A Brief History
On October 15, 1863, The H. L. Hunley, a Confederate (the South!) submarine, sank during a test, killing its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley.
Digging Deeper
The Hunley was NOT the first submarine ever invented and certainly not the first one ever used for military purposes. The first military submersible was most likely the Turtle invented by David Bushnell in 1775 for use in the American Revolutionary War. Robert Fulton, another American inventor, invented the leaky Nautilus in 1800 and thus tried unsuccessfully to entice First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of France to make use of the device. The Hunley‘s real claim to fame therefore is in being the first submarine to sink an enemy ship. Unfortunately, its bloody history actually precedes this rather infamous claim to military fame.
During the American Civil War, both sides experimented with various innovative naval vessels, the most famous being the ironclads used at the battle of Hampton Roads. The Southern States also dabbled in submarine warfare for quite a few years of the war. To that end, Horace Hunley worked with two other inventors to design and build the submarine Pioneer in 1861, only to have to scuttle it in 1862. Okay, strike one! Their next effort, the American Diver or Pioneer II, was then built later on in 1862, but sank in a storm in 1863. Two strikes! In his third effort, Hunley worked on what became his namesake vessel. This invention seemed almost cursed. In a test on August 29, 1863, a human error resulted in the submarine descending sooner than planned and drowned five men. Strike three! No? Well, it appeared that Hunley was not out of the fight to make the Confederate States of America a formidable naval power just yet. Tragically for him and his seven crew mates, however, this third submarine experienced a second tragedy when it failed to surface during a new test conducted on October 15, 1863. All eight people on board, including Hunley, perished 150 years ago today. That may conclude the “this day in history” bit of this article, but it was not the end of the Hunley‘s deadly history.
Almost shockingly, an increasingly desperate Confederacy salvaged the vessel and deployed it in actual combat. On February 17, 1864, the Hunley finally accomplished its intended military purpose when it embedded a torpedo into the hull of the USS Housatonic. This encounter has gone done in history as the first successful attack by a submarine on an enemy vessel in wartime. No, the story does not stop there either! The explosion possibly proved fatal for both the attacker and the attacked. Five men went down with the Housatonic, but the Hunley also subsequently sank, killing all eight men on board once again. Historians debate whether or not the Hunley sank as a result of the explosion of its own torpedo or if someone from the Housatonic fired a rifle round into one of the submarine’s viewing ports (obviously, submarines are not all that compatible with bullet holes…). The debate remains alive as new evidence may have been discovered to shed further light on this mystery in 2013. In any event, how many submarines have killed most or all of THREE of its crews, including even its inventor? No others come to mind!
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Historical Evidence
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="345 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=345">65 Comments
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Pay no mind to the nay-sayers. This is a good stand-alone item that requires no justification.
I was lucky enough to visit the “Hunley”, which is still much more a research site, rather than just a museum. The story of Lt. Dixon’s Gold Coin will raise the hair on the back of your neck….
You got to see that? When I read the story years ago, I thought how terrified those men must have been.
Yes. We actually saw the coin. Awesome.
I cannot even imagine the courage it took to enter that five foot diameter hull and squeeze into place along the fore-and-aft crankshaft that operated the screw propeller. They HAD to know that there was no hope of evacuating through the two 14-inch hatches. Yet the volunteers came.
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WOW! I definitely think the men that boarded these subs after so many errors were very brave. However, I think that this is an inspiring story because it shows that success does not come to the faint of heart.
Wow, I can not believe they retrieved it just to use it again in battle – especially with a sub that had already killed two of its crews in the past.
It is quite unfortunate to find that the Hunley seemed to do more damage to the users than the actual attackers. I just do not understand why they would use it for war if it did not work out the first two times.
This is a historical figure for sure! I can’t believe it is still intact in detail.
Not the smartest thing to reuse the same sub that already was defective.
If I were the crewmates that died with Hunley I probably would have taken a rain check due to the defects of the sub. Not worth risking your life over (Even though I’m sure Hunley guaranteed them it was safe).
I’ve been on a few submarines and how the crew does it for a living I will never know.
Obviously everyone is familiar with the German U-boats, but I had no idea the south was trying to master this technology as well
Should’ve invented SCUBA gear first. Nice going, Hunley.
It’s crazy how war can make people act. The fact that the submarine killed a whole crew and then was salvaged and used in actual combat was basically sentencing that crew to death. It was intriguing to hear about the first offensive submarine and the history behind it’s curse.
It seems to me that this submarine was doomed from the beginning, it is not everyday that you hear of a submarine sinking twice. You would think that this may have slowed the progression of technological advances in submarines, but it seemed to only expedite the process. If only Hunley could have been around to see his namesake submarine destroy an enemy ship..
It is crazy how much bad lick Hunley and his submarine accumulated. I would also think that the first time the submarine sank, Hunley and the crew would revisit problem areas and then reassess for the next submarine, but it seems like they were on a fast track to get the submarine working. Although, Hunley’s story was relatively sad, it ended on a good note, as his submarine made history in sinking an enemy ship!
I have never been on a submarine, but I think that would be a neat experience. The fact they re-salvaged the submarine after it sunk once and reused it is unnerving. I, personally, would not have gotten on in the first place.
