Hunley reveals secrets

Saturday, November 18, 2000

By BRIAN HICKS
Of The Post and Courier staff

     Hunley scientists have found new viewing ports on the submarine's conning towers and a skylight on its front hatch and believe the interior may be painted white.
     They have not yet, however, figured out exactly how to get inside the 137-year-old Confederate sub to verify that.
     But new tests show there's no reason to hurry. The scientific staff leading the mapping, investigation and excavation of the H.L. Hunley at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston have set mid-January as their date to get into the submarine. Because of the delay, Hunley officials have set more tour dates to allow the public to see the sub.
     The decision to wait on opening the Hunley follows an MUSC laboratory analysis that found there is no oxygen inside the sub's tightly packed hull to threaten the human remains inside.
     Dr. Bob Neyland, the project's manager, says the lack of oxygen means there is no immediate threat that microbes will destroy human remains anytime soon. If tests had found traces of oxygen, the scientists were prepared to open the submarine this month.
     "We do not have to rush to open the submarine in order to excavate the remains from it, and the project can safely wait until January when it can proceed uninterrupted to handle in the most professional way the removal of all remains from the submarine," Hunley Commission Chairman Sen. Glenn McConnell said Friday.
     The results of those tests were a great relief to the Hunley team. Since the sub was recovered in August, they have been examining the sub's hull and mapping its exterior.
     Last week, they drained the water out of the tank, hosed off the sub and, taking off a few support slings at a time, used a laser to make a three-dimensional map of the sub's hull.
     That means, for the first time, scientists will have precise measurements of the submarine.
     They also will be able to turn the 3-D model inside out to get an idea of the size of the sub's interior.
     While studying the hull, scientists have been trying to figure out the best way to get in the Hunley to excavate its interior. The hatches are a mere 17 inches wide - too small to work through - and they have yet to figure out how the rivets holding on its iron panels are attached.
     McConnell says the scientists also theorize the sub may be put together by half-panel instead of quarter-panel construction. If that's the case, removing one panel could threaten the hull's integrity. They had hoped for quarter panels, which would mean there were two rows of iron panels on each side of the ship.
     The scientists will continue to look for a way into the submarine without cutting it. One idea is to take off a conning tower, although the team is hesitant to do that. The towers are made of cast iron and could be brittle.
     During the mapping, which continues this week with the help of MIT professors and staff, archaeologists have discovered a number of new features on the submarine's hull, including:
     • A skylight on the front hatch. McConnell said Friday that it appears there was a glass viewing port or skylight in the front hatch used to let in some light. That feature has never shown up in any drawing or painting of the sub.
     • A starboard side front viewing port on the front conning tower. Shortly after the sub was raised, the Hunley team found a forward porthole just to the port side of the sub's front cutwater. There is an identical one on the starboard side of the cutwater.
     • There is some evidence on the inside of the hatches that the submarine's interior may be painted white. The open hatch in the classic Conrad Wise Chapman painting appears white. McConnell said the white hull walls would have been light reflecting, helping to keep the crew out of pitch blackness.
     • The two holes on the starboard side of the hull appear to not be contemporary to the submarine's sinking. McConnell said both holes could have been made by an anchor that was dragged across the hull of the sub before it was covered in the silt.
     "We've seen nothing that goes against the single-shot theory," McConnell said.
     That scenario, put forth by McConnell, is that a Yankee sharpshooter on the Housatonic may have put a hole in the cast-iron front conning tower with a well-placed musket.
     That shot could have hit the sub's commander, Lt. George Dixon, leaving the sub without a driver. The hole would have let in enough water to throw off the sub's fragile buoyancy.
     So far, efforts to X-ray the submarine's interior have been unsuccessful. That's because the silt and sand that has probably preserved the artifacts inside is so tightly packed that scientists can't make out clear images. On Friday, however, scientists said they thought they could make out the propeller shaft.
     "It's incredible how well the sub has held on to its mysteries," McConnell said.
     With the excavation not scheduled to start until after the holidays, McConnell said Hunley officials decided to add the extra tour dates. The tours are sold out through this month.
     Between the tours, at $10 a head, the merchandise - which gift shop staff can't keep in stock - and Friends of the Hunley memberships, the extended visitation days will only help the project's coffers.
    
Used with permission of The Post and Courier and Charleston.Net.  

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ The USS Keokuk ] [ Full Scale model ? ] [ BATTLE MAP ] [ Housatonic Sank ] [ ARTIFACTS ] [ USS HUNLEY ] [ THE CREW ] [ Torpedo Warfare Around The Civil War- Article ] [ Torpedo Part 2 ] [ SITE MAP ] [ News Home Page ] [ ARCHIVES ]

Comments and questions may be directed to webmaster: mistergwp
Please sign guest book and thanks for visiting.