1) WELCOME TO THE NEW HUNLEY NEWSLETTER
THIS ISSUE IS DEDICATED TO MY LONG TIME FRIEND - ROI SINGLETON
2) IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Mayor backs sub at existing museum
3) "Raising Blue," a new play by G. Riley Mills
4) EMAIL FROM THE STAR OF "RAISING BLUE"
5) ARTICLE: Horace Lawson Hunley, THE PIONEER AND PRIVATEERS
6) NEW MAP AND CHART OF THE CIVIL WAR BATTLE HISTORY  AROUND   CHARLESTON HARBOR
7) FROM THE GUEST BOOK
8)  OUR PURPOSE AND GOALS

1) WELCOME TO THE NEW HUNLEY NEWSLETTER:

We are now publishing our newsletters in HTML. One of the primary highlights is that we can now inserts images. We hope that you will like the new newsletter.

***************** SPONSOR ***************************************************************************************

This weeks special at The Hunley store.

Charleston Harbor Map by George Penington Each map graphically shows the ships around the harbor and their appropriate location on specified dates. George  has plotted the locations of wrecks such as the Blockade runner "Ruby" off Folly Beach.  The Housatonic and the Hunley are accurately charted according to records  and research that is available.

Charleston Harbor map. (framed) $34.99 plus 3.50 S&H  (product # 1022)

www.hunlestore.com

***********************************************************************************************************************

 1) WELCOME TO THE NEW HUNLEY NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO OUR FRIEND “ROI”

We are now publishing our newsletters in HTML. One of the primary highlights is that we can now inserts images. We hope that you will like the new newsletter.
This issue is dedicated to my long time friend Roi Singleton who went to sleep January 1, 2003 and never woke up.  Roi was a very special guy who acted as advisor to me both spiritually and technically since we met in the late 1960’s.  Roi is the one who suggested that I get with old friends and to mend bridges; that life was short and true friends get scarce. Our friend Roi was a Vietnam vet who served as a medic and never faltered in caring for his family of friends.  The color of pluff mud, he never distinguished people by race or creed.  In early 1970’s we all gathered in a tavern called The Three Nags off the College of Charleston campus.  Here we would meet to have a glass of wine or his favorite, Heineken, play chess or have intelligent and open discussions with professors and students from all over the world.  Roi had a clap trap memory for facts and we recall when Dr. E. Lee Spence first came in and told us of his discovery of The Hunley.  Roi was a firm believer and supporter of Spence and reconfirmed this before his passing. Ken Mayes, a local artist wrote an inscription on a portrait that he had done of Roi, “I’m a better man for having known you.”  A truth that lasted over thirty years. Roi never met a person that didn’t become a friend. He took a lot of the pictures that are found scattered around this site but particularly the around town pictures help had a special eye and loved Charleston like no other

2) IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Mayor backs sub at existing museum

Saturday, December 28, 2002
 

     Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. has offered a new twist in the Confederate submarine Hunley museum search: Revisit the idea of putting the sub in the Charleston Museum downtown but also build a
Hunley park complete with a scale reproduction at the waterfront.
     Placing the sub in the established museum would allow the Hunley to go on display quickly and at a price cheaper than the current $40 million price tag, Riley said.
     And putting a 40-foot reproduction at a pier next to the S.C. Aquarium would allow the sub's life in Charleston to be told via a dedicated Hunley park supported by a collection of tablets, plaques,
artwork and diagrams.     It would also be where most Charleston tourists go, Riley said.
     "The visitor ... would be able to go to this point and from it look out to the opening of Charleston Harbor and see the site where the Hunley went down," Riley said in a letter to Hunley Commission Chairman state Sen. Glenn McConnell.
     "You would be able to walk out on the pier where the Hunley reproduction is located and almost feel the same connection that the Hunley sailors had with the waters of Charleston Harbor," Riley said.     His suggestion that the museum site be reconsidered as an option comes after McConnell rejected the three bid packages put together by Charleston, Mount Pleasant and North Charleston to house the sub, calling them too low.                          VIEW OF CASTLE PINCKNEY FROM PROPOSED CITY
                                         LOCATION FOR HUNLEY – THE SECOND SINKING WAS
                                         JUST PAST THE SAILBOAT IN DISTANCE


It also is an attempt to bring the Hunley back to the museum where it was initially pegged to go after it was discovered seven years ago.

