Exposing the Hunley

Finding the Hunley, the Confederate submarine that sank a Union ship in Charleston Harbor and then unfortunately sank with all aboard, was a big deal.  They found it with a magnetometer, cleared enough sediment to expose the top of it, and confirmed it.  This was mostly accomplished by funding from best-selling author Clive Cussler.

Then they came up with a pretty amazing technique to raise it whole.  They brought it up, immersed it in cold water, then slowly excavated the interior.  They found the remains of the crew, the legendary but actually real good-luck coin carried by the caption George Dixon, and buried the remains with full military honors.

All of that is described here:  Friends of the Hunley

Now they are undertaking the last step, to remove all the sand and biogrowths encrusting it, to get a better idea of how it was made, how it worked, and maybe, why it sank.

Scientists removing encrustations from Confederate sub Hunley