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00:01This week, join me as I explore the mystery of the Civil War that still haunts the South today,
00:06the disappearance of the H.L. Hunley.
00:09It was the pride of the Confederacy, the first submarine ever to sink an enemy ship in combat.
00:16We've got the latest discoveries and exclusive new clues,
00:20so we might just be able to put this mystery to rest once and for all.
00:25This Captain's Watch could be the Sub's black box.
00:28Can this newly discovered hunk of iron, the missing piece of the Civil War's last great puzzle?
00:34So that could have been a huge contributing factor as to why the Hunley went down.
00:38We'll test the evidence from the Hunley's historic mission.
00:41Did CO2 poisoning doom the crew?
00:44And using 10 pounds of C4 will replicate the explosion of the Hunley's spar torpedo.
00:51Why did this famous Sub never make it home?
00:55We're digging for the truth, and going to extremes to do it.
01:14I'm standing in the conning tower of the USS Hawaii, one of the newest nuclear submarines in the world.
01:20Stationed at the U.S. Navy's first sub base in Droughton, Connecticut.
01:24Hi, I'm Hunter Ellis.
01:25This place is known as the submarine capital of the world.
01:29And I might not be standing on top of this magnificent vessel if it weren't for the H.L. Hunley,
01:34the first submarine to ever sink an enemy ship in combat.
01:39In February 1864, as the Civil War reached its deadly peak, a desperate south launched a secret weapon new to
01:47warfare,
01:48a submarine named the H.L. Hunley.
01:52It succeeded beyond the Confederates' wildest dreams, sinking one of the Union's largest battleships.
02:01Yet that same night, the Victoria's sub and its crew of eight men disappeared.
02:08The search for the pride of the South and her crew consumed the city of Charleston, South Carolina, for more
02:13than a century.
02:17It was finally discovered four miles from the coast of Charleston under 30 feet of murky water.
02:26In 2000, all 14 tons of its iron shell was raised, filled with more than nine tons of sediment.
02:36After 136 years on the ocean floor, a new chapter in the mystery of what sank the Hunley began.
02:46To get my first look at the legendary sub, I head for the Warren Lash Conservation Center near Charleston Harbor.
02:57The Confederacy's last great hope is now kept in a 76,000-gallon tank of cold, fresh water to help
03:04protect its hull from further corrosion.
03:09Archaeologist James Hunter introduces me to the vessel that changed naval warfare forever.
03:15Wow.
03:15This is unbelievable.
03:18This is like getting to see the Wright Brothers' first airplane.
03:22Now this is a piece of history right here.
03:25Absolutely.
03:25And it's small.
03:26Very small.
03:28The maximum height is four feet.
03:30Maximum width is three and a half feet.
03:32And the entire crew compartment.
03:34Wow.
03:34All eight of these guys are crammed into.
03:36It's only 22 feet long.
03:38So it's extremely small.
03:41And the incredible thing is, Lieutenant Dixon and his crew spent at least two hours in this sub,
03:46cranking it four miles out to sea to surprise their target in the dark.
03:51Man.
03:52I cannot imagine spending as much time in here as those eight men did.
03:57I can't either.
03:59That's a daring task.
04:01There are ideas that the torpedo that it used may have sunk it.
04:04There are ideas that they could have been hit by the ship that came to a Cisci Satonic.
04:10We have all kinds of different ideas.
04:11But at this point, these are only ideas.
04:13We've got to collect all the information.
04:15So it's like a time capsule?
04:16Absolutely.
04:17In the most literal sense.
04:19This was on the bottom of the Atlantic for 136 years.
04:22Unbelievable.
04:25Archaeologists have literally found thousands of clues buried inside the Hunley.
04:30But they're still struggling with its mystery.
04:33What sent this pioneering sub to the bottom of the ocean?
04:37And did her dedicated crewmen ever have a chance to survive?
04:42But what would cause men to be so desperate to lock themselves in here?
04:47Let's go see if we can find out.
04:50To get inside the history that provoked the Hunley's historic mission,
04:54I go straight to a native son of South Carolina,
04:57who's agreed to take me out into the waters of Charleston Harbor.
05:02He's also the chairman of the Hunley Commission,
05:04State Senator Glenn McConnell.
05:06Looking forward to the tour today.
05:08Well, let me tell you, we're going out in what I call a harbor of history,
05:10and I think you're going to see the whole story here.
05:12All right. Well, I'm looking forward to it.
05:13I'm ready. Let's go.
05:15Pull the anchors.
05:19As we settle in next to Fort Sumter,
05:21I start to get a true perspective of what dire straits the South was facing in 1864.
05:29What was life like back then?
05:31It started out fancy at the start of the war,
05:33but as the war wore on, this became like a war zone.
05:37Shelling almost nightly, it cut a big path of destruction through the city.
05:41The city was in rubble, not a wind of pain left.
05:44The siege here was longer than the siege on Stalingrad or Leningrad in World War II,
05:49and these people were hanging on.
05:51The Union had to blockade completely across the mouth of this harbor,
05:55and they were cut off.
05:56This was their lifeline to the world, the gateway to the world,
05:59and they were not able to move the goods in and out.
06:02They had to break this blockade.
06:07The Hunley was a modern marvel in its day,
06:09but it was primitive, unproven, and deadly dangerous.
06:16In two of its test runs, the sub sank.
06:19Thirteen crew members died,
06:21including the man who financed the sub, Horace Lawson Hunley.
06:26But the Confederates just hauled it up and sent it out again.
06:32On that fatal last night, the Hunley crew faced a back-breaking challenge.
06:39Seven men, under the command of Lieutenant George Dixon,
06:43powered the sub four miles out, turning its crankshaft by hand.
06:49It was a nightmare mission for the crew,
06:51and a wake-up call for the enemy.
06:57Here is something, unlike anything in the world,
07:00that possibly could bring fear to that increasing presence of the United States Navy.
07:05It's the fishbowl, their worst fear basically come true.
07:09By the time the sailors on the deck of the Housatonic spot the Hunley,
07:13it's too late.
07:16The submarine is too close for the ship's cannons.