     "We continue to believe that the peninsular city of Charleston is the best location for the Hunley," Riley said. "It is where most all of the visitors who come to the Low country go on their visit, and the success of the Hunley museum and sustainable attendance would best be achieved here."
     But Riley's suggestion may not be what McConnell is looking for. On Friday, he repeated his assertion that the Charleston Museum on Meeting Street appears to be too small to house the Hunley. Plus, he said, placing it there would cut into the impact of what he wants: a solo Hunley/Civil War maritime museum of about 40,000 square feet.     "I appreciate his trying to think of ways to handle it, but the
Hunley would end up diluting that facility, and I don't think that's in the best interest," McConnell said, adding that he wants a museum focused solely on the Civil War at sea.     And although he wasn't faulting the quality of the museum's collection, McConnell said the outside of the museum building "has a case of the uglies."
     "I don't want to scale back this project," he added, saying there is no rush to find a home for the sub because the future conservation plan is uncertain. The sub is now being kept in a coldwater storage bath at the Warren Lasch Conservation Lab in North Charleston. "The Hunley is safe, and she is affordable where she is," he said.
     McConnell said Riley's letter was the only formal contact he's had from the three cities since publicly stating he thought the bids were too low. So far, the highest offer - from North Charleston - is about $11 million to build the museum at the north end of the old Navy Base as part of the Noisette redevelopment project. Mount

HUNLEY MODEL OUTSIDE CHARLESTON MUSEUM

 Pleasant is suggesting $7 million to put the sub at the Patriot's Point Maritime Museum. Charleston has offered about $5 million up front to build the museum near the South Carolina Aquarium. In his letter to McConnell, Riley notes that instead of backing the $5 million bond issue, the city could offer $550,000 per year for 15 years, which would amount to more than $8 million

     Riley said another advantage of reteaming the sub with the museum is that it would be a joint effort with the oldest museum in the country. Also, he said, having a Hunley park at the waterfront would be more inspirational.     "Remember, this is essentially the site where the Hunley was first launched and where Horace Hunley and the other sailors who died (in the second sinking) were removed from the Hunley," Riley said. "Arguably, this site without a building becomes a far more powerful and emotional place."     He called his proposal an "opportunity for citizens to stand on the water's edge of Charleston Harbor and think about the gallantry of those Confederate sailors, now almost 140 years ago."     McConnell said he wants to see how the cities supplement their museum bid packages or raise their cash offers before proceeding.     "No offer is any good unless it can take us to the finish line," he said.
    

     Schuyler Kropf covers state and local politics. Contact him at skropf@postandcourier.com or 937-5551.
BY SCHUYLER KROPF
Of The Post and Courier Staff   Used with permission from Charleston.net and the Post and Courier
 

3) "Raising Blue," a new play by G. Riley Mills

Saturday, January 4, 2003
BY DOTTIE ASHLEY
Of the Post and Courier Staff


     Eighteen members of the Actors' Center of Chicago Production Co. are scheduled to make a research visit to the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley in its temporary home at the Warren Lasch Conservation
Center in North Charleston.
     The actors, director, theater owner and artistic director are preparing to stage "Raising Blue," a new play by G. Riley Mills, set to open Feb. 13 in Chicago for a four- to six-week run. The title refers to the Hunley's exterior blue light.   And Charleston's Footlight Players, headed by artistic director Sheri Grace Wenger, are in negotiations with the Actors' Center to bring "Raising Blue" to the Footlight Players' theater at 20 Queen
St. as its season-opener in August.     "We are still talking to the Footlight board about this but
can't make an official announcement until the board officially votes and gives its approval," said Wenger.
     The Chicago theater group got in touch with the Footlight Players' after a member of the Chicago theater staff saw the Footlight Players' theater and thought it would be the perfect venue for a Southern premiere of “Raising Blue."

