Submarine wreck from 1800's????

Scuba446 · Aug 1, 2002

A retired diver and co-worker of mine was telling me about one of the first submarines that was built in the 1800's during the Civil War (nope, it wasn't the Monitor - he said) but he couldn't think of the NAME of this ship.

He said it was found, I believe, in the South USA, just recently, and he had seen a special on like Discovery Channel on TV about it.

Anyone know of this 'mystery' sub?

metridium · Aug 1, 2002

C.S.S. Hunley, in Charleston, SC.

BTW, the Monitor was a surface ship.

Scuba446 · Aug 1, 2002

Thanks!

Rick Murchison · Aug 1, 2002

The first operational submarine to sink an enemy ship, the Hunley has a fascinating history, and is currently being cleaned up and the interior excavated. Among the early finds was a coin that many had thought was merely a fanciful legend. Hunley's captain had been shot in an earlier battle, but the bullet had struck a coin and was deflected. Legend had it he carried that coin as a good luck piece from then on - and the coin was there, complete with the dent from the Yankee bullet and an inscription with the battle date and place on it.
If you do a Google search on CSS Hunley you'll find several sites.
Rick

art.chick · Aug 1, 2002

The story of the Hunley is also on tape, which I enjoyed immensely. It seems that they tried this underwater experiement several times before the final model. In fact, the one recently excavated was sunk at least once before, killing most but not all of the crew. It was a Confederate sub, & a real learning experience.

tchil01 · Aug 2, 2002

The Hunley was the first Submarine to sink another ship, but the first Submarine was built in 1620 by a Dutch physician named Drebble for King James of England. it was basicly an underwater rowboat with pigskin baldders that were filed with water to sink and squeezed to rise. He also had a CO2 scubber to keep the air healthy.

There was even a submarine used in the Revolutionary War. It was called the Turtle and was built by a Yale student.

Sorry for sounding like a history lecture, but I was just reading about this last night and thought I would pass it on.

Ty

jbd · Aug 2, 2002

Did you see the documentary about the 1620 submarine? It was replicated fairly recently and tested. It proved water worthy if I recall. Very interesting that they could do this stuff back then. I found it interesting how they made the water tight seals for the oars.

tchil01 · Aug 2, 2002

jbd once bubbled...
Did you see the documentary about the 1620 submarine? It was replicated fairly recently and tested. It proved water worthy if I recall. Very interesting that they could do this stuff back then. I found it interesting how they made the water tight seals for the oars.

No, I missed it. Do you remember what it was on? I'll have to look for it. I love that kind of stuff.

Ty

jbd · Aug 2, 2002

it was on one of the history channels. I think we have 2 or 3 of them on our satellite service. During the replication project they used the same materials and methods as used back in the 1600's although if I recall there were a few concessions made in the interest of safety since we now know more about the underwater enviroment then they knew back then.

I love the old technology stuff also.

Iguana Don · Aug 3, 2002

Clive is the one that discovered the Hunley and the storey is in the above mentioned book.

BTW - This is a true book about all of his discoveries.

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Submarine wreck from 1800's????

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