On the night of February 17, 1864, eight sailors take charge of an innovative wonder machine in Charleston harbor. Their task: to sink the Housatonic, a ship blockading the entrance to the Confederacy's most important Atlantic Ocean port. Their hope: to bring about a turning point for the southern states in the American Civil War. Their weapon: The Hunley, the first operable submarine in human history.
The bloody battle of fratricide, between the northern Union states and southern Confederacy, was in its third year. It was a war that cost more American lives than any other conflict - before or since. The general staff of President Abraham Lincoln wanted to strangle the rebellious south with a relentless naval blockade - its "anaconda strategy". The plan was to cut off the South from its vital routes of commerce, so that no cotton could be shipped to Europe in return for weapons and ammunition. The largely agricultural Confederacy would slowly bleed top death.
One successful southern businessman and plantation owner was well aware of the impending danger. Horace Hunley recognized that the murderous struggle on land would ultimately be decided at sea.
Hunley concocts a daring plan. He designs a submersible boat to break the blockade. It would carry a crew of eight, which had to climb aboard through two narrow towers. The ship weighed eight tons, was 12 meters long and only one meter in diameter. The submarine could be maneuvered by a horizontal diving plane and a vertical rudder. A propeller in the rear, hand-cranked by seven crew members, provided the necessary forward thrust, while the eighth man steered. The ship had ballast tanks to balance it and a metal keel that could be jettisoned. The "Hunley" was a primitive contraption, but with all the basic hallmarks of modern-day submarines. Still, the ship was destined to become an iron coffin for its inventor.
During the night of February 17, 1864, the Hunley set out on its maiden raid and sank the Housatonic with a load of dynamite. Panic broke out in the Union fleet. But the Hunley never returned and its whereabouts remained a mystery.
130 years later, marine archeologists discovered the wreck not far from the port of Charleston. When it was finally raised, scientists were surprised how advanced the submarine's design had been. Elaborate tests were performed to find out how and why the ship went down.
Mission X was at the scene when this time capsule from the American Civil War saw the light of day for the first time since that fateful night off the coast of South Carolina. One of the greatest archeological challenges of the 20th century, the newspapers wrote. Fascinating pictures document the project and the spectacular laboratory experiments conducted to unlock the mysteries of this maritime marvel - mysteries that amazed the international team of archeologists and shed new light on an incident that had a profound impact on the course of history.
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