     "Raising Blue" was one of this year's winners of Prop Theater Group's 2002 National New Play Festival. The touring group includes the cast; understudies; playwright Mills; Lance Gordon, owner of the
Actor's Center of Chicago; Adam Thiesen, director of the play; and Jonathan Lavan, artistic director of Prop Theater of Chicago.      Thiesen and Gordon plan to tour the Footlight Players' theater
on Queen Street Monday. The purpose of the visit is to give cast members help with their preparations, Gordon said.
     Sunday, the group will visit the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center and will board a boat for a tour of the Fort Sumter National Monument.
     "With these tours, we feel they will really get a feel of the place," said Hope Grayson, president of the Footlight Players' board.      Grayson said an August premiere of the play will be a fund-
raiser for the theater and perhaps also for the future Hunley museum.     Will "Raising Blue" feature soldiers in Confederate uniforms tap dancing and singing?
     "The word is that it is not a musical, but a serious show," says Wenger.
     For that, we'll have to wait and see. After all, as playwright David Mamet, a native of Chicago once titled one of his films, "Things change."
          Dottie Ashley is the Arts Editor. Contact her at 937-5704 or
dashley@postandcourier.com.
Used with permission from Charleston.net and the Post and Courier

4)  EMAIL FROM THE STAR OF "RAISING BLUE"

-----Original Message-----

From: christopher gausselin [

>

> I'm portraying H.L Hunley in the Play "Raising Blue"

in Chicago in Feb. so any info you have on the man

would come in handy-sincerely--Christopher Gausselin

THANKS FOR WRITING CHRISTOPHER; YOU WILL FIND TONS OF FREE INFORMATION ON SITE.  IF YOU NEED ANY ADDDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO ASK. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN CHARLESTON. GEORGE

5) Horace Lawson Hunley, THE PIONEER AND PRIVATEERS

Sometime during the construction the South’s first submersible, a native Tennessean born in 1823 in Gallatin, Sumner County, just north of Nashville, would invest $400.00 in the project.

Horace’s parents were John and Louisa Lawson Hunley. He was one of four children and only one of two who survived childhood, he and his sister Volumnia, two years younger. The family moved to New Orleans in 1830 where John Hunley died in 1834 from a long and serious illness. The Hunley family was stranded, too poor to move back to Tennessee until Louisa remarried a couple of years later to a wealthy New Jersey Planter

 Horace L. Hunley became a wealthy rice planter from his plantation outside of New Orleans, as an attorney he practiced law out of a small office near the French Quarter. Hunley was an inventor and strove for greatness. Horace was a state lawmaker and became a deputy collector of New Orleans customs, realizing early in the War that it was crucial for the South to keep open supply lines through her seaports. His dreams of a submarine could be just the implement of war to accomplish that task.  The fall of 1861 brought together Hunley with his ideas and money, James McClintock, a tinkerer and steam boat captain who owned a machine shop in the French Quarter and Baxter Watson whose expertise was steam gauges. The small shop on Front Street was turning out bullets for the Confederate Army and found little profit in it. The first attempt at manufacture of such a vessel as a submersible was in the Leeds foundry in New Orleans and tested in Lake Pontchartrain.. By late February 1862 that boat “the Pioneer” had been built.

More than likely the trial run of “the Pioneer” was witnessed only by the investors and a few military officials. Remarkably this three man submarine proved to be quite seaworthy! During her trial run she was able to destroy a schooner and two target barges.

The investors besides Watson and McClintock included Horace Hunley’s brother in law, Robert Ruffin Barrow, a sugar baron who owned eighteen plantations scattered around the South and John K. Scott, an acquaintance of Horace, described as a citizen of New Orleans and commander of the submarine Pioneer.

These investors applied for and received one of the first privateering licenses issued by the Confederate government as authorized by President Jefferson Davis. Privateers were ships of varying types owned by private citizens and had the authority to attack and destroy Northern ships on behalf of the Confederacy. This was done to supplement the almost non existent Confederate Navy.

Orleans, La., collector of, to State Department                Apr. 1     Transmits application of J. K. Scott for letters of marque and reprisal for propellor Pioneer.

CUSTOM-HOUSE, COLLECTOR'S OFFICE,
New Orleans, April 1, 1862.

SIR: In compliance with the instructions from your department, I have the honor to enclose to you herewith the application of John K. Scott for the issue of a letter of marque to the submarine propeller Pioneer, and a copy of the register kept in accordance with said instructions showing the particulars attending the issue of a commission to said vessel on the 12th instant.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 F. H. HATCH,
Collector.

 Hon. J.P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State, Richmond, Va.

To the Hon. Secretary of the Confederate States of America.

