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American Morning

Civil War-Era Sub Raised From Atlantic Treasure Trove of History

Aired June 03, 2002 - 09:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In Charleston, South Carolina, archaeologists are uncovering a treasure trove of Civil War history. It comes from a remarkable find, too, a Civil War-era sub, a century and a half old, been raised from the bottom of the Atlantic.

Brian Cabell this morning has a look at the snapshot of history found inside the small ship.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Peer inside the rusted, encrusted submarine, and you'll see where the eight Confederate crewmen spent their last hours in the sinking vessel. That's their bench there, and that's the hand crank they used to power the 40-foot- long, 4-foot high sub.

Their remains and everything else inside the Hunley rested at the bottom of the atlantic off of Charleston until august of 2000, when the old sub, the first in the world ever to sink an enemy ship, finally saw sunlight again.

And now, this remarkably well-preserved vessel, which mysteriously sank after planting a torpedo on the side of a Union ship, sits in a Charleston laboratory.

WARREN LASCH, CHAIRMAN, FRIENDS OF THE HUNLEY: This is a very sturdy, durable, well-thought-out, well-planned fighting machine.

CABELL: Historians had thought the Hunley would be more primitive -- a simple steel cylinder. Instead, it appears to have been relatively sleek and quick. Archaeologists, day after day, are finding it to be a treasure of artifacts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me gently show this item to you.

CABELL: The remnants of a candle and a wooden candleholder. A lit candle would have told the crewmen they still had oxygen onboard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got this very interesting item here, which is a wallet.

CABELL: A leather wallet, next to a wool jacket. PAUL MARDIKJAN, HUNLEY CURATOR: The fabric is in very extremely poor condition, the reason being that those items for that many years underwater are extremely weak.

CABELL: They care for these items like they are priceless, which, to archaeologists, they are: a comb here, a pencil there, a shoe belonging to one of the men onboard.

(on camera): Remains of the eight crewmen have all been recovered for the submarine. Scientists are now doing forensic and DNA work on them, and they are hoping to bury the remains in a Charleston cemetery by the end of next year.

(voice-over): That's where two other crews who died testing the Hunley have been laid to rest. But long after the human remains are buried, the discoveries will continue here.

Look at these X-rays of still unexcavated sediment. That's a pocket watch with a chain there, a buckle there. The long object? A pocket knife. The work here may be slow and tedious, but it's exciting when you are exploring a time capsule.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Charleston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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