The H. L. Hunley was the first submarine to sink a warship, although the submarine was also lost during the process. Owned by the Confederate States of America during the height of the Civil War, it demonstrated both the advanteages and the dangers of undersea warfare.
H. L. Hunley, almost 40 feet long, was built at Mobile, Alabama, launched in July 1863, and shipped by rail to Charleston, SC on August 12, 1863. On February 17, 1864, Hunley attacked and sank the 1800-ton steam sloop USS Housatonic in Charleston harbor, but soon after, Hunley also apparently sank, drowning all 8 crewmen. Over 136 years later, on August 8, 2000, the wreck was recovered, and on April 17, 2004, the DNA-identified remains of the eight Hunley crewmen were interred in Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery, with full military honors.
There is apparently some discrepancy as to who first discovered the resting place of the Henley, and at Hunley.org it is reported that “best selling author Clive Cussler established the National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA) and spent 15 years searching for Hunley. The world’s first sub to sink a ship in battle was finally discovered on May 3rd, 1995 by NUMA archeologists Ralph Wilbanks, Wes Hall, and Harry Pecorelli.
“With a magnetometer, the Cussler crew located a metal object off the coast of Sullivan’s Island. After diving in nearly 30 feet of water - they removed three feet of sediment to reveal one of the Hunley’s two small coning towers.
“At first we thought we only had a piece of old debris,” said Hall. “But while groping through the silt my hand came upon the hinges of the hatch cover.”
“The NUMA team towed the magnetometer behind a boat as they criss-crossed the water guided by a set of grid-like coordinates. Using this method, Cussler and his team discovered many other shipwrecks in their search for the sub, including Confederate blockade runners.
“As if stuck in time - she lay on her starboard side with the bow pointing almost directly toward Sullivans Island - four miles away. The same direction she was heading that historical, fateful and mysterious night.”
For the last several years teams have been busy excavating the H. L. Hunley, and have found the remains of all the crew members aboard when she sank and a plethora of artifacts. “The tiny sub and its contents have been valued at over $40,000,000, making its discovery and subsequent donation one of the most important and valuable contributions ever to South Carolina.”
For more information visit Friends of the Hunley.
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