SIR: Application is hereby made for a commission or authority in the name of the Government of these States, to issue to the undersigned as commander of the submarine boat called the Pioneer for authority to cruise the high seas, bays, rivers, estuaries, etc., in the name of the Government, and aid said Government by the destruction or capture of any and all vessels opposed to or at war with said Confederate States, and to aid in repelling its enemies.

Said vessel is commanded by John K. Scott, who is a citizen of New Orleans and of 'this confederacy. Said vessel was built at New Orleans in the year 1862; is a propeller; is 34 feet in length; is 4 feet breadth; is 4 feet deep. She measures about 4 tons; has round conical ends and is painted black. She is owned by Robert R. Barrow, Baxter Watson, and James R. McClintock, all of this city of New Orleans. She will carry a magazine of explosive matter, and will be manned by two men or more.

And I hereby promise to be vigilant and zealous in employing said vessel for the purpose aforesaid and abide by all laws and instructions and at all times acknowledge the authority of the Government of said States and its lawful agent and officers.

Considering his bond the undersigned prays for the issuance of a commission or letter of marque.

 JOHN K. SCOTT.

If a privateer captures upon the high seas a merchant ship and cargo belonging to the enemy, and is unable to bring the prize into port, is the said captor authorized to destroy the same ?"

A private armed vessel duly commissioned has generally the same rights of war as a regular vessel of war and is, of course, authorized to destroy her prizes lawfully taken when unable to carry them into port or otherwise there is danger of losing them. In such cases the officers and crew of the captured vessel must not be sacrificed. It is so clearly the interest of the privateer to bring her prize into port that I see but little danger of this power being abused.

" Having procured a commission and fitted out a vessel answering to the one described in the application should I subsequently, after entering upon a cruise, abandon said vessel and substitute therefore a different class vessel not answering to said description (except in name) but better adapted to privateering, would I thereby forfeit the protection of the Confederate States and become liable to be treated as an outlaw ?"

I answer that the commission applies only to the vessel for which it is issued and can not be extended to another. The Government in the case stated by you would have no security for the observance of its laws and regulations respecting privateers. The bond is made applicable to the vessel for which the letter of marque was actually issued, and for none other. In the employment of a vessel not covered by a regular commission you would not be protected by the usual rules of war on falling into the hands of the enemy.

(Excerpt from letter regarding privateers)

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Montgomery, May 18, 1861.

In issuing letters of marque and reprisal to private armed vessels to act against the United States, the Confederate States have exercised a right which the law of nations clearly recognizes as belonging to belligerents.

President Lincoln has proclaimed that the exercise of this acknowledged right is an act of piracy, and that all persons engaged in privateering in the service of the Confederate States who fall into the hands of the United States shall be treated as pirates.

I remain, gentlemen, very respectfully, yours,

 R. TOOMBS.

 Hon. WM. L. YANCEY,
Hon. PIERRE A. ROST,
Hon. A. DUDLEY MANN,
Commissioners of the Confederate States.

On a gray and drizzly morning of October 15, 1863, Capt. Hunley filling in for an absent Lt. Dixon who was away on business commanded. The Submarine H L Hunley to embark on a practice run. At 9:25 am the boat left the dock. Horace positioned the submarine in the direction of the CSS Indian Chief, took one final reading on the compass, and then closed the hatch above his head. He pushed forward the diving plane lever and opened the sea-cocks to flood the ballast tank. The Hunley disappeared beneath the surface. The crew of the Indian Chief, used to the mock attacks against their ship realized that something was wrong. They saw the Hunley dive under the ships starboard but she did not resurface on the port side as usual. Every one knew The Hunley had sunk taking with her the entire crew

