Hunley may reveal secrets in year's time

By BRUCE SMITH, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 21, 8:14 PM ET

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - In a year's time, scientists hope to solve the mystery of why the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sank, the chairman of the South Carolina Hunley Commission said Tuesday.

"Between the science of archaeology and the science of conservation in that laboratory, they will solve the ultimate mystery," state Sen. Glenn McConnell said after a commission meeting. "I think it's reasonable to say we're probably within a year of solving that."

The hand-cranked Hunley sank the Union blockade ship Housatonic in 1864, becoming the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship.

The vessel has been slow revealing its secrets.

There are generally two theories why it sank shortly after sending the Housatonic to the bottom. One is that it was damaged and took on water after the attack. The other is that the crew suffocated when they ran out of air.

Scientists are removing the sediment that hardened on the inside of the sub. Next spring, they will begin removing the hardened sediment from the hull.

"The exterior will be the real key to the thing," said Randy Burbage, a commission member. "You will be able to tell if another ship rammed it, which is a possibility, or if any other event may have happened."

McConnell said that includes the possibility the Hunley's hull may have been damaged by rifle fire or debris from the explosion on the Housatonic.

Hunley is 'unstable' but conservators have a plan

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2006 7:23 AM

BY BRIAN HICKS The Post and Courier

The corrosive salt and underwater currents of the Atlantic Ocean inflicted more damage on the H.L. Hunley than the Yankees ever could have hoped to.

According to the Hunley Conservation Plan recently approved by the Navy, the 143-year-old Civil War submarine is unstable, its cast-iron hatches,
bow and stern dangerously fragile. Its wrought-iron hull was forged from "poor quality" materials, a confirmation of how perilously short on
resources the South was by 1863 - even secret weapons got short shrift.

Today, the Hunley's bow is damaged and might not even be the same shape it was when the sub sank the USS Housatonic in February of 1864.

The 171-page conservation document, which conservators call a "textbook" to restoring the Hunley, paints a dire portrait of the first successful combat submarine's current condition. But it also offers what scientists call a conservative plan to restore it to museum quality, while Hunley and Clemson officials continue tests on a new method they hope could
speed their timeline.

Paul Mardikian, senior conservator on the Hunley project and an author of the document, says the plan, which calls for soaking the submarine in a chemical bath for three to five years, is not supposition but science. They aren't guessing what the coming work will do for the sub, they know.

"It's very unstable, but it's not fragile," Mardikian said. "It can handle scientists working in it. She's been very kind to us, we've never
had any problem with it. But cast iron is my big fear."

The plans call for the submarine to be restored and ready for display by the end of 2013, a deadline the scientists say they set themselves without any input from politicians. What good is a museum, Mardikian
says, if there is nothing to put in it?

Until then, the submarine will undergo a lengthy series of work:

--First, engineers must do a hull analysis to determine whether the submarine, partially on its side in a hammock for six years, can stand up on its own keel, which will make work easier.

After that analysis, conservators will remove both ballast tank pumps, which the report says are made of iron, rubber, copper and other materials. Such a collection would not hold up well under the alkaline
solution that will leech the salt out of the Hunley's hull.

--Next year, scientists will remove all the concretion - hardened sand, shell and mud - that currently protects the iron. That will afford them a view of the Hunley's skin.

Recently, Hunley experts have concluded that strong underwater currents whipping around the sub could have caused one or more of the three holes in the sub's hull. Two of the holes lie along a line on the hull that has been sanded smooth, eroding away some of the porthole rings and conning tower hinges.

Even the sub's bow, originally considered to have been molded like an icebreaker, could just be the ocean's sculpting work.

"There is evidence of scouring that leads us to believe the sub has been sanded by the currents," said Sen. Glenn McConnell, chairman of the Hunley Commission. "If you look at the sub from the bow, it seems that
one side is slightly thicker than the other."

Because of the sub's condition, and other historical considerations, the report makes it clear scientists will not take the submarine apart to conserve it.

The H. L. Hunley