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[PSUBS-MAILIST] I just got back from a lecture about the "Hunley."
Mark K. Ragan spoke at the Confederate Museum tonight. I paid
special attention to his comments concerning the conservation
of the boat.
There's a French chap who's the conservator who's handling the hull.
The contents of the hull will be controlled by a Belgian woman. I hope
both of them keep a diary.
One of the American archaeologists working on the project has bet
Mark Ragan that there will be brain matter in the skulls. Ragan took
the bet, but he's hoping he'll lose. Everyone working on the project
expects to find shoes and clothing in addition to the usual buttons.
Apparently, the sub sank in just the right environment to save
practically everything.
The Hunley fell into a "goop" the "consistency of modeling clay,"
Ragan reported. There's been an accretion of coral on the hull,
so it should be intact. He expected to find it falling apart, but
it's complete, intact and self-supporting. He stated that it will be
in good condition 500 years from now, with the usual care. Ragan
calls the goop "good anaerobic mud."
Right now, the boat's in a large box of 50-degree harbor water. That
will be exchanged gradually for fresh water, over the next year.
Ragan expects little decomposition to occur before they enter the
hull. By about September, they'll start working on getting into the
hull.
This is where the French man and the Belgian woman will war.
They've already started sparring over how to conserve the hull.
The Frenchman wants to disassemble the top half of the hull -- or
more, if he can get away with it -- so the galvanic action can
reach all parts of the hull. The Belgian woman wants to open
a tiny bit of the hull, and scoop out the contents.
Fuji has contributed a magic imaging system. The new system
will CAT-scan the hull and tell the recovery team what's inside.
Fuji seems to have made some interesting (and maybe outrageous)
claims for the power of their system.
The whole thing is being funded by the National Geographic
Society. Shortly after the hull has been emptied, there will
be a TV show and a NG Magazine cover article about it.
Perhaps by April of 2001, Ragan said.
The hull is not only interesting for its retention of structural
strength,
but also for its design. Ragan said that what they noticed first was
that there are no protruding rivet heads: the whole thing is countersunk,
which takes extra time and energy. The shape of the hull is not
what they thought, either: it's more slender, and Ragan spoke of
"fluted" sides. I was unable to get a clear explanation of that.
The replica built for the TNT movie was there, on its trailer.
I took lots of pictures. I may go back before it leaves (on
Monday) to take more, in better light.
If I think of anything else, I'll post it.
Mike Holt
--
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