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Hi Cliff.
If they pumped water from the (open top and open to
the hull interior) ballast tanks into the dry part of the hull or another
container within the hull, it would be the same as letting the water sit right
in the open top ballast tanks. The volume taken up by the
uncompressable water would be the same. The only effect of your suggestion would possibly be
instability caused by not having the water weight in the proper placement for
trim fore and aft in the sub.
You are correct Cliff about them not knowing about
dive tables back then. But it MAY be possible they could have
suffered from decompression sickness before they asphyxiated. In the historical
records as well as the film, it shows the Hunley crew sitting on the
bottom until
their lungs could no longer take it and they accended. They sat down there
for hours. If you stayed that long using scuba you would definately be over your
no decompression time limit. The only thing that would make a difference here is
that the Hunley
crew were not
breathing or surrounded by a HIGHLY pressurized atmosphere. Also they were
rebreathing stale air and not fresh compressed air. This may have made a
difference as well. Not being a barometric chamber expert or gas toxicologist I
cannot say how long
they could have
lasted sitting on the bottom or whether they would have definately suffered from
decompression sickness before they ran out of air and died. That is an
interesting question, and one best answered by the two expert professions
above.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
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