|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epicurus.com - Raising the Hunley: The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate Submarine (American Civil War)
|
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $10.88
Your Save: $ 5.12 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.757
EAN: 9780345447722
ISBN: 0345447727
Label: Presidio Press
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2003-04-01
Publisher: Presidio Press
Release Date: 2003-04-01
Studio: Presidio Press
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
The history of the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley is as astonishing as its disappearance. On February 17, 1864, after a legendary encounter with a Union battleship, the iron “fish boat” vanished without a trace somewhere off the coast of South Carolina. For more than a century the fate of the Hunley remained one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Civil War. Then, on August 8, 2000, with thousands of spectators crowding Charleston Harbor, the Hunley was raised from the bottom of the sea and towed ashore. Now, award-winning journalists Brian Hicks and Schuyler Kropf offer new insights into the Hunley’s final hours and recount the amazing true story of its rescue.
The brainchild of wealthy New Orleans planter and lawyer Horace Lawson Hunley, the Hunley inspired tremendous hopes of breaking the Union’s naval blockade of Charleston, only to drown two crews on disastrous test runs. But on the night of February 17, 1864, the Hunley finally made good on its promise. Under the command of the heroic Lieutenant George E. Dixon, the sub rammed a spar torpedo into the Union sloop Housatonic and sank the ship within minutes, accomplishing a feat of stealth technology that would not be repeated for half a century.
And then, shortly after its stunning success, the Hunley vanished.
This book is an extraordinary true story peopled with a fascinating cast of characters, including Horace Hunley himself, the Union officers and crew who went down with the Housatonic, P. T. Barnum, who offered $100,000 for its recovery, and novelist Clive Cussler, who spearheaded the mission that finally succeeded in finding the Hunley. The drama of salvaging the sub is only the prelude to a page-turning account of how scientists unsealed this archaeological treasure chest and discovered the inner-workings of a submarine more technologically advanced than anyone expected, as well as numerous, priceless artifacts.
Hicks and Kropf have crafted a spellbinding adventure story that spans over a century of American history. Dramatically told, filled with historical details and contemporary color, illustrated with breathtaking original photographs, Raising the Hunley is one of the most fascinating Civil War books to appear in years.
From the Hardcover edition.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Hand-cranked is only good for ice cream
Comment: We might as well get one thing settled at the first: the Horace L. Hunley was not the "world's first attack submarine," as Charleston newspapermen Brian Hicks and Schuyler Kropf repeatedly call it.
It might possibly have become that, but on its one combat mission, it approached on the surface and escaped on the surface. Then it sank.
Nor, as they call it, was it the first "stealth" weapon. There had been stealthy weapons for centuries, and although the Hunley was intended to be stealthy, it failed. It was seen, floating low in the water "like a log," shortly before it drove home its attack, long enough for the crew of USS Housatonic to open ineffective fire.
The "spar torpedo" (today we would call it a limpet mine) was used effectively by both sides during the Civil War, otherwise attached to rowboats. At least one of these achieved what Hunley did not and mined the CSS Albemarle without being detected.
As originally designed, the Hunley was an attack submarine. It would dive, towing its mine, go under a target and drag the mine into the hull of the surface vessel, with the Hunley undetected and out of harm's way. It worked, once, in practice in Charleston Harbor.
Whether it could have worked operationally in the open ocean is unknown, but the hand-cranked submarine was a dead-end technology. Interesting, but not the first step toward a submersible naval weapons system. Even the addition of mechanical power to a Hunley would not have changed that. Once subs got engines, they did not attempt to ram targets.
Throughout "Raising the Hunley," the authors make overheated claims about the significance of the Hunley, which is too bad. The sober story would have made quite a yarn.
Although they get details wrong (Hicks and Kropf sink the wrong ship in the battle between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, among many, many other goofs), the authors appear to be reasonably reliable about the Hunley, since they pored over such documents as are available. Stuff a kid could look up in an encyclopedia, they get wrong.
The story is odd enough. Hunley, a rich planter, financed the blockade-breaker on his own and drowned in it. The Hunley was the third in a series of three, each apparently more sophisticated than the last. Given the low industrial development of the South, to have developed three generations of "fish-boats" in less than three years was a remarkable achievement.
This tale, making up half the book -- the better half -- is marred by the authors' ignorance of nautical lingo. Also, by their complete ignorance of physics. The boat could not have been "insulated by the water" from a nearby blast.
But at least they are able to straighten out some of the legends and mistakes that attached themselves to the Hunley story.
The second part of the book tells of the hunt for the wreck -- to hear them tell it, there was never a calm day in the sea off Charleston for a generation -- and the recovery and then inspection of the boat.
The big surprise was that small stalactites were found within the hull. The Hunley did not fill with water and sink at last (although it had done so twice previously, earning the nickname "Peripatetic Coffin"). It sank intact. The crew suffocated, they did not drown.
Sometimes, often in fact, the authors, who work for the Charleston Post and Courier, succumb to South Carolina's hysteria about the Lost Cause. They need to get a grip. It's the 21st century now.
Too bad. Hicks and Kropf had probably unique access to the story of the finding and the recovery, as they covered the story as it occurred, so, unless one of the principals ever writes the story, this lousy retelling is likely to be the best we are going to get.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great history, OK writing
Comment: Straightforward account of the history of the first submarine used in a wartime attack, and the story of its recovery 135 years later after it disappeared following its one and only mission.
Great history, OK writing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Book !!
Comment: What an exciting and informative book! Part history, part research, part archealogy, but all joined and very readable. The incredible dedication and bravery of the crews who parished aboard the "fish-boat" deserve the highest honor. These men of the past never gave up, just as the modern day team who had to move natural and govermental mountains to raise her from her watery grave. Since the research is on going and the mysteries haven't been all solved this book does not have the definative answers, I try to log unto the hunley.org site periodically to check for new developments. It's well worth reading by anyone interested in Civil War history, early submarine warfare or archealogy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Praise for Raising the Hunley
Comment: An absolutely fascinating book. In depth and accurate historical research
gives this book its feeling that the authors where there as it happened. A
work of non-fiction that can be as exciting as a work of fiction, but it is all true !!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Professional Skeptic
Comment: If your interests run to one of the most ingenious achievements in naval history, the gritty determination of desperate men, or simply a good, old-fashioned mystery, this book should captivate you as much as it did me. The authors have sifted through rarified documents and firsthand accounts to present a very intriguing story as only investigative writers in Charleston might. The real merit of this book is its careful, reader friendly presentation of what could otherwise have been an abstruse topic. Here are basic charts, drawings, photos, expert insights, interviews, and personal backgrounds all introduced in historical context. Throughout the book appropriate facts are cleverly recalled and embroidered in the story of the evolving discoveries. When you finally put this book down, you will wish it could have been twice as long and had provided answers to the Hunley's remaining mysteries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
