Remembering the Hunley

Years ago, Turner Network Television aired a show about the CSS Hunley, the first successful combat submarine used during the Civil War. I watched it with my young sons.

Just a short time later, the sunken sub was found on the ocean floor after 137 years of searching. Plans were made to raise it for preservation. I told the boys if we ever got the chance we would go to Charleston and see it in person. We watched the show in 1995, it was raised in 2000 and we went to see it in 2016.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center and saw the sub soaking in a huge vat of chemicals that are undoing what over a hundred years of saltwater corrosion has done to the vessel. There is still speculation on what actually caused the demise of the H L Hunley.

The television show turned out to be quite close to accurate. A prototype sub called the Pioneer is also on display at the Center. The sub was powered by eight men hand cranking a propeller and operating ballast pumps. Imagine being sealed in an experimental cast iron tube where you could not stand up. There was only one candle for illumination, and the crew experimented on just how long they could stay down before running out of air. These were brave men indeed.

The Union troops were blockading the harbor. The purpose of the Hunley was to ram an explosive on a long pole into the hull of enemy ships, back away, and pull the charge to explode. The Hunley sunk twice and killed several men as it was being tested. On Feb. 17, 1864, it successfully blew up the USS Housatonic, but it was spotted as it approached the ship. The sailors on deck shot at it with their pistols and rifles, but the explosive detonated, the ship exploded in a fireball and sank in just a few minutes. Five Housatonic sailors lost their lives.

Supposedly, the Confederates on shore saw the blue light signal of mission accomplished from the Hunley as it surfaced, but it never returned home. Did it get damaged by the shots or the explosive charge? Perhaps they got swamped by the waves of other vessels headed to rescue the survivors on the Housatonic or ran out of air? Time will tell as the conservators slowly scrape away the mostly preserved clues and artifacts from the Hunley and she yields her secrets.

The remains of the men who perished were given a proper military burial after much study. Forensic artists have reconstructed images of what the men would have looked like and have figured out identity of each man and where they would have been seated in the vessel.

It was amazing to me that they were able to conserve leather shoes and even the remains of a silk scarf from France.

There is so much more to this incredible story but not enough room to cover it in this article. There is a wonderful true story of Lt. Dixon and the gold coin that saved his life at Shiloh. I urge you to learn about this important part of American history, watch the movie and then go check out the real thing!

Charleston is such a beautiful city and there is so much to see and do. I hope to go back soon and would like to see Ft. Sumter!

Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 31 years and is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com.

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