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4th sub crewman found
3 bones, part of shoe uncovered
Tuesday, April 3, 2001
BY SCHUYLER KROPF
Of The Post and Courier staff
Archaeologists digging out the Confederate submarine Hunley
believe they have found a fourth crewman.
He was uncovered at the very rear of the tiny sub and was likely
the second-in-command, responsible for working the aft ballast pumps that helped the
Hunley surface and dive.
Scientists don't know who he is, but they do know for sure who he
isn't.
William Alexander of Alabama was first officer for the third crew
for most of its three-month tour of duty. But Alexander, an engineer by trade, was called
back to Mobile on Feb. 5, 1864, to build a breech-loading gun for the Confederate Army,
missing the Hunley's fateful Feb. 17 attack on the USS Housatonic by two weeks.
He was replaced by C.F. Carlson of the German Artillery, a local
Charleston battery.
But Carlson, who made less than a half-dozen trips on the sub,
most likely would not have been installed as first officer. A more likely scenario was
that another member of the crew, who would have been more familiar with the sub's
mechanics, was promoted.
Hunley project manager Bob Neyland said the remains were found at
the back of the sub. They include a femur (thigh bone), humerus (upper arm) and a scapula
(shoulder).
The toe section of a leather shoe or boot also was found. It was
sticking up through the sediment. Scientists also found a piece of textile. "It's a
fair-size piece," Neyland said, adding it's "maybe wool."
The Hunley held nine men - eight sailors who worked the
hand-cranked propeller and a captain, Lt. George Dixon, also of Alabama, who would have
sat at the front. So far the archaeologists have found four of the men, none of whom are
believed to have been Dixon.
Most of the items uncovered have been crew bones detected in the
middle layer of the fudge-like silt that is being removed centimeter by centimeter with
tiny wooden and plastic tools.
Heavier objects, like some of the personal items the crew
carried, are expected to be found at the bottom level as scientists work their way from
top to bottom.
None of the fragile bones of any of the four men have been
removed, although archaeologists Maria Jacobsen and Mike Scafuri spent Monday mapping and
preparing to remove the rib cage of the first man discovered two weeks ago resting high in
the sediment at the forward part of the sub.
All the remains will be taken to a special morgue at the Hunley's
Warren Lasch Conservation lab on the grounds of the old Charleston Naval Base in North
Charleston. Eventually the crew will be reinterred at Magnolia Cemetery, probably sometime
next year after the remains are studied.
The excavation is expected to take several more weeks.
Used with permission of The Post and
Courier and Charleston.Net
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The Confederate States Submarine H L Hunley