07:20They can't tip low enough to hit the Iron Menace.
07:23Their only defense is small arms fire.
07:29But the sub keeps coming,
07:30and strikes the starboard side of the Union ship,
07:34then backs away,
07:35leaving its deadly 135-pound charge of black powder buried in the ship's hull.
07:42When the rebel sub is about 50 feet away,
07:45the torpedo charge explodes.
07:50Minutes later,
07:51the only parts of the Union ship left above the water
07:53are its tall masts and rigging.
07:58That's when an eyewitness reported seeing a blue light on the water.
08:04The prearranged signal for the Hunley crew to announce its victory to shore.
08:10One of the men who went up the mask of the Housatonic
08:13says he saw a blue light on the water.
08:15And they wouldn't have known about that signal.
08:17They wouldn't have known about that signal.
08:18That gives us a good indication that the Hunley crew was alive.
08:21My guess is they survived the attack.
08:24Now we have the opportunity to open it
08:26and slowly close in on the ultimate secret,
08:30why she didn't come home.
08:33To review the evidence,
08:35our Digging for the Truth archaeologist Dr. Cara Cooney
08:38gets a close-up look at the recovered sub
08:41with the Hunley Project's senior archaeologist Maria Jacobson.
08:45And what you're looking at here is the bow of the submarine.
08:47And right there is Lieutenant Dixon's conning tower.
08:50That's where he was stationed.
08:51Exactly.
08:53When archaeologists removed the hole plates of the submarine,
08:56they found it was filled entirely with fine sediment.
09:01It took almost two years to work their way
09:03through the packed mud hardened by time,
09:06layer by layer.
09:09But the good news was,
09:10this environment had created a time capsule,
09:13preserving artifacts important to the investigation.
09:19Once the excavation was complete,
09:21in-depth analysis began.
09:24The first tantalizing clues came from the hole itself.
09:30You see the damage here?
09:32It goes all the way to the propeller
09:34and it goes all the way here.
09:35When we raced the sub, this is what we saw.
09:38So we have a big, giant hole.
09:39We have a submarine that obviously didn't make it back to port.
09:42So this is a really obvious explanation
09:43for why it didn't make it back to port.
09:45Possibly, yeah.
09:46One of the theories people had was
09:48that perhaps the vessel sank
09:50because it was hit by a surface vessel.
09:52A big ship impacted it on the surface
09:55and it went down.
09:56Okay, now I can sense from your voice
09:57that archaeologically you think
09:59that this hole happened later
10:01than all of the histotonic explosion activity?
10:04Initially we didn't know.
10:05The trick is to figure out when did it occur
10:07and how did it occur.
10:09And what are the archaeological steps
10:11that you used to do that?
10:12Well, initially what we did
10:14was conduct a trench excavation through the hole.
10:17Right here where the hole is,
10:18we found all this intrusive material,
10:20shell material and coal pieces.
10:22The stuff that's coming from the outside
10:24into the sub, no wonder there's a big gaping hole.
10:26But once we got below the lip of the hole
10:29to a great amazement,
10:32we find none of that material.
10:33We find just fine mud,
10:35just very, very fine mud,
10:37which tells us this hole was not there initially.
10:41It's a later development.
10:42This cannot be the reason
10:44that the submarine went down to the bottom.
10:46Right.
10:47If this hole in the sub
10:48isn't what caused the Hundley to sink,
10:50what did?
10:52To find out,
10:53we're going to examine clues
10:54from inside the wreck
10:55and see what secrets they can reveal.
10:59But first,
11:00I'll go down under myself
11:02to experience what the Hundley crew
11:04might have felt on their daring mission.
11:06Could carbon dioxide have poisoned their air?
11:13When I saw the Hundley,
11:14the first thing I noticed
11:16was the limited amount of space for the crew.
11:18And now I want to get an idea
11:20of what that was like for them.
11:22I'm here to meet up
11:22with former Hundley Project
11:24chief historian Mark Regan,
11:25who's built his own mini-sub.
11:27He's going to teach me how to fly it
11:29and then send me out on my own.
11:30This should be interesting.
11:32Hi, Mark.
11:33How's it going?
11:34Fine, fine.
11:34It's a beautiful vessel you have here.
11:36Yeah.
11:37We've been diving this
11:38for about 20 years now.
11:39I think I'm going to have
11:40a Beatles tune playing in my head
11:41when I get in there.
11:43You've never heard that before, right?
11:44No, I've never heard that one.
11:45Tell me a little bit about this sub.
11:47How deep have you been able to take this?
11:48Uh, I've been down to 60 feet in it.
11:51No kidding.
11:51Because it's designed
11:52to go to over 250.
11:53Wow.
11:54It looks like it'd be
11:55a pretty good simulator
11:56for getting an idea
11:57of what the Hundley crew
11:57was experiencing underwater.
11:59Pretty close.
12:00Basically, this simulates
12:01what Dixon would have experienced
12:02while diving the Hundley.
12:05Lieutenant George Dixon
12:06was the sub's commander.
12:08Since he was charged
12:09with navigating the Hundley,
12:11he sat right underneath
12:12his conning tower
12:13to use its viewports
12:14to check their position.
12:17Sounds exciting.
12:18I'm ready.
12:19Let me say we dive right in.
12:20Here we go.
12:21In Charleston,
12:22I was blown away
12:23by how big the story
12:25of the Hundley still is today.
12:27Everyone has their own
12:29personal theory
12:29of what happened
12:30to the crew that night
12:31during their final moments.
12:33All right, so where do we get started?
12:34I want to experience
12:35their mission conditions firsthand
12:36by making a solo dive
12:38in the dark.
12:40All right.
12:40But first,
12:41I need to master
12:42Mark's little sub.
12:44Here goes nothing.
12:48There is not a lot of room in here.
12:51Did the crew panic
12:52when something catastrophic happened?
12:54Or did they simply
12:55run out of oxygen?
12:57Maybe this will give me a clue.
12:59You'll see the forward
13:00and aft vent valves.
13:02Okay.
