Thanks, Nan.
I had to chuckle affectionately though. What kind of idiots were the first to go under the sea in a boat and expect to survive? It had to be those Southern boys. I can just hear them now, "Hey ya'll watch this!"
LOL. I think you are probably right. I would imagine that one would have to possess that kind of bravado in order to climb into a newfangled vessel like the Hunley.
No way could I have ever gotten into such a contraption. I'd prefer to die an obscure death on a battlefield than to make history being trapped in a iron tube crammed in shoulder to shoulder, with a dying candle flame as the indicator that it is time to resurface. To read about the conditions inside that submarine just gives me chills.
Since I have a mild case of claustrophobia, I can understand that. The Hunley was very small...