"Unfortunately, the soft tissues that would show us what happened have decomposed in the past hundred years." "You have an instant fatality that leaves no marks on the skeletal remains," Lance said in a statement. The findings from the experiments suggested that the Hunley's crew died instantly when the blast wave from the torpedo traveled through the soft tissue of their bodies, especially their lungs and brains. "These experiments were very difficult to conduct." The experiments often proved exasperating:"I was often frustrated with pressure gauges that wouldn't work, with black powder that got too wet to explode, or with weather that seemed to oscillate between freezing hurricane and blistering heat," Lance said. This included repeatedly setting off pressurized-air blasts and black-powder explosions near a 6.5-foot-long (2 m) scale model of the Hunley, nicknamed the Tiny, that was fitted with sensors and floating in water. To figure out how the Hunley's torpedo may have affected its own crew, the scientists conducted a series of experiments over the course of three years. The sub rammed this spar into its target's hull and the bomb exploded, with the crew, at most, about 42 feet (12.8 m) from the blast. The Hunley's torpedo was not an underwater missile, but a copper keg of black powder held ahead of the submarine on a barbed pole, called a spar, that was about 16 feet (4.9 m) long. "Blast waves are capable of inflicting lethal injuries on someone without ever physically moving them." Torpedo tech " Blast injuries are consistent with the way the remains were found inside the boat, as blast waves would not have left marks on the skeletons, and would not have provided the crew with the chance to try to escape," Lance told Live Science. Now, researchers suggest that a deadly blast wave from the Hunley's own weapon may have killed its crew. The barrel on the end of the 16-foot spar contains 135 pounds of black powder. Hunley as it appeared just before its encounter with the Union ship Housatonic, which it sunk. Which Southern cities make world’s friendliest list?ĬNN’s Christine Sever contributed to this report.A graphic reconstruction of the eight-man submarine H.L. Work on the Hunley will continue for at least another five to seven years.Ĭonservators have concentrated on painstakingly removing the sediment – or concretion – that was firmly attached to the Hunley’s exterior and cramped interior.Īfter the process is finished, the submarine will be moved to a museum for display, though details have not been worked out.ĭiving tours of Titanic site to begin in 2018 Nearly all of the human remains were found where the men were at their stations, rather than jammed together at an escape hatch. It’s possible the sub’s hull was breached by the explosion or the men were rendered unconscious at some point. The crew embedded it in the Housatonic’s hull, and the charge was detonated. The Hunley’s “torpedo” was attached to a spar. A latch on the forward conning tower was found to be ajar. Or that it plunged to the seafloor to avoid detection and never made it back up. One scenario holds that the Hunley was swamped by or struck by a Union vessel. The new findings give insight into how the submarine was operated, but the biggest mystery is still unsolved – why did it sink after its successful, bold attack? An archaeological report issued earlier this year laid out six possible scenarios a combination of factors may have doomed the innovative submarine.Īre you a Civil War buff? Here are 12 fascinating sites you may want to see “When you’re turning an iron bar in front of you, or below you, you’re going to need something to keep your hands from chafing or rubbing them raw,” archaeologist Michael Scafuri told WCIV. Inside, they also found remnants of textiles and a thin metal wrap around the hand crank – showing how the crew operated the sub. Officials said it wound up there “postmortem” after decomposition of one of the crew members. The conservation work, which started after the Hunley was raised in 2000, has finally exposed the sub’s entire crankshaft – used to propel the vessel by hand.Ī tooth was found embedded in sediment on one of the crank handles. Hunley in a North Charleston, South Carolina, lab. Conservation work is being done on the H.L.
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