13:03Mark runs through
13:04the basic controls
13:04of the mini-sub.
13:06The blow valves will bring you up.
13:08The vents will take you down.
13:10Well, I hope I get
13:10that one right.
13:12Yep.
13:13We're all set.
13:14Here we go.
13:19All right.
13:20Okay, I'm going to get
13:20a communication with them.
13:22All right, remember
13:23how those motors work?
13:25All right, you're going forward.
13:26At first, it feels
13:27a little like bumper cars.
13:30Now, you're going to reverse.
13:31You have to go forward.
13:37No problem.
13:37There's bumpers
13:38on those motor guards.
13:39But eventually,
13:40I get the hang of it.
13:42All right, Hunter,
13:43go ahead and shut
13:43those motors off right there.
13:45D-1, you're getting
13:46the iconic tower
13:47anyway sealed.
13:49Basically, what I want
13:50is it's straight up
13:50and down dive.
13:51And I want to close
13:52both of them
13:52as soon as I see it
13:53on the top, right?
13:54Yeah, you're getting close.
13:56Okay, now just listen to me.
13:57They're going down
13:58nice and straight.
13:59Start to close them now.
14:01Close them all
14:02the way off now.
14:04Okay.
14:11All right, they're all off
14:13and I am submerged.
14:15Yes, you might see
14:16Brian peeking on the windows.
14:18Next stop, the bottom.
14:23And touchdown.
14:24I can just see the bottom
14:25now through the forward
14:26viewing port.
14:27Okay, this is what I...
14:28All I want from you
14:29right now is just
14:30to get acclimated.
14:31Just look out the windows
14:32and just...
14:33You're in the Hunley.
14:35You're sitting on the bottom.
14:36This is the first
14:36checkout dive.
14:37This is getting you
14:38totally acclimated
14:39to what Dixon went through.
14:41Okay, I mean,
14:42this is an incredible
14:43environment down here.
14:44I mean, I can already
14:45feel it.
14:46Just my voice
14:47bounces off the walls
14:48and I can feel the air.
14:50Just I'm getting hot
14:51and it's humid in here.
14:58But what I really want to do
15:00is make this same dive
15:02at night.
15:04I want to feel
15:05what the Hunley crew felt
15:06as they crept out
15:07into the Atlantic
15:08to make their historic attack.
15:17All right, go ahead
15:18and shut them off now.
15:20Good.
15:24I tell you,
15:25this is an eerie feeling
15:26in here.
15:32The Hunley's target
15:33was four miles out to sea.
15:36Because of the sub's iron skin,
15:39Dixon's compass
15:39was unreliable.
15:42The men had to risk
15:44surfacing,
15:45not just for fresh air,
15:46but to get their bearings
15:47in the dark.
15:50I mean, imagine being down here
15:52with seven other crew members
15:54and this is the only light
15:56you have to navigate by.
15:57You know,
15:58I sit here thinking about this
15:59and if something catastrophic
16:01had happened
16:02and the sub had started to flood,
16:05I mean,
16:06this light would have been
16:07extinguished immediately.
16:08It would have been cold
16:10and it would have been
16:12a mass panic down here
16:14and, you know,
16:15it probably
16:16would have happened so fast
16:17they didn't even know
16:18what hit them.
16:19And,
16:21it's a really,
16:22really scary thought
16:24to put yourself
16:25in their shoes.
16:29In the Hunley,
16:30breathable air
16:31was a constant concern.
16:38before their historic mission,
16:40Dixon and his crew
16:41had performed a test
16:42to see how long
16:43they could stay underwater
16:44without resurfacing.
16:47They proved
16:48they could remain submerged
16:49for two and a half hours,
16:51but this was with the crew
16:52totally at rest.
16:55When the sub was in operation,
16:56the men inside
16:57had a job to do.
17:00To propel it forward,
17:02they had to turn
17:02the hand-powered crankshaft.
17:08How long could eight men
17:09work in a sealed chamber?
17:11Did the Hunley crew suffocate
17:13before the sub sank?
17:15To find out,
17:16Kara and I enlist the help
17:17of Dr. William Dawson,
17:19medical director
17:20for respiratory care
17:21at Charleston's Roper
17:23St. Francis Hospital.
17:24Hi, I'm Kara.
17:25Nice to meet you.
17:25I'm excited to do this.
17:26Yeah, I'm ready.
17:27Let's go.
17:27He'll perform a maximum
17:29cardiopulmonary exercise test
17:31on yours truly.
17:32Hunter's our guinea pig.
17:34We're going to have to go up
17:34and we're ready to go.
17:36There's this question
17:37of what happened.
17:38Exactly.
17:38So we try to figure out
17:40a little bit
17:40from the exercise test
17:41maybe what their
17:42physiological state
17:44would have been
17:44once they rammed the shift.
17:47This test measures
17:48how much oxygen I'd use
17:50if I were a crewman
17:51on the Hunley
17:52and how much carbon dioxide
17:54I produce
17:55with every exhaled breath.
17:58During the test,
17:59I'll be hooked up
18:00to a 12-lead EKG
18:02or electrocardiogram.
18:04That's what all the wires are.
18:08Did you guys get this
18:09from Pulp Fiction?
18:10Let me help with that.
18:12I'll help with that.
18:13I want to get him struck.
18:14Yes.
18:15Kara is gagging me.
18:16I want to make sure
18:16that it's nice and tight.
18:18Sweet.
18:19The test measures
18:20the CO2 output levels
18:21in liters per minute.
18:23Dr. Dawson estimates
18:25that going full steam,
18:26I'll be producing
18:27around two liters
18:29of CO2 per minute.
18:30That would give
18:31the submerged crew
18:32about an hour and a half
18:33before CO2 levels
18:35become dangerous
18:36or even lethal.
18:37Is he right?
18:38Okay, I've got to focus.
18:39No talking.
18:40You do the test.
18:41If my levels reached
18:43four liters per minute,
18:44it would cut the safe time
18:46underwater in half
18:47to a mere 45 minutes.
18:49How much time did they have?
18:51Working out.
