Discovering the Hunley

Since the night of the attack, the H.L. Hunley and its crew escaped detection by amateur and professional divers. In 1980, novelist Clive Cussler and a team of underwater archaeologists began searching for the submarine in outer Charleston Harbor. Fifteen years later they found what they believed to be the lost submarine, buried in sediment in thirty feet of water four miles southeast of Fort Moultrie. Researchers from the National Park Service, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and the Naval Historical Center soon confirmed the discovery of the Hunley and partially uncovered and mapped the vessel. Tests revealed that the Hunley had sufficient hull strength to allow for recovery, conservation, and eventual display at the Charleston Museum.

Sullivan's Island, South Carolina · United States