The H. L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy

On the evening of February 17, 1864, the Confederacy's "H. L. Hunley" sank the Union's formidable sloop of war the USS "Housatonic" and became the first submarine in world history to sink an enemy ship. But after accomplishing such a feat, the "Hunley" and her crew of eight also vanished beneath the cold Atlantic waters off Charleston, South Carolina. For generations, the legend of the "Hunley" grew as searchers prowled the harbor, looking for remains. Even after the submarine was definitively located in 1995 and recovered five years later, those legends have continued to flourish. In a tour de force of document-sleuthing and insights gleaned from the excavation of this remarkable vessel, the distinguished Civil War era historian Tom Chaffin presents the most thorough telling of the "Hunley"'s story possible. Of panoramic breadth, this saga begins long before the submarine was even assembled and follows the tale into the boat's final hours and through its recovery in 2000. Engaging and groundbreaking, "The H. L. Hunley" provides the definitive account of a fabled craft."