A Disscussion of the HL Hunley
...unley attempted a steep dive and never surfaced. Seven men drowned, while Hunley and Parks suffocated in the fore and aft hatches; Hunley being unable to close the sea-cock. The fourth sinking was the final one where all on board died. We cannot be precisely sure how this occurred, but Dixon(the Commander) signaled with a lantern, opening the hatch allowing possible ocean swells into the boat. The number of lives lost with the Hunley shows clearly what a disaster it was. "Was it ethical to even raise the Hunley?" is a question we ponder when looking at the number of lives lost. In a divers account of recovery of one of the Hunley’s crews he states, "it was an awful job, and I hated it...bodies were all so decomposed that each one had to be wrapped in a sack before it could be sent to the surface." In a time of war are ethics dismissed? Is it then acceptable to kill? The answer to each of these questions should be no. Life is precious and the 30 men killed by human error should be an embarrassment. Only hours before the Hunley left on its last, historic mission adjustments were made on the iron rod. Engineers built a great craft, but in no way tested it for the numerous possibilites of failure. Though a great breakthrough in naval engineering for the 1860’s, the Hunley left no room for possible human error. Primitive candle methods were used to light the ship, and three wrenches must hav...