HOW LUCKY COIN SUBMARINE HUNLEY WORKED

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The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 24, June 11, 2017, Article 15

HOW LUCKY COIN SUBMARINE HUNLEY WORKED

A Daily Mail story this week provides an update on preservation efforts on the Confederate submarine Hunley. We have been following the story because of the numismatic connection - the "Lucky Gold Coin" carried by the sub's commander. Thanks to Dick Hanscom of Alaska for passing this along. First, some background on the coin. -Editor

Lt. George Dixon, the sub's commander, carried with him a special $20 gold piece. "Early in the war, in Mobile, Ala., Queenie Bennett (Dixon's fiancee) gave him a $20 gold piece. While at Shiloh, a Union bullet penetrated his trouser pocket and struck the coin. The impact left the gold piece shaped like a bell, with the bullet embedded in it. If it wasn't for that coin, he probably would have died on the battlefield and the Hunley might never have made history. He would carry that coin the rest of his life..."

Here's a short excerpt from the Daily Mail article. -Editor

The submarine, which fought for the confederacy in the US civil war, was sunk near North Charleston, South Carolina, in 1864 by its own torpedo, killing all eight men on board.

The Hunley was raised from the bottom of the ocean in 2000, and two scientists have spent the past 17 years collecting the crew's remains and restoring the vessel as part of a painstaking cleanup operation.

While most of the remains were removed and ceremonially buried at Magnolia Cemetery in 2004, the researchers found a tooth stuck in a concrete-like mass of sand, mud and other debris at crank handle position Number 3.

It is believed that this is the position where crew member Frank Collins sat, a Confederate Navy Seaman who was just 24 years old when he sank with the Hunley.

Project lead archaeologist Michael Scafuri told the Post and Courier that the tooth loss was 'post-mortem', meaning that long after the sinking, the tooth came loose during the decomposition process and stuck to the crank handle where it corroded with the iron.

The find was made as the pair of scientists tasked with the submarine's cleanup gave a project update during a media brief this week.

Alongside the tooth, the researchers announced that they had finally cracked how the submarine was propelled through the water.

Hidden underneath the rock-hard stuff scientists call 'concretion' was a sophisticated set of gears and teeth on the crank in the water tube that ran the length of the 40-foot sub.

To read the complete article, see:
American Civil War submarine - that was the first in history to sink an enemy warship - emerges from a 75,000 gallon tank of chemicals to reveal HUMAN REMAINS (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4584170/Human-remains-inside-H-L-Hunley.html)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
UPDATE ON THE HUNLEY, THE LUCKY COIN SUBMARINE (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n32a16.html)
LATEST MOVE FOR THE HUNLEY, THE LUCKY COIN SUBMARINE (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n13a08.html)
THE H.L. HUNLEY LOOKS LIKE A SUBMARINE AGAIN (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n38a26.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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