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Article published Oct 4, 2003
Scientists to excavate Hunley ballast tanks
Associated Press
CHARLESTON -- Scientists next week will
begin removing sediment from the ballast tanks of the Confederate submarine H.L.
Hunley, a process that could pinpoint when two holes in the tanks were made.The
Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship, sank with its crew of
eight on Feb. 17, 1864, after sending the Union blockade ship Housatonic to the
bottom off Charleston.The Hunley was raised in 2000 and brought to a
conservation lab at the old Charleston Naval Base. Previous excavations removed
the remains of the crew and other artifacts from the crew compartment.Scientists
don't expect to recover artifacts from the ballast tanks, but the sediment may
offer clues about why the Hunley sank."The sediment may tell us if the two holes
that are in the ballast tanks occurred during the attack or long after its
sinking," said state Sen. Glenn McConnell, the chairman of the South Carolina
Hunley Commission."This may well be the last possible area for artifacts of any
great significance, so let's hope some drifted in there over time," he said.The
hand-cranked submarine has a central crew compartment with forward and aft
ballast tanks. There are bulkheads between the tanks and the crew compartment,
but a 9-inch opening between the top of the bulkheads and the top of the
sub."These tanks were not really used as a place to store anything," said Harry
Pecorelli, staff archaeologist on the Hunley project. Plus, you would not want
something to accidentally block the outflow pipe, making it impossible to pump
the water out of the tank."But he said the tanks could offer additional
information about the design of the sub."We do hope to learn how the ballast
tanks were constructed and how the pumping system worked," he said.