Clearly, the affect that war has on people can be disastrous to all involved. I cannot believe that they salvaged the submarine and reused it.
That is scary and the fact they kept using it.
AM
It’s crazy first military submersible was invented in 1775- that makes submarines 240 years in the making!
You’d think that after the first crew died he would have some sort of emergency plan in place. This thing was very deadly, but not in the way it was intended. It only kills the people inside it, not outside.
N.W.
Even with the death of Hunley, I can’t believe they salvaged the sub and used it in combat! GW
The technology back then allowed for a submarine to be made. That’s so crazy for me. Also it’s pretty sad that the inventor never got to see the true potential of his creation.
It is crazy how far that technology has come. We went from barely being able to go underwater to what we can do today. Go miles and miles underwater and be okay
The fact that after three unsuccessful attempts at making a working submarine I would have given up I give huge credit to Horace Hunley
He made so Many attempts to try to perfect his invention lead to his
death
It’s crazy to me that submarines were used as early as the American Revolutionary War. The technology advances made have been remarkable.
its crazy to think something like this was possible even back then. its crazy how fast technology advances
It’s kind of ironic that Hunley was killed by his own
invention and crazy to think they had submarines back then.
Well his invention had to have something wrong with it. If he was killed by his own invention. He tried to make this to help people and ended his own life.
Technology has advanced so much since the war but it’s very saddening to see that he died from his own invention.
Well that would really suck to be the inventor of something. Trying it out and it killing your self. I just hope he told someone else about how to make and control it so they don’t have to start from scratch. but they would stink to die trying out your own invention.
There are a lot of inventors who die form their invention. It is just sad they died testing it. I wonder if he actually lived what else he might if invented or improved during that time.
I never knew that they had submarines back then. Interesting how they still used it in combat even after a failed test that resulted in the inventors death.
Tough way to die – testing an invention that turned out to be so useful.
Its cool that it made a comeback and redeemed itself in battle.
at least he did not die for nothing. the submarine is a huge invention even though he was not alive to see it prosper.
You can see here people will stick with there ideas
Lets just leave the submarine making up to the Russians since they mastered it already
Good thing modern submarines arent so sketchy
That would suck to die after inventing somethings still used.
It is sad that Hunley was killed by his own invention and did not make it out alive to see how much his initial ideas of submarine technology has progressed over the years.
A Greek saying translates to something like “You can tell how something will go by how it begins”. Hunley’s invention did indeed seem cursed. It’s like it was never meant to be successful. However, it was a great start to developing the submarines that are used today. It is also kind of ironic that Hunley was killed by his own invention.
I think that Hunley believed in his invention and that despite some failings, he was willing to see it through to end. I believe that his tragic death wasn’t in vain because it truly contributed to the further development of submarine technology.
I am surprised they did not have more safety precautions in place while they were testing this new invention. It is sad he never got to see how useful and successful his work would be.
I would never go on a submarine that repeatedly killed its inhabitants! I can’t believe they continued to use the submarine even after it killed its namesake and basically anyone who ever tried to use it. It doesn’t seem like the world was ready for submarines at the time of the civil war.
That is a kick in the shorts that inventor died from his own invention. I think the technology of submarines were too advanced for this time and there was not enough information to master this art.
So the invention killed the inventor! This man clearly did not lack any perseverance! Tragically enough, none of the submarines that he worked on were in operation long enough to have a real impact on the war.
Despite being killed by his own invention, Hunley’s work had to lay the foundation for what is known about submarine technology in war today. He seemed to be a driven man that was not afraid of adversity and wanted his submarine to work perfectly.
I’ve always thought that the submarine was such a fascinating invention, in both a militaristic and scientific way. It surprises me that in that time there was enough technology to create something as complicated as a submarine.
It’s amazing to think how far submarine technology has come 150 years ago we couldn’t get them to resurface and almost every attempt failed. Now our subs are nuclear powered and go 20 plus years without refueling and can shoot nuclear weapons while submerged. The only reason they have to come back up is for supplies.
This story should be under the word of irony in the dictionary. To be killed by ones own invention. tragic
this reminds me of the submarine we learned about in class how it could withstand all this water pressure and have machine guns and 200+ power well if he was alive to see them they could maybe have been better because he had a good tech layout.
How awful to be killed by something you invented. I always wondered how with little previous knowledge Thomas Edison never died inventing the light bulb.
The irony that both times this submarine sank it killed all eight people on board.
In the year 1863 a human error resulted in the submarine descending sooner than planned and drowned 5 men.
This is the first time i’ve heard of an inventor being killed by his invention. This is just ironic.
A submarine sinking seems quite ironic to me. Also I had no idea how old this invention is.
Good thing the submarines today are sturdy than they were back then.
Wow. He invented something that eventually back-fired and killed him. Wow.
I find it kind of funny that he invented something that ended up killing him, especially since he was from the south.. but now submarines are a normal thing to use in the military.
I find this very interesting in the aspect of the invention killing its owner.
You would think Hunley would give up after failed attempts and killing people, but he had to try one more time, and it appeared to be fatal to him. He seriously murdered 21 people with his creation over many years.