18:52We're going to see
18:53how much oxygen he needs,
18:54how much CO2 he puts out.
18:56And is it fair to say
18:58that the crewmen
18:58of the Hunley
18:59were in worse shape
19:00than our fine specimen
19:01hunter here?
19:02I'm not a food historian,
19:04but they smoked.
19:05They had a diet.
19:06I mean, this was a city
19:07that was under siege.
19:08The food was coming in
19:10sporadically, I guess,
19:11and the diets
19:12were not so good.
19:14The harder I work,
19:15the more CO2 I produce.
19:19Carbon dioxide production
19:20is at about 1.2 liters a minute.
19:28So, Hunter,
19:28you're working really hard
19:29right now.
19:30You're feeling it?
19:31Yeah.
19:31This is, you know,
19:32imagine doing this
19:32for 45 straight minutes.
19:34Oh, man.
19:34Without stopping.
19:36That's what maybe
19:37we're asking them to do.
19:38And then you do it
19:39with your legs.
19:39Then we do it
19:39with our arms.
19:46Carbon dioxide production
19:47is 2 liters a minute.
19:51So our numbers
19:52are starting to go up.
19:53He's got an air hunger
19:54sensation,
19:54and he's making
19:55a lot of carbon dioxide,
19:563.5 liters a minute.
19:573.5 liters a minute?
19:58Carbon dioxide a minute.
19:59So if all seven of them
20:01were working at this rate,
20:02you'd have 21 liters
20:04of carbon dioxide.
20:05It's about 575 cubic feet.
20:06And they'd be doing that
20:07every minute.
20:07So they're poisoning
20:08their air more and more.
20:10And they're rebreathing
20:10the same stuff
20:11over and over again.
20:123 liters per minute
20:13would give the crew
20:14about an hour
20:15before needing
20:16to replenish their air.
20:18His CO2 production
20:19is 5 liters a minute.
20:20Yeah, those numbers
20:21are spiking.
20:21And you can see
20:22them going up.
20:23By the end,
20:24I was making
20:25almost 5 liters a minute.
20:27And you can see
20:27them going up,
20:28and in just a minute,
20:29he's going to move
20:29into the anaerobic range.
20:30Not quite yet,
20:31but you're getting there.
20:32My CO2 production
20:34was going off the charts.
20:35And I'm just one guy.
20:37There were 8 men
20:38aboard the Hunley.
20:40And he's about
20:41had enough, I think.
20:42He's going anaerobic,
20:44as they say.
20:45This is not sustainable
20:46for much longer.
20:48The test lasted
20:49less than 15 minutes
20:51and really wore me out.
20:53To attack the Housatonic,
20:54the Hunley crew
20:55had to hand crank
20:56in that confined space
20:57for at least two hours
20:59with limited opportunities
21:00to surface for fresh air.
21:03And based on these tests,
21:05how much time
21:05do you think
21:06it would have taken
21:06for them to meet that end?
21:10His actual carbon dioxide
21:11production is higher
21:13than I had calculated.
21:14I had figured
21:15about 1.75 to 2.
21:16And you're a similar size
21:18to the submariners.
21:19So you're producing
21:20more carbon dioxide
21:21than I had thought.
21:22So the time estimate
21:24for the 3 to 5%
21:26concentration in the sub
21:27would be more like
21:2735 or 40 minutes
21:28instead of 60.
21:29So it's less than you thought.
21:30There's enough
21:30carbon dioxide production
21:32danger here
21:33in the length of the trip
21:34and the physical activity
21:35that a combination
21:36of carbon dioxide production,
21:38physical exhaustion,
21:39dehydration
21:40would have overcome
21:41the sailors
21:42and they would not
21:42have been able to function
21:44and would have just
21:44gone out.
21:45The physiology of it
21:46is a very daunting thing.
21:47So with the limits
21:48of the human body,
21:48limits of physics,
21:49limits of the ocean
21:50and what they're able to do,
21:51whether these guys
21:52knew it or not,
21:52this was a suicide mission.
21:55Um...
21:55I think you could say that.
21:57I mean,
21:58those are tough words,
22:00but they were certainly...
22:02The window of physiological
22:03safety and success
22:05for them was very small.
22:07I mean,
22:08I just think
22:08as a physical task
22:09it's almost not possible
22:11to be completed.
22:12We thought the obvious fear
22:14for the Hunley crew
22:15would be running
22:15out of oxygen.
22:19But in reality,
22:21the greater danger
22:22was carbon dioxide poisoning.
22:24they would have become
22:25disoriented,
22:26dysfunctional,
22:27maybe even unconscious.
22:29Prime conditions
22:30to make a fatal error.
22:36Coming up next,
22:3721st century technology
22:39helped pinpoint the location
22:40of the Hunley's
22:41most precious cargo
22:42and its most vital clue
22:44to date.
22:50It was the world's
22:52first effective submarine
22:53and it disappeared
22:54mysteriously 140 years ago.
22:59It's a puzzle
23:00modern forensics
23:01was designed to solve.
23:04This 3D crime scene
23:05photo of the sub
23:06was constructed
23:07piece by piece
23:08by archaeologist
23:09Mike Scafuri.
23:11It's long, narrow,
23:12dark, wet, dirty.
23:13And then we're trying
23:15to do very precise
23:16digital mapping
23:16on this project.
23:18Okay.
23:18Now, digital mapping,
23:19so what does that
23:20allow you to do here?
23:21Well, by taking it
23:23to the digital world,
23:24we can recreate it
23:25in three dimensions
23:26and rebuild the site
23:27and then begin our analysis
23:29and see it complete
23:29for the first time.
23:30By the Hunley being
23:31on the bottom
23:32for 136 years,
23:33you're able to use
23:34technology that wouldn't
23:35have been available
23:36had they found it sooner
23:37and therefore learn
23:38a lot more about it.
23:39Absolutely.
23:39In this case,
23:40our primary focus early on
23:42was the human remains,
23:43the bones of the crew.
23:44We wanted to know
23:45where they were.
23:48After using laser technology
23:50to map each item
23:51found in the Hunley,
23:53archaeologists scanned
23:54every bone to create
23:55its identical digital replica.
