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FASCINATING-I LOVE THIS FORENSIC STUFF

The new evidence suggests that the Hunley positioned itself much closer to its target — the Union ship the USS Housatonic on Feb. 17, 1864 — than previously believed. The Hunley torpedo sank the Housatonic, becoming the world's first successful combat submarine. But after signaling to comrades on Sullivan's Island that the mission was accomplished, the Hunley and its eight-member crew vanished.
Conventional wisdom has held that the hand-cranked Hunley used a spar, or large pole, to ram a torpedo into the Housatonic's hull and then pulled away. It was further believed that once at a distance, the Hunley detonated the torpedo.
The new evidence suggests the Hunley was less than 20 feet away from its torpedo when it exploded. Remnants of the 2-foot-long torpedo were found bolted to the 16-foot-long spar.

The discovery indicates that the torpedo, which held 135 pounds of gunpowder, did not separate from the spar but instead was placed under the Union ship. It was fired by command, not contact.
"There is overwhelming evidence to indicate this was not a suicide mission," South Carolina Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell, a Hunley commissioner, said in a statement. "They must have believed this was a safe enough distance to escape any harm. If so, they were at least partially right. Thus far, no damage has been found on the actual submarine caused by the explosion."

[QUOTE] Support for the argument of Hunley's brief survival is a report by the commander of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island that prearranged signals from the sub were observed, and answered; he did not say what the signal was. Further support comes from the testimony of a lookout on the sunken Housatonic, who reported seeing a "blue light" from his perch in the sunken ship's rigging. TWO SEPAREATE WITNESSES FROM EACH SIDE GIVES IT GREAT CREDENCE IMHO There was also a post-war claim that two "blue lights" were the prearranged signal between the sub and Fort Moultrie. . "Blue light" at the time of the Civil War was a pyrotechnic signal. in long use by the US Navy. Modern claims in published literature on the Hunley have repeatedly and mistakenly been that the "blue light" was a blue lantern, when in fact no blue lantern was found on the recovered Hunley, and period dictionaries and military manuals confirm the 1864 use and meaning of "blue light."QUOTE] https://hunley.org/the-evidence/# TOO, THE VIEW PORT IS SERIOUSLY MISSING AND A LARGE HOLE IS APPARENT AT THE COMMANDERS VIEWING STATION PORTHOLE. ALSO, THE HUNLEY HAD LOST TWO PREVIOUS CREWS IN TRAINING-THE VESSEL HAD TOUCHY STABILITY AT BEST- THE SHOCK MAY WELL HAVE FLOODED THE VESSEL AND/OR THE ASSISTING VESSEL, USS Canandaigua's WAKE MAY HAVE FLOODED THE ESCAPING DAMAGED SUBMARINE. https://hunley.org/the-hunleys-sinkings/