Scientists planning to enter hull of Confederate submarine Hunley

Photos courtesy: Friends of the C.S.S. Hunley CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- More than five months after the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was lifted from the bottom of the Atlantic,

Monday, January 22nd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Photos courtesy: Friends of the C.S.S. Hunley

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- More than five months after the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was lifted from the bottom of the Atlantic, scientists will begin excavating the inside of the silt-filled sub.

They planned to enter the Hunley Monday through a 3-foot hole in the rear starboard quarter of the submarine, said Bob Neyland, manager of the Hunley Project.

The Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy warship, rammed a black-powder charge at the end of a spar into the Union blockade ship Housatonic off nearby Sullivans Island on February 17, 1864.

The Housatonic sank but the hand-cranked Hunley, fashioned from locomotive boilers, also went down with its nine-man crew.

The submarine was raised last summer and brought to a conservation laboratory at the old Charleston Navy Base.

The sub has been immersed in a tank of cold water while scientists mapped the hull and determined the best way to enter it.

Sunday, about 250 people, many of them wearing Confederate uniforms, gathered for a memorial service for the crew. The invitation-only service was for the volunteers who have given tours of the lab and done other volunteer work for the Hunley recovery.

The crew's remains are expected to be buried this year in the Hunley plot in Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery, next to members of two other ill-fated crews.

The submarine sank twice before the Housatonic attack -- once while moored at a dock and once on a training mission.

After the excavation, conservation of the hull is expected to take several years. The Hunley will then go on display at the Charleston Museum.

The Friends of the C.S.S. Hunley's website has an interesting website on the Hunley,including the history and photos of its recovery. To visit their website, click here.