23:59There's over a million
24:00points in this.
24:01In just one skull?
24:03In just on the mapping
24:04of just one skull alone.
24:05And this was done
24:06for each and every bone
24:08that we were going to put
24:08back in the site plan.
24:09That's over 1,000 bones
24:11that we scanned.
24:12So this femur
24:13will now fit
24:13in that position right there?
24:15Exactly.
24:15And it was just a matter
24:16of snapping it in place.
24:18So the femur goes right there
24:19and now you can do this
24:20for every bone?
24:20We can do that
24:21step by step,
24:22bone by bone
24:22for each and every bone
24:24from the crew's remains.
24:25Wow.
24:27That's incredible,
24:28just the detail you have.
24:29So here's the aft end
24:30of the sub,
24:31here's the bow.
24:32So this would be
24:34Lieutenant Dixon, correct?
24:35That's right.
24:35This is where
24:36Lieutenant Dixon sat.
24:37The different colors
24:38represent the different individuals
24:39as identified
24:40by our forensic anthropologists,
24:41blue and tan and green
24:43and so on.
24:44What are some things
24:45you can deduce
24:46by looking at the position
24:47of these bones?
24:48I mean, it doesn't look
24:48like anybody tried
24:49to scramble to get out.
24:50Absolutely.
24:51One of the things
24:52we thought we might find
24:53was all of the crewmen
24:54bunched up under
24:55one of the conning towers
24:56trying desperately
24:57to get out
24:57in the last moment.
24:59But we don't see that at all.
25:00We see them pretty much
25:01at their stations.
25:02There's no evidence
25:03of a struggle
25:03to try and get out one end.
25:05A panicked exit.
25:06Exactly, exactly.
25:07There wasn't a mad pileup
25:08of the crew at one end,
25:09which means either
25:10they had no time
25:12or no means
25:14to try and escape.
25:15But remember,
25:16this is a 3 1⁄2 foot
25:17by 4 foot wide tube.
25:19So there's not a whole lot
25:20of places to go.
25:20There's not a lot of room.
25:21You're shoulder to shoulder
25:22with the guy next to you,
25:23and you don't have a lot
25:24of movement room anyway.
25:28Thanks to my CO2 exercise test,
25:30we know that carbon dioxide
25:32could have easily disabled
25:33the Hunley crew.
25:35And we now know
25:36that the men's bones
25:37were found
25:38at their individual duty stations,
25:40which makes this theory
25:41very plausible.
25:45After the bones' locations
25:47were carefully mapped,
25:48they were moved
25:49one last time.
25:52In 2004,
25:54the Hunley crew
25:55was buried
25:55at Magnolia Cemetery
25:57in North Charleston
25:58with full military honors.
26:01After 140 years,
26:04they were finally home.
26:09But their personal possessions
26:11are still in the lab,
26:12carefully preserved
26:13under the care
26:14of senior conservator
26:15Paul Mardikian.
26:18We've got wood buttons,
26:19we've got rubber buttons,
26:20you've got porcelain buttons.
26:24Most of what's been found
26:25in the sub
26:26are everyday items,
26:27but they help tell
26:28a complex story.
26:31They were smokers.
26:32They were smokers.
26:34I find it amazing
26:35they're going out
26:36on this very, very dangerous mission,
26:38but they're bringing
26:38their pipe with them.
26:39You cannot live
26:40without your pipe.
26:41It's impossible.
26:42Everything's a treasure,
26:43no matter how small.
26:45Even pencils
26:46and burnt matches
26:47that were used
26:48to light the candle.
26:49Of course, it does.
26:50It does.
26:51And what you're looking at
26:52is the humanity
26:53behind the artifacts.
26:55I mean,
26:55having just nice artifacts
26:56to show in a museum
26:57is not the goal.
26:58Right.
26:59What you're trying
26:59is to find out
27:00the individuals behind.
27:03One of those individuals
27:05is the Hunley's
27:05commanding officer,
27:07Lieutenant George Dixon.
27:10And this must have been
27:11one of his most
27:12cherished possessions,
27:13a gold pocket watch
27:15found amongst his remains.
27:17What's beautiful.
27:17It's also a key piece
27:19of evidence
27:19that digging for the truth
27:20is able to reveal exclusively
27:22for the first time.
27:24We are trying to see
27:25if this is relevant or not.
27:26Does it mean anything
27:27for the history of the submarine?
27:30Could the watch
27:31provide a timeline
27:32for the disappearance
27:33of the sub?
27:35The inner workings
27:36of the watch
27:36would take weeks
27:37to reassemble,
27:38but to everyone's surprise,
27:40the tiny, delicate hands
27:41on its face
27:42were still there,
27:43frozen in time
27:44at 8.23.
27:47But this in itself
27:48was a mystery.
27:49The Housatonic went down
27:51at about 8.45 p.m.
27:53Why would Dixon's watch
27:55have stopped
27:55some 20 minutes earlier?
27:57I know the Housatonic
27:59sank at 8.45, right?
28:01Yeah.
28:02I like that time frame.
28:02That's strange.
28:03Why would the watch
28:04stop before
28:05the Housatonic was hit?
28:07What we have to understand
28:08is that the time
28:09they kept on the Housatonic
28:10and the time
28:11they kept locally
28:12in Charleston
28:13are different.
28:14Union kept standard time.
28:15Now, Dixon
28:16would have set his timepiece
28:19to Charleston time.
28:20So what's the difference
28:21between Union time
28:22and Confederate time?
28:2426 minutes.
28:2526 minutes.
28:26So 26 minutes
28:26is our difference
28:27and we can add that
28:28to our 8.23.
28:29Navy time.
28:30So now we get 8.49.
28:31Yes.
28:31We, of course,
28:32don't know precisely
28:33when the Housatonic went,
28:35but somewhere around
28:36that time frame.
28:37But is that arbitrary?
28:38Did it just stop that way
28:39because it eventually wound out?
28:40Or did it stop for a reason?
28:41That's the question.
28:42And that's what
28:43we have to investigate.
