Revealing the Interior of CSS Hunley

Via Stars and Stripes.

A two-person team outfitted in safety uniforms have been inside the sub since early last year, using stainless steel orthopedic tools and a pneumatic chisel to gently remove the sea’s encrustation that slowly enveloped the sub after it went down on Feb. 17, 1864, said project conservator Johanna Rivera-Diaz of Clemson University.

Their work has turned up many small bones – fingers, wrists and teeth, Rivera-Diaz said.

Most of the bones have been traced to first crewman Arnold Becker, who sat closest to the Hunley’s captain, George Dixon, near the sub’s bow, turning the propeller crank, she said.

“When I find something, I step back and say, ‘Wow,’” Rivera-Diaz said.