Just after 8:45 pm, at a speed of two knots, the Hunley rammed 200 pounds of black gunpowder into the unsuspecting ship. Calm conditions were essential for the sub to navigate, and steer itself to an enemy target. A nearly full moon illuminated the calm ocean waters, which rarely occur along the southeastern coast in mid-winter given the prevalence of frontal weather systems, the weather and ocean conditions were perfect for the first naval warfare between a submarine and a surface war-ship. Soon after the fateful encounter between the world’s most famous submarine and the frigate ship that was patrolling the waters of Charleston, South Carolina, as part of the Union’s plan to starve southern cities of supplies, questions began to swirl about the fate of the submerged vessel nobody ever saw again after the great explosion.īy February 1864, Charleston was penned in by the Union navy unable to break the blockade stranglehold which included dozens of ships patrolling the waters off the Charleston Harbor, Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms north of the city.ĭesperate to wreak terror into the Union fleet, the Hunley’s crew of eight volunteers hand cranked the Hunley – a crudely designed, thinly ironed submersible – through the Breach Inlet at the north end of Sullivan’s Island on a calm, cold February 17, 1864. The mighty ship sank in a mere matter of moments. Hunley – the Confederate submarine which rammed a super charged torpedo perched on a 16-foot extended spar that was driven into the USS Housatonic. It remained under Lowcountry waters until its raising on August 8, 2000.More mystery than history surrounds the intriguing sinking of the H.L. However, later efforts by Smith and Broadfoot to recover the Hunley were unsuccessful. He gave one clue which would evade other divers and investigators for much of the 20 th century and would turn out to be correct-that the Hunley lie just outside, on the seaward side, of the wreck of the Housatonic. Diver Angus Smith wrote in an 1876 letter to Beauregard that he had found the sub, as part of his contract to recover Confederate wrecks in the harbor. The Hunley then disappeared, and many would speculate over the years as to its location. Unlike the sub’s second and third sinking, the divers were able to find the Hunley in the dark waters relatively easily, but the grim job still took them almost a week to complete.ĭespite another fatal accident in October 1863 and loss of another crew, a third and final crew would successfully attack the Housatonic on February 17, 1864. While Charleston was being shelled, the divers attached chains and ropes to the Hunley so it could be lifted to the surface. Following the accident, Beauregard quickly called for the sub’s recovery and hired two local divers, Angus Smith and David Broadfoot, to pull her up from the harbor floor.Ĭlothed in near two-hundred pound canvas diving suits and helmets, Smith and Broadfoot dove to the bottom of the murky harbor floor. Five crew members lost their lives, while three survived. A surviving crew member, Charles Hasker stated that the wake from a passing steamer caused the Hunley to sink, while an official report later stated that the sub became entangled in lines on the dock, forcing it on its side, filling open hatches with water. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, had much hope riding on the success of the Hunley.Īfter weeks of practice runs in the harbor, on August 29 th, the “fish-boat” was docked at Fort Johnson on James Island, waiting for sundown to be taken out by its new crew, led by Lt. With Union forces besieging the city from Morris Island and recent losses in Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Confederate commander in Charleston, Gen. Constructed in Mobile, Alabama, the vessel made its way to Charleston in the summer of 1863 in an effort to disrupt the Union naval blockade of the city. Hunley sank for the first time in Charleston Harbor. 159 years ago this month, on August 29 th, 1863, the H.L. Hunley had two previous run-ins with the bottom of Charleston Harbor. Prior to its history-making attack and subsequent disappearance, the H.L. Hunley, which on February 17, 1864, became the first submarine to successfully sink an enemy ship in combat when it sank the USS Housatonic off the coast of Charleston. Many are familiar with the story of the Confederate submarine, the H.L.
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