On the night of February 17, 1864, eight men crammed into a small submarine called the H.L. Hunley in Charleston Harbor. Their mission was to sink the USS Housatonic, a Union, steam-powered sloop of war. Did they succeed and live to tell the story?
The crew of the Hunley had to have known the danger they were facing on that fateful night in February of 1864. It was probably a cold night, the air damp and the men shoulder to shoulder inside the narrow vessel.
The odds were against them coming back alive. Fourteen men had drowned in this vessel on two occasions prior to this dive, and it almost seemed as though a dreaded curse would befall them, too. But, for this period in history, the Hunley was pretty amazing, even if it had had a really bad track record. The entire vessel was just about 40 feet long and as legend has tells it, was made from a cast-off steam boiler. It was designed for a crew of eight, seven to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the submarine. Unlike modern torpedoes, which use propulsion to hit their target, the Hunley used a long shaft attached to the bow. At the end of the shaft was an explosive armament containing 135 pounds of black powder.
Michael Scafuri, Archaeologist, Clemson University Restoration Institute:
By the mid-19th century, people understood the concept. They understood that it was possible to make something like this, but they were trying different ways to make them work, different ways to use them in a war situation. And, of course, during the Civil War when you had the war going on, there was a lot of necessity to try and come up with things. And so, people were experimenting with different designs, and the Hunley was one of these. The Hunley’s significance, as has been said before, is that it was the first submarine to sink a ship, so you have to look at how they did that and why they were successful. A lot of it was determination. They didn’t have the technology to put an engine that would allow them to go underwater, so they made it hand-powered. So, if you’re willing or you’re able to get a crew that could go on board and turn a hand-crank for a number of hours, then you could make it work. The determination to do that and maybe desperation a little bit. So, the design was unique. There was no other submarine like it, but there were lots of similar vessels of the period. The Hunley sort of struck upon, we don’t know if this was intentional or not, but their final design was very similar to – and almost could be viewed as – a precursor to more modern submarines of the World War I and World War II period. They went away from a sort of bell shape and went to more – they called it fish boat – more of a fish design. It wasn’t cigar-shaped. It had a higher profile, so it’s more resistant to turning or being turned or rocking. It could stay upright a little bit easier. This is sort of a general design that was copied or used later, and the Hunley kind of foreshadowed that.
Jamie Turner
It would be a long trip to meet up with their target…about five miles total. But at a little past 8pm, a large explosion rocked the Housatonic. Within five minutes it would be on the bottom of the harbor along with five of its crewmen. The Hunley was victorious and was the first combat submarine to sink a warship.
But, the Hunley never resurfaced. Many claimed to see signal lights coming from the sub after it had rammed the Housatonic, but where were the victorious heroes?
For many years after the Civil War ended, the Hunley and her crew sat quietly in their saltwater grave. Then, on May 3rd, 1995 they were found 100 yards away from and on the seaward side of the Housatonic in 27 feet of water.
The crew took the mystery of their demise with them, but investigations are still underway today to discover what happened to the Hunley and her crew.
