On 17th February 1864, eight men squeezed themselves into 12-metre long iron cylinder and set off into Charleston Harbour and the pages of history.
The idea of a vessel that could travel underwater and attack enemy ships without being seen had a long history. In the American War of Independence, David Bushnell had designed and built a single man submersible called the Turtle and attempted to attach a mine to blockading British ships, without success.
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), with the Union Navy maintaining a close blockade of the Southern ports, it was inevitable that creative - and desperate - solutions would be sought. Horace L Hunley, an engineer from New Orleans, began designing a submersible vessel to break the Union blockade. His first attempt was the electric-powered 'Pioneer', followed by the steam-powered 'American Diver.' Neither propulsion method proved adequate and both vessels were lost in accidents, although fortunately without any loss of life. Hunley's third design was an adaption of the American Diver concept, but powered by the muscle power of seven or eight men turning a crank. Human power was just sufficient to move the vessel through the water with some degree of control. Although the Hunley could fully submerge for short periods of time, it was more of a semi-submersible vessel as there was really no way to reliably navigate the vessel under the water. In practice, the commanding officer steered the vessel to the target by sight with their head out of the conning tower, only closing up the hatch in the final attack run.
The real problem for vessels like this was the lack of an effective, ship destroying weapon. The only viable weapon available at this time was the not very practical spar-torpedo, which was little more than a mine attached to a long pole that was rammed into the side of the enemy ship. The mine could be set off by contact -which was as dangerous to the attacking vessel as the target - or it could be set off by timer.
The Hunley indeed proved to to be a deadly weapon - to her crews. During trials in Charleston Harbour the Hunley sunk twice. In the first accident, half the crew were unable to escape and were drowned. In the second accident, the entire crew, including designer Horace Hunley. She was raised each time and a new crew of volunteers was found.
Painting of the Torpedo Boat Hunley by Conrad Wise Chapman. The scale is quite off as the Hunley looks more like a torpedo than a submarine. She was actually 1.2 metres in diameter.
General Beauregard, in charge of the defense of Charleston, was reluctant to use the Hunley in action as he believed she was more dangerous to her crew than the enemy, but the pressure of the blockade required some action. He reluctantly agreed to a mission led by Lieutenant George E. Dixon in early 1864. The crew were all volunteers. The bravery of these men is astounding as they were volunteering on what was likely a suicide mission in a vessel that already killed two previous crews during trials.
On the night of 17th February 1964 the Hunley set out from Charleston towards the Union fleet, five miles offshore. The Hunley reached the sloop, USS Housatonic, and ran its spar torpedo into her side. The Housatonic was sunk in a mighty explosion, becoming the first ship in history to be sunk by a submarine.
What happened next is the great mystery. As the Hunley never returned from her mission it was assumed she was also destroyed in the explosion, but observers on shore claimed to have seen the Hunley's agreed 'mission successful' signal and lit a bonfire on the shore to guide her back to port. Observers in the Union fleet also claim to have seen the vessel in the water near the sinking Housatonic after the attack and had opened fire on the vessel.
Whatever happened, the Hunley disappeared into legend until the wreck was discovered in 1995. The wreck was found very close to the Housatonic wreck which seemed to support the idea that she had been destroyed in the attack. In 2000 the submarine was raised from the sea floor and returned to Charleston.
While some of the hull panels had rusted through, these were not caused by war damage.
The Hunley is now in preservation and restoration treatment.
Preservation involves soaking the wreck in a solution of water and sodium peroxide to leach the salt out if the rusted iron. The wreck can be viewed on weekends at The Warren Lasch Conservation Center, 1250 Supply Street, Charleston. The museum itself includes a replica and a display of artifacts retrieved from the wreck.
The crews bodies were recovered from the wreck during the process. Surprisingly, all were found in their places rather than clustered around the hatches. This suggests that the crew were either unconscious or incapacitated when they died. If, as Union witnesses suggest, the Hunley was spotted after sinking the Housatonic and began to draw fire, it is probable that the Hunley submerged and attempted to make her escape under water. After the five mile journey out to the Union positions, the crew were probably exhausted and may have struggled to make headway against the outgoing tide. Even though the Hunley had a snorkel, the air in the submarine would quickly have become stale. If that was the case, its possible that the crew passed out due to low oxygen and the submarine drifted to the bottom and they suffocated. They really were extraordinary brave men.
A study into possible causes of the Hunley's loss can be found here: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/ship-wrecksites/hl-hunley/hunley-incident-analysis.html
Check out the excellent website for the Friends of the Hunley and, if you're in Charleston, make sure you check out the museum. https://www.hunley.org/
Life size replica of the Hunley outside the Charleston Museum. The replica was constructed before the Hunley was discovered and raised, but is amazingly close in detail to the original.
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