28:46So the 8.23
28:47on Dixon's pocket watch
28:49translates to 8.49
28:51Union time,
28:52just about four minutes
28:53after the Housatonic
28:55went down.
28:56So what stopped the watch?
28:58Was it some kind of impact?
29:00Water damage?
29:02Could the watch have survived
29:03until 8.23 the next morning,
29:06slowly winding down?
29:07That's what he wound down.
29:08The evidence seems to suggest
29:10that it wound down.
29:12What you're seeing is
29:13that the spring
29:14is completely loose.
29:15Did it just,
29:16the time kept going?
29:17Kept going.
29:17And the watch didn't stop
29:18for any other reason?
29:19But the trick is to discover,
29:20is this really the case?
29:21Can something else be going on?
29:23You have to go deeper.
29:25Antique watch experts
29:26did go deeper.
29:27Their forensic tests proved
29:29that when the watch stopped,
29:31it was freshly wound.
29:33Then, after years
29:34of being underwater,
29:35corrosion released the spring.
29:37It's hard to believe
29:38just how valuable
29:39this information is.
29:41We now know
29:42that something happened
29:43to stop the freshly wound watch.
29:45If we can figure out
29:46what that was,
29:48maybe we can solve
29:49the mystery
29:49of what sank the Hunley.
29:51It stopped because of what?
29:53Because of water?
29:54Because of a shockwave?
29:55What stopped this watch?
29:56At this point,
29:57we can't say.
29:58It could have stopped
29:59if water entered the watch,
30:01but it's also possible
30:03that the watch stopped
30:04because of an impact,
30:05but we can't tell.
30:08Let's see if we can rule out
30:09one of those possibilities.
30:12Coming up next,
30:13in a test that's never
30:14been tried before,
30:15we attempt to solve
30:16the mystery of the Hunley
30:18by replicating
30:18her deadly torpedo
30:20and firing it.
30:22Right here
30:23by Charleston Harbor.
30:30I'm trying to solve
30:31the mystery
30:31that still haunts the South
30:33140 years after the Civil War.
30:36What sank the Hunley,
30:38the world's first
30:39successful submarine?
30:40We've just examined
30:42a new clue,
30:43the Captain's Pocket Watch.
30:44Its hands frozen
30:45about four minutes
30:46after the Hunley
30:47detonated its torpedo.
30:49Could the force of the blast
30:51have sunk the Hunley
30:52along with its target,
30:53the Housatonic?
30:58So now I've seen
30:59the Hunley for myself,
31:01but we're still missing
31:02a critical piece.
31:03So let's see
31:04what the actual spar torpedo
31:06would have looked like
31:06by meeting up
31:07with historical explosives
31:09expert, Mike Kochen.
31:11Mike was able
31:12to reproduce
31:13the Hunley torpedo
31:14to scale
31:14thanks to the actual
31:16blueprints of its inventor.
31:17Hi, Mike.
31:18How are you?
31:18Good to see you.
31:20Hunter, pleasure to meet you.
31:22This Civil War torpedo
31:23isn't the sleek
31:24propeller-driven device
31:25our Navy uses today,
31:27which can be fired
31:28from more than
31:29five miles away.
31:31This torpedo required
31:33close ship-to-ship contact.
31:36This is where
31:37the torpedo hunts.
31:38And on the other end there
31:39is where the bow
31:40of the sub is.
31:41It's a big ramming rod
31:43with a torpedo
31:44at the end of it,
31:44basically a powder keg.
31:45Right on up.
31:46All right.
31:47To sink the enemy vessel,
31:49the Hunley had to slam
31:50its torpedo
31:51into the Housatonic's hole
31:52and then back off,
31:54leaving behind a bomb
31:55filled with 135 pounds
31:57of black powder.
31:58I'll tell you what,
31:59I'm going to go back here
31:59and back the sub away
32:00and see if we can detonate
32:01this baby, all right?
32:02Okay.
32:05So now we have a charge
32:06in the Housatonic.
32:07The Hunley crew
32:08is backing away.
32:09Once out of range,
32:10it triggered the explosion
32:12by pulling a rope
32:13attached to detonators
32:14planted inside the charge.
32:17The Housatonic has now sunk.
32:19The Hunley's made history.
32:20But here's the question
32:21I want to know.
32:22Okay.
32:24You're about 40 feet away.
32:25Right.
32:26As this 135 pounds
32:27of black powder goes off,
32:28what's that going to feel like?
32:30I'm not really sure.
32:32I know about some tests
32:34that they did back then,
32:35but there's still some doubts
32:37into my mind
32:37as exactly what would happen.
32:39You know what?
32:39Well, there's only one way
32:40to find out.
32:41How's that?
32:41Well, let's build a mock-up
32:42and put it to the test.
32:43Really?
32:43Yeah.
32:44Oh, cool.
32:45Have some fun.
32:45All right.
32:46Okay.
32:46Let's go.
32:47Yeah.
32:48In our blast test,
32:49we'll be using
32:50the same explosive power
32:51that sank the Housatonic
32:53in 1864
32:54thanks to demolitions expert
32:56and ATF senior special agent
32:58Joe Boykin.
32:59So I know you and Mike
33:00have talked about the charge
33:01that the Hunley carried.
33:02Tell me a little bit
33:03about how we're going
33:03to recreate that today.
33:05Well, when you guys contacted us,
33:06I sat down
33:07and worked out
33:08some calculations
33:09of trying to estimate
33:10how much modern high explosives
33:13it would take
33:13to recreate
33:14the 135 pounds
33:16of confined black powder
33:17that the Hunley used
33:18to attack the Housatonic sub.
33:19And so this is
33:20military-grade C4, right?
33:21It is absolutely
33:22military-grade C4.
33:23And it's very stable
33:24from what I understand.
33:24It's very stable.
33:25It's one of the reasons
33:26the military used it
33:26because they didn't want
33:27it go off, you know,
33:28unless they wanted it to go off.
33:30So I can juggle this
33:30and be safe.
33:31Pretty much.
33:32Okay.
33:33Pretty much.
