April 2001 | Volume 52, Issue 2 RESEARCHERS PREPARE TO LOOK
INSIDE THE LONG-BURIED CONFEDERATE SUBMARINE Since then, the
Hunley has been awash in mystery and controversy as well as mud.
The controversy intensified after she was lifted from the harbor
floor on August 8, 2000, by a team led by the novelist and
shipwreck expert Clive Cusler. Another salvor says he found the
submarine back in 1970 (although he made no attempt to raise
her), while a self-styled “degreed archeologist” says he located
her in 1973. But Cussler insists his group was the first to
pinpoint the Hunley ’s location, on May 4, 1995, after a 15-year
search. The government agrees with his claim. The Hunley
Commission, a semiprivate organization operated by South
Carolina, has taken charge of the submarine’s preservation. At
the new Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston,
the Hunley rests submerged in a huge water tank whose pH, oxygen
level, and conductivity are regulated by a computer. The vessel
turns out to be rounder than wa