Unlocking deep secrets

Six months after raising it from the ocean floor, scientists are ready to open the CSS Hunley.

Posted: Saturday, January 27, 2001

CHARLESTON, S.C. A The CSS Hunley is a 137-year-old chunk of gray iron, encrusted with barnacles and silt.

And, oh, has she got secrets.

During the next three months, scientists will slowly peel away three iron panels from its side, and the secrets will spill.

After all these years, the mystery of the CSS Hunley's demise could be solved.

A view of the Hunley's front hatch.

"That's what we're here to do is solve the mystery and get inside this submarine because that's where the answers are," said Shea McLean, an archaeologist.

The H.L. Hunley and her crew entered maritime history Feb. 17, 1864, when they sank the USS Housatonic, one of the ships in the blockade around Charleston's harbor. However, the Hunley never returned to shore in Charleston. Instead, it lay hidden on the harbor floor.

The mystery of how it came to rest there fascinates history buffs, scientists, mariners and almost everyone who grew up in Charleston listening to stories about the submarine.

"It's like a present waiting to be opened," said Maggie Jagocki, a Charleston resident who volunteers with Friends of the Hunley, a charity that raises research money.

In 1995, author Clive Cussler led a team that found the submarine. A top(-"notch( team of archaeologists, scuba divers and engineers developed a plan and raised money to raise the Hunley. The team pulled the sub out of the water Aug. 8 and moved it to a tank of fresh water for preservation.

The recovery and excavation is being paid for by donations, private fund-raisers and some public money. It's undecided where the submarine will be displayed once it is preserved and where the sailors' bodies will be laid to rest.

The recovery team waited six months before excavating the submarine. They studied the submarine's exterior, drawing maps of metal plates on its body. They used lasers to produce digital computer graphics. They cleaned away mud and grime.

That six months also gave the public a chance to see the submarine in its tank. The Hunley team opened the laboratory for tours and tickets sold out.

This is the torpedo spar that was attached to the front of the Hunley. An explosive was on the end when the Hunley rammed and sunk the USS Housatonic. The spar rests in its own water tank.

Now, the tours are over. The archaeology team has begun its meticulous process of opening the submarine and studying what it finds inside.

Robert Neyland, the director of the Hunley project, compared the excavation to a police officer's work at a crime scene.

"We're trying to complete a story," Neyland said.

As archaeologists and historical conservators ease inside, they will analyze every speck of sand and catalog every object down to the smallest scrap of metal, said Maria Jacobsen, the senior archaeologist.

The Hunley sat under four feet of silt and sand before it was removed. Wet sand packs the inside, too. Scientists believe the sand forced out oxygen and preserved the bodies of the men who died and other artifacts on board, Neyland said.

The archaeologists found a hole in the top of the Hunley, over its rear ballast tank. They don't know what caused the hole, Jacobsen said. It gives her team a good place to start when excavating the submarine.

First, they'll scoop sand by hand and put it in three-gallon buckets. Each bucket will be sifted and analyzed. Some sifting screens are so fine a single speck of pollen will be caught, McLean said.

"We can tell you what kind of flowers were blooming the day it sank," McLean said. "It's time frozen on Feb. 17, 1864. It's like turning back the clock 100 years."

Because the Hunley will tell more than a history story, experts from all kinds of scientific fields want a peek inside, McLean said. Botanists, organics experts, forensic scientists and even textile experts are on board.

"It's more than studying history," he said.

Once Jacobsen's team scoops away the sand, it will study the Hunley's interior construction. Right now, they don't know how the metal plates were secured inside, she said. They'll document backing plates, rivets, steering controls and propeller shaft.

After documenting the inside construction, scientists will remove three plates from the Hunley's middle exterior, Jacobsen said. This step will give the scientists their first look inside the Hunley's body, where the sailors rode on board. They expect to find the sailors' remains and other artifacts, such as clothes and jewelry.

Neyland and his staff have promised to respect those sailors. When they exhume the bodies, cameras broadcasting the work will be off, he said.

"We want to keep in mind this is a war grave, and we want to give the crew members dignity, honor and respect," he said.

The archaeologists will work in the dark, small circular frame for hours. They'll find it be cold and wet because the submarine must constantly bathe in fresh water to remove salt buildup.

"It provides difficult circumstances for excavation," Jacobsen said.

The archaeologists decided to remove side panels rather than enter through the sub's port holes. The holes are small and scientific equipment would not fit through them, McLean said.

"These were some tiny guys who sailed in it," he said.

Jacobsen is reluctant to set a deadline on completing the excavation. They must work slowly and can't foretell every snag in the plan.

"Getting actual dates out of a scientist is really difficult because we're working with the unknown," she said.

Meanwhile, Hunley fans will track progress through the Internet and news reports, said South Carolina state Sen. Glenn McConnell, chairman of the Hunley Commission.

"I believe in the next few months this project will have a sizzle to it as we unlock the secrets," he said. "We're opening what I call the world's greatest time capsule."

Reporter Noelle Phillips can be reached at 652-0366 or at phillips@savannahnow.com.

Where it rests

The CSS Hunley is being excavated inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center at the North Charleston shipyard. The center is open to the public, but the research laboratory is off-limits. The center will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission is $5. Two wide-screen computer monitors will show work as it progresses, but cameras will be off when bodies are exhumed. The center also has a gift shop of Hunley merchandise.

To get there

Get on Interstate 26 in Charleston. Take Exit 216-B on Cosgrove Avenue North. Turn left on Rivers Avenue. Turn right on McMillan Avenue. Go through the shipyard's guard gate. Turn right on Hobson Avenue and then take a left on Supply Street. The Warren Lasch Conservation Center is a white building on the left.

Hunley History

During the Civil War, the U.S. Navy blocked the Charleston harbor with war ships and the Confederate army rewarded creative ways to defeat it. Horace Lawson Hunley, a New Orleans lawyer, financed the construction of a submarine, and it was built by Baxter Watson and James McClintock.

Twice, the submarine sank, killing 13 men, including Hunley. On the third voyage, the Hunley crew rammed a torpedo spar into USS Housatonic's ammunition storage. Within minutes, the Housatonic went under water, and the Hunley made history by becoming the first submarine to sink a ship.

However, Hunley's crew never returned to shore even after signaling its success with a blue light flashed toward the Charleston harbor. It lay on the bottom of the ocean until August. Now, scientists hope to discover why it sank.

Related stories

An undersea adventure (with a virtual tour of the Hunley) (Jun. 11, 2000)

Civil War submarine raised from watery grave (Aug. 9, 2000)