33:34I won't do it then.
33:35So how do you compare
33:36C4 with black powder?
33:38I mean, it seems like
33:38apples and oranges.
33:39They are apples and oranges.
33:41Black powder's a low explosive.
33:42C4's a high explosive.
33:43Most all explosives
33:44are measured
33:45by their TNT-equivalent weights.
33:47135 pounds of black powder
33:50is roughly equivalent
33:51to about 13 pounds of TNT.
33:53Okay.
33:54About 10 pounds of C4
33:56will roughly equate
33:5713 pounds of TNT.
33:59And the all-important question is,
34:01how far away will we be
34:02when this goes off?
34:03We'll be 500 feet away.
34:05Okay.
34:05You probably could be closer,
34:06but it's not advisable.
34:09So that is our Hunley torpedo.
34:12That is the Hunley torpedo.
34:14All right.
34:15Let's pack it up.
34:16All right.
34:17We'll place our updated version
34:19of the Hunley's torpedo
34:20the same distance away
34:22from our mock-up of the sub
34:23as the Hunley was
34:24on that cold February night
34:26when it made history.
34:27Hey, buddy,
34:28don't forget your earplugs.
34:31We built our smaller scale
34:32watertight mock-up
34:34out of 55-gallon steel drums,
34:36rigging a compartment for a crewman.
34:38Then we mounted cameras in harm's way
34:41to capture the detonation close-up.
34:43You're straight.
34:44How will our replacement subs
34:46stand up to the explosion?
34:48All right.
34:49Let's go fire off our torpedo.
34:51All right.
34:59No one has ever undertaken
35:00a Hunley demolition experiment like this
35:03before digging for the truth.
35:05And it's dangerous to use a high explosive
35:07in a public waterway.
35:10It takes a lot of federal, state,
35:12and local law enforcement
35:13to make it happen.
35:17They even closed down the entire inlet
35:19just for us.
35:21All of Charleston wants to know
35:23what happened to the Hunley,
35:24the pride of the south.
35:35This test should answer several questions.
35:38Is this blast strong enough
35:40to have damaged the iron sub 50 feet away?
35:44Is this why the Hunley disappeared?
35:49And what would the blast
35:50have felt like to the crew?
35:56All right.
35:57Game time.
35:57What do you say?
35:58You ready?
35:58I'm ready.
35:59OK, Hunter.
36:00This is it.
36:01About three minutes after you pull that,
36:03the orange inner tube out there
36:05that's holding our demolition charge
36:07is going to go away.
36:08Let's clear our guys and do it.
36:16Oh, here we go.
36:19Three minutes and counting.
36:36All right.
36:38Hey, look at the size of that.
36:41I'm telling you.
36:42Look, it looks like we're still floating for now.
36:44It's shot up, what, 40, 50 feet almost?
36:46Maybe 100.
36:47It was up there pretty high.
36:58From a distance,
37:00it appears our mock-up
37:01was only rocked by the waves
37:02created by the explosion.
37:04I tied this up, Rudy.
37:05Close up.
37:06The outside looks good.
37:08There you go.
37:11And inside, our crewman is in perfect shape.
37:16This same exact charge was big enough
37:18to sink the Housatonic,
37:20yet only 50 feet away.
37:21Our Hundley mock-up is fine.
37:25Back in port,
37:26we get a look at what the camera
37:28on the mock-up captured.
37:29Right about where the explosion
37:31should take place.
37:32Whoa, whoa, whoa.
37:33Jeez, look at all that coming out.
37:35That second comes in.
37:36But, I mean,
37:37Here's the wave.
37:38Here's the big wave.
37:38Yeah, the thing that I see
37:40is that the initial shock
37:41really wasn't that much
37:43on the sub.
37:43No, it wasn't that.
37:44On the sub.
37:46So it makes it seem
37:47as if it was very survivable.
37:49Yes, absolutely.
37:50I think the sub did survive.
37:52Yeah.
37:52From this test,
37:53we can assume that the water
37:55absorbs a great deal
37:56of the explosive force.
37:59This seems to prove
38:00that the torpedo
38:01that sank the Housatonic
38:02didn't stop Dixon's pocket watch
38:04and it didn't sink the Hundley.
38:07Now, I know this is a crude experiment,
38:09but there's a couple
38:09of valuable lessons here.
38:10The first being,
38:11there's no visible battle damage
38:13down here at the end
38:14closest to the explosion.
38:15There's a possibility
38:16the crew could have been deafened
38:17and disoriented by the explosion
38:19or the boat possibly
38:20could have been swamped.
38:21But if Lieutenant Dixon
38:23and his crew did survive,
38:25what happened to them?
38:26It's time to test out
38:27some other theories.
38:28Coming up next,
38:29a little piece of metal
38:31revealed for the first time
38:32may finally solve
38:34the Hundley mystery.
38:41With our own experiment,
38:43we proved that the Hundley
38:44almost certainly survived
38:45the blast of its own torpedo.
38:49And the time on Lieutenant Dixon's watch
38:51can provide a true timeline
38:52since it coincides
38:54with the attack
38:54on the Housatonic.
38:57So where does that lead our team?
39:00Back to the archaeologists
39:01at the Warren Lash Center
39:03and their newest discovery.
39:04We need to come up here
39:05to the bow.
39:07So you don't fit in this place.
39:10Too tall.
39:11Okay.
39:12You're seeing the forward
39:13counting tower.
39:14Yeah, there's a big hole in it.
39:15Right.
39:15And the question is
39:18when did that hole
39:19become a part of this submarine?
39:23Well, you're pretty lucky
39:24because just recently
39:25we were down on the bottom
39:26inside the submarine
39:29removing some pick-iron balance blocks
39:31and they were concreted
39:32to the bottom
39:32and right next to them
39:34we found...
39:35And this is at
39:36Lieutenant Dixon's station, right?
39:39Is this under
39:40Lieutenant Dixon's body?
39:41Underneath Lieutenant Dixon's body
39:43at the very, very bottom
39:44underneath the sediment
39:45at the very bottom
39:47we find this piece of metal
39:48cast iron.
