Saturday, January 27, 2001

By SCHUYLER KROPF
Of The Post and Courier staff

     Scientists have finished excavating the H.L. Hunley's rear compartment and believe the whole area may have been a ballast tank.
     Although they did not empty the area completely of silt and mud, they did hit a wall behind the rear hatch tower they believed separates the rear chamber from the rest of the sub.
     Project manager Dr. Bob Neyland also said excavators discovered what appears to be a curved "rib" in the back chamber. It likely acts just like a human rib cage, giving the Hunley its tubular shape.
     Inside, scientists also identified a profile of 13 layers of sediment that had entered through the hole torn in the sub's rear. The layers were deposited over time.
     The steering rod and propeller shaft have also been located.
     On Monday, crews will spend much of the day X-raying the insides of the rear ballast area. Those X-rays will give a back view of the sub's rivets and also help determine how to remove the rivets over the human compartment of the sub.
     As the rear section was cleaned out this week Neyland described the ballast tanks as smelling "very odorous," just like in any bilge.
     The project is moving along ahead of schedule. Officials hope to enter the human compartment where the sub's nine-man crew operated sometime next month.
    
    

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