CSS Indian Chief-- Part 2: Connection to the Hunley

In 1864, crowds gathered on Charleston's Cooper River docks to watch the H.L. Hunley make successful dives under the Charleston receiving ship CSS Indian Chief.  The submarine would drag a dummy torpedo, a, empty cannister, at the end of a 100+-foot rope.

The submarine would then dive under it and reappear minutes later on the other side.  Sometimes, the practces were held several times in one day.

However, on October 15, after another such run, the Hunley, this time commanded by inventor Horace L. Hunley, it failed to surface on that other side.

All hands were lost.

--Old B-R'er