39:50Now, why is that interesting?
39:51Because this is not cast iron
39:54but the conning towers
39:55are made of cast iron.
39:56Most of the soap
39:56is made out of road iron
39:57but that conning tower
39:59is made out of cast iron.
40:02They found a piece of metal
40:04directly below
40:05the forward conning tower.
40:07Because it's made of cast iron
40:09it must have come
40:10from that conning tower.
40:11Even more important
40:12they found it beneath the sediment
40:14on the very bottom of the sub.
40:17Beneath the sediment.
40:18Oh, wow.
40:18So before sediment even comes in
40:20that piece is on the bottom
40:22which suggests it's very early.
40:23This could have been blown out
40:25while it was on the surface then.
40:26This is something
40:27that may have happened
40:28when they blew up the Housatonic
40:30right after it started
40:31to sink to the bottom.
40:32Possibly.
40:32But I hope
40:33that we have enough information there
40:35that we can actually
40:36try to determine
40:37what caused the damage
40:38and if it's a ballistic impact
40:42if we can determine
40:43the angle
40:44and the velocity
40:45that is required
40:46to cause that damage.
40:48Maybe hit it with a bullet
40:49at the right place
40:49right time.
40:50Perhaps.
40:53This opening
40:54used to be a porthole
40:55that matched
40:56the other side of the tower.
40:58We know soldiers
40:59on the Housatonic
41:00fired small arms
41:02at the Hunley
41:02as it skimmed across the surface
41:04to deliver
41:04its deadly torpedo.
41:08Could they have shot out
41:09a piece of cast iron
41:10from the frame
41:11of the porthole?
41:14This could be
41:15the smoking gun
41:16archaeologists
41:17have been looking for.
41:21So what's our evidence
41:22that this may have fit
41:23a porthole?
41:24What are the size?
41:25What's the size
41:26of the glass?
41:27Well, that's the thing.
41:28The mystery of this
41:29is that we don't have
41:30the glass from that porthole.
41:32The glass is gone.
41:33But we have the glass
41:34for the corresponding
41:35porthole.
41:36The one on the other side?
41:37The porthole, exactly.
41:38And that's in here.
41:38It's extremely fragile.
41:40So fragile
41:40we can't touch it.
41:41But we have a drawing here.
41:43Okay.
41:43And you can see
41:44it has a very distinct diameter.
41:45And this is drawn to scale.
41:46So it's exactly
41:47the same size
41:48as this piece here.
41:49It has that distinct curvature
41:50if that curvature
41:52matches to the diameter
41:53of this flange.
41:54And if it does
41:55then you know
41:55that this piece
41:56came from around a porthole.
41:57And if that's the case
41:59we certainly know
42:00that this damage
42:01occurred very, very early.
42:02And when you say
42:03very early
42:03you mean...
42:04Before any sediment
42:05comes into the structure.
42:06And we know
42:07that happens
42:07almost immediately.
42:09It happens even
42:09before the bodies decompose.
42:11Before the bodies
42:11fully decompose.
42:12So if this is truly
42:14from the forward conning tower
42:15we have evidence
42:16that we have damage
42:17on the forward conning tower
42:18very early.
42:19Can I put this on here
42:20and see if the diameter fits?
42:23What do you think?
42:25That looks really good to me.
42:27It's dead on.
42:28It looks perfect.
42:29I think the diameter
42:29looks like it's a curvature
42:31very similar
42:32to the diameter
42:32of this porthole.
42:34I think the most important
42:35piece of evidence here
42:37is you have seen
42:38all the damage
42:38we have on the Hunley
42:41but this is the first time
42:42I've gotten a clue
42:44that we may have a damage
42:45that's very early.
42:47And so if I wanted
42:48to be imaginative
42:48because you know
42:49I like to do that.
42:50If this happened
42:51before the bodies decompose
42:52it is possible
42:53even though we can't prove it
42:54it is possible
42:55that small arms fire
42:56from the Housatonic
42:57shot out part of that porthole.
42:58Maybe even killed
42:59Lieutenant Dixon
43:00it's a possibility.
43:01It's an entryway for water
43:02and it could be one
43:03of the reasons
43:04that the Hunley sank.
43:05It's a scenario.
43:07Absolutely.
43:08Something impacted
43:09that conning towel
43:10and knocked off
43:11a piece of the flange.
43:13Was this small hunk
43:15of cast iron
43:16the chink
43:17in the Hunley's armor?
43:18The entry point
43:19for enough water
43:20to sink the sub?
43:23This evidence is so new
43:24the jury's still out
43:26but the possibility
43:27is compelling.
43:29Here's what we do know
43:30the crew cranked
43:32four miles out
43:33from shore
43:33to attack the Housatonic.
43:36They had to be exhausted
43:38and very possibly
43:39feeling the negative effects
43:41of carbon dioxide poisoning.
43:44Skimming along
43:45the surface of the water
43:46they're vulnerable
43:47to small arms fire.
43:49They could have taken
43:51a hit on the porthole
43:52of Dixon's founding tower.
43:56Even a small hole
43:57in this spot
43:57could let in enough water
43:59to upset the sub's buoyancy.
44:03For a little unstable vessel
44:05like the Hunley
44:05it wouldn't have taken much.
44:10We also know
44:11the men's bones
44:12were found unmixed
44:14at their stations
44:14so whatever sank
44:16the submarine
44:16happened fast.
44:19And thanks to the pocket watch
44:20which very possibly
44:22stopped ticking
44:22when it was inundated
44:23with water
44:24only minutes after the attack
44:26we have a timeline
44:27that helps piece together
44:29the deadly sequence of events.
44:33Today
44:34we're closer than ever before
44:36to knowing why
44:36the H.L. Hunley
44:37went down.
44:39But the sub's archaeologists
44:40aren't through yet.
44:42They'll continue
44:42to probe every clue
44:44in search of a final answer.
44:45But whatever they determine
44:48it will never overshadow
44:50the dedication
44:50of eight brave men
44:51who made history
44:52and change the course
44:55of naval warfare forever.
44:56remember.
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