Continued from Jan. 30th.
And, I had always figured that the explosion had gone off with the Hunley very close by as I thought the torpedo would be triggered by strong contact. I did not thing about the repercussion of such an explosion.
The final call as to what happened to the Hunley will be when the encrustation is removed from the outer hull, an effort that will begin later this year.
The spar to which the torpedo was attached has long been on display at the Clemson University Warren Lasch Conservation Lab where the Hunley is being conserved. Work on it did not begin until last fall. Scientist x-rayed it early on and found the denser material that proved to be the copper sleeve, but it was believed to be a device to release the torpedo itself, not to hold it in place.
Finding evidence of the attack torpedo is "not only extremely unexpected, it's extremely critical." It is now known for sure that the torpedo exploded at the end of the spar, with the Hunley just 17 feet away.
Is This the Reason, Then? --Old B-Runner
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