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Article published Apr 18, 2004
Eight men had volunteered for a mission on a new kind of underwater
ship
Teresa Killian
Staff
Writer
CHARLESTON -- Retired submariner Jim Yates wondered at the
power of the sea Saturday during a service for the crew of the CSS H.L.
Hunley."The sea has given them up for a proper burial," said Yates, who lives in
Charleston. "The sea does not often give up its dead."The early submarine
disappeared after delivering a blow Feb. 17, 1864, to an enemy ship, the USS
Housatonic.But the crew, then and now, left a legacy of courage.They had
volunteered for a mission on a new kind of underwater ship that already had
claimed lives from two crews before them."It's just phenomenal they would keep
trying where crews before them had perished," said Duane Heughan of Washington,
D.C., who attended the service at White Point Gardens. "They were definitely
trendsetters. They were explorers of new technology."In fact, it was modern
technology that crafted the tools that helped locate and recover the historic
submarine three years ago.Modern technology built that bridge to the past --
creating a chance for people more than a century later to honor these past
heroes they way they would have been honored then.The world has changed in ways
the crew may not have imagined.Cell phones and plastic water bottles tucked in
backpacks Saturday would have been strange sights to them.They would have been
surprised at the widespread use of small cameras, and how easily and quickly
tourists held them overhead to shoot over a crowd to get a good picture. When
they lived, people commonly remembered each other through a lock of hair, said
history enthusiast Jeannie Rucker of Boiling Springs, who wore a hair broach of
an unknown person Saturday with her long, black dress.Even the sight of
sunglasses would have been strange, as during that time dark glasses were a sign
of vision problems, Rucker said.Yates couldn't begin to explain the changes in
technology in submarines."How different is the space shuttle from Orville and
Wilbur's plane?" Yates asked.What has not changed, though, is the value of
courage.Yates served on submarines for about 15 years and was aboard the USS
Bonefish when it caught fire in 1988.The smoke was so thick he could not see his
hand, and they could not surface until ships above them cleared out of the
way.He was ultimately rescued by helicopter, but three crew members died.Sitting
at the Hunley service, Yates reflected on the experience."It's sad to lose a
ship, and even sadder to lose shipmen."Teresa Killian can be reached at 562-7216
or teresa.killian@shj.com.