Has the mystery of Confederate submarine that sank Union ship then vanished finally been solved afte

DailyMail.co.uk ^ | January 30, 2015 | Sadie Whitelocks

[Reverend Saltine]

After 15 years of painstaking restoration, scientists say they are on the brink of solving what sank the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley - the first sub in history to wreck an enemy warship. Considered the Confederacy's stealth weapon during the Civil War, the hand-cranked Hunley sank the Union warship Housatonic in winter 1864 and then disappeared with all eight Confederate sailors inside. Its remains were discovered in 1995 in waters off South Carolina and five later it was raised to a conservation lab. Now with about 70per cent of the hull cleaned of heavy rust, Paul Mardikian, a senior conservator on the Hunley project, says that crucial clues have been unearthed but 'it's too early to talk about it yet.'

[PLMerite]

I used to have the t-shirt:
“Celebrate the History,
Solve the Mystery,
Raise the Hunley!”

[Rocky]

It’s too early to talk about it yet. First, we need to raise some more money.

[SunkenCiv]

related, from offsite, not posted yet:

• Archaeologist set to dig for Sherman's discarded Confederate ordnance SC Now

[RegulatorCountry]

It was quite the event, raising the Hunley and bringing her home. The genteel black-veiled ladies on the Battery standing in for the wives long since passed, the huge flotilla of every kind of boat escorting them into the harbor, and the funeral procession was massive.

[Radagast the Fool]

It was sunk by Marco Ramius' great -great -great grandfather!! (one ping only, Vassily!) (lol!!😊)

[rockrr]

That’s cool - I’m glad they did that.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Interestingly they didn’t use slaves to power the thing. Imagine if they had a good dependable electric motor. There was a sub at the Battle of Mobile Bay if I recall.

[RegulatorCountry]

Recovery Day:

[rockrr]

I recall a thread on FreeRepublic about a year ago where they showed video of the raising in 2000 and the effort they took to cradle it so it wouldn’t collapse of its own weight.

Remarkable.

[Oztrich Boy]

Actually, low velocity blackpowder weapons did penetrate water without fragmenting.

[boop]

I had read that they asphyxiated, too. They had to use oil lamps to see what they were doing. That, and no outside air coming in is an easy way to suffocate.

[MV=PY]

"The article says the HUNLEY’s spar explosive detonated the gunpowder and other explosive aboard the USS HOUSATONIC, resulting in an explosion perhaps one hundred times stronger than the HUNLEY’s crew had expected. The much larger than expected explosion of the USS HOUSATONIC they speculate immediately killed and/or rendered the crew of the HUNLEY unconscious with its tremendous concussion wave passing through the sea to strike the nearby HUNLEY and its crew. The HUNLEY it is believed then drifted for a distance with its dead and/or unconscious crew before flooding and sinking to the seafloor."

Isn't it interesting? The article also says:

"Some historians say that the submarine showed a mission-accomplished lantern signal from its hatch to troops back on shore before it disappeared. Soon after the signal had been fired, the sub sank about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) off Charleston."

[chaosagent]

You’re right. 3 survived in the first test.

[Cold Heat]

Islamo terrorist pilot?

[Swordmaker]

One of the crewmen, needed to take a leak. . . and opened the door to find the outhouse.

[Swordmaker]

What was the air source underwater for the men of the Hunley?

My understanding was that it never fully submerged. The "conning tower" still stuck up a bit. Air could get in through that. . . but that was still insufficient. It got very stale.

[WhiskeyX]

If it turns out the report of the lantern was accurate, then it renews the question of why the entire crew remained seated as if they had died suddenly and without warning where they sat without a struggle?

[HiTech RedNeck]

True, we cannot discount the redneck factor here.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The exact timing of events would matter. To the sub, it was mission accomplished when it had attached the mine to the ship. Perhaps the Housatonic took several seconds to blow after the mine did, with a chain reaction of the ammo stored within, long enough for the submarine to show the lantern.

[ColdOne]

Thanks for info.