 
SECTION OF CHARLESTON HARBOR MAP SHOWING WHERE HORACE HUNLEY SANK OCTOBER 15, 1863

A subsequent investigation revealed that Horace Hunley had probably opened the sea-cocks too fast. Only the doomed crew knows for sure what transpired in the next frantic moments but the scenario went something like this. The water coming through the open sea-cocks filled the ballast tanks and spilled over into the floor of the boat. (An original flaw in the design of the Hunley was that the top of the ballast tank was left open). Hunley, realizing that the boat was filling with water but not recognizing why, grabbed the pump handle and attempted to expel the rushing tide; he screamed at Thomas Park in the rear of the boat to do the same. At the same time an order was given to loosen the iron ballast slab bolted to the belly of the boat. The crew grabbed wrenches and fumbled in the rising frigid water to remove the nuts protruding up through the floor. In a last effort Hunley and Park unbolted the hatches and pushed against the hundreds of thousands of pounds of seawater on the other side. But it was too late. As the water was rushing into the bow of the boat the increasing weight caused the center of gravity to shift forward. The nose of the Hunley   tilted dramatically downward and she went into a fast 45 degree dive. The steep angle of the plunge probably caused the bolts on the iron keel ballast plates to tilt sideways jamming them and reframing the crew from completely removing the nuts.  As the boat struck bottom the men on the hand cranks were jarred from their seats and hurled forward into a mass of tangled bodies. These six sailors died in what must have been a horrifying drowning death. Hunley and Park lasted a short while longer but as the air in the turrets expired, they too succumb to asphyxiation.

Went the submarine was opened Hunley and Park were both found with their heads still in the turrets. Both men had their right hands above their heads indicating that they both were in fact fighting against the wheels trying to open the hatches. Hunley was found holding in his other hand an unlit candle. When the submarine had plunged beneath the surface, the interior of the submarine had been enveloped in darkness. Diverting his attention to lighting the candle in his hand, Hunley had neglected to close the sea-cock. Then in the panic of the sudden influx of water Hunley had pumped madly to expel the flow. Had he simply thought to close the sea-cock instead of attempting his frantic movements on the pump, the disaster could have been averted.

On November 9, 1863 at the insistence of General Beauregard, Captain Horace Hunley and the seven others of his crew were laid to rest in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston. They were buried with all the honors that befit their ranks. Hunley’s gravestone reads: Captain Horace Lawson Hunley, age 39 years. A native of Tennessee, but for many years a citizen of New Orleans, who lost his life in the service of his country. 

6) NEW MAP AND CHART OF THE CIVIL WAR BATTLE HISTORY AROUND CHARLESTON HARBOR.

The map based around the Civil War in Charleston Harbor has expanded to include the Stono River area. Based on Chart 11521 reduced to a manageable size of 11 x 14, the image is scaled to fit a standard frame.  The Latitudes and Longitudes are scaled so that tracking can be accurately done.  Each map graphically shows the ships around the harbor and their appropriate location on specified dates. I have plotted the locations of wrecks such as the Blockade runner "Ruby" off Folly Beach.  The Housatonic and the Hunley are accurately charted according to records and research that are publicly available.

Using available Naval Records and History, reports, and documents the locations of such ships as the Canandaigua, the probable course of The Hunley, and the location of various other blockading ships in relation to Hunley the night of February 17, 1864 are shown.

The depth of the waters around Charleston are based on soundings from 1973-96. The map includes locations of the first and second sinking of the Hunley, the probable route taken to sink the USS Housatonic and the location of the USS Canandaigua. All the time and research in making this map has been extremely interesting and gives a great perspective of the battles in and around Charleston Harbor from 1861-1865.

 7) FROM THE GUEST BOOK

Date: 20 Dec 2002

Comments: LOOKING FOR SHIPMATES FROM 1985-1988,WHEN THE SHIP WAS IN SCOTLAND,L WAS A COOK IN S-2 DIV.E-MAIL ME IF YOU KNOW ME.

Date: 20 Dec 2002

Comments: would like to get into the uss hunley site and see what is new, but i caN'T GET IN 12/20/02

Date: 25 Dec 2002

Comments: Great web site. I can't wait till the crew is laid to rest. I want to be there. Kim-

Date: 28 Dec 2002

Comments: Zsarora Croom (Savannah, Ga) stopped by to learn about America's history 12/28/02

Date: 31 Dec 2002

Comments: With all the useless things that are being investigated and studied today, it is gratifying to see something of such importance in the annals of naval history being given such attention by such dedicated and learned scientists and enthusiasts. I only hope the funding can be found to keep the great work going. Great job folks! Great job!!!

Date: 07 Jan 2003

Comments: Your web site is very interesting. I found it to be informing. All the Hunley men died for a good cause and deserve to be recognized by the government, if not for what they believed in dieing for then the achievement they made in history. These brave men deserve full military honors and a representative from the U.S.N. to honor the memory of a honorable foe. Respectively, H.L. Fogle, USN, Ret.