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Hi Thijs.
My german is a bit rusty but I was able to make out
most of what the second link said. Awesome photos on that link too!
I saw another article about the Explorer and it
said they are thinking about ways to possibly recover her and maybe take her
to
the same Warren Lasch Conservation Center where the
Hunley currently is. The Explorer is an important piece of submarine
history
since she was the first known sub to have a diver
lock out chamber and quite possibly was Jules Vern's inspiration for the
Nautilus.
It is incredible that she has
been sitting right there in the open in less than 10 ft of water since 1869
and noone until now has identified her.
They are doing an analysis to see how fragile she
is to see if she can be moved without destroying her. She is pretty eaten up by
corrosion
as the photos show. I sure hope they recover her
and put her in a museum. What an exibit that would make side by side with the
Hunley!
Now we need to find the Union's Alligator.
Thanks for the links Thijs. I hadn't seen some of
those photos in the second link. We are looking at a rare piece of exposed
history just sitting in a little forgotten
island cove near Panama. First they thought it was
a Jap WW2 mini sub, then a boiler. Glad to see her identified.
Kindest regards,
Bill Akins.
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