull and the Hunley went full astern. The charge pulled loose from the spar, and a line ran from the charge to a spool on the upper side, starboard I believe, just forward of the hatch. When the line pulled tight, the charge was detonated. This would give a slight stand-off when the charge went off. However, in an uncompressible environment, it really wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
Another threory, given he bodies were found at their stations and not piled up at the hatch was asphyxiation. They had to wait for the tide to shift as they did not have the energy to row home and they just slowly ran out of oxygen and passed out. we visited her and the cemetery a few years back.
This is actually incorrect. This was the method they thought was used, but the Freeper that posted the pictures last year had proof that the torpedo was permanently attached to the iron spar. The remains of the copper container can still be seen firmly bolted to the iron spar. It didn't come off.