[PSUBS-MAILIST] Interesting Article

[jbarlow@bjservices.ca]

Scientists Open Watch from Civil War Sub


  CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Scientists who opened a
pocketwatch from the Civil War submarine Hunley found a cloudy
crystal and corroded hands but the information within the
ornate timepiece will take them closer to solving riddles about
the hand-cranked sub, researchers said this week.
The scientists said the position of the hands on the gold
watch allowed them to narrow the time frame for when it
stopped.
The new information may give scholars an answer to the
question of how long the Hunley survived after she torpedoed
the USS Housatonic at about 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 17, 1864,
researchers said at a news conference in Charleston Friday.
"We are now able to narrow the time frame down to between
6:00 and 9:00, but the question remains, is it a.m. or p.m.?"
said Dr. Robert Neyland, director of the Hunley project.
The 43-foot (13-meter) Hunley, the first submarine to sink
an enemy ship in battle, was lost until 1995 when a dive team
found it off South Carolina.
The Confederate sub was built to break through a Union
blockade of Charleston Harbor. It plunged a spar loaded with
explosives into the wooden hull of the Housatonic.
The sub was raised in August 2000. Scientists found the
watch, along with the remains of Hunley captain Lt. George
Dixon, in blocks of sediment taken from the sub last year.
Scientists first opened the watch case and then had to open
the crystal, which was opaque, in order to see the hands. The
minute hand stopped at 22 minutes after the hour and the second
hand at 20 seconds. The hour hand was broken but appeared to
point between 6 and 9, they said.
While conclusions are hard to draw pending further
examination, researchers said the hands could indicate that the
watch kept ticking for up to 12 hours after the attack.