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I haven’t
had time to do much research on the Hunley but a thought crossed my mind that
might help. If they could pump
water out of the ballast tanks, could they pump water into the main compartment
or some other type of reservoir inside the sub? I think I remember somebody mentioning a bellows type of
pump and I would think it could handle back and forward pressures similar to
todays hand bilge pumps. If it
could pump against another 5 or 6 pounds of pressure, this would enable them to
get down a few more feet with minimal increase in the cabin pressure. Don’t know the overall weight and
displacement of the sub, but maybe a few additional feet would get them over
the positive hump. Additionally,
I don’t think they were too familiar with dive tables back then (lol). In any event, being unable to use the
snorckel suggests that they didn’t want to release pressurized air from the
cabin while submerged. That limits
them to the air supply that they had when they submerged. With a crew of 8 (?), I think they
would have asphyxiated before suffering from decompression problems. Best
Regards, Cliff |