X-Rays Uncover Possible Captain’s Logbook on Raised Civil War Sub

X-rays revealed what may be the captain’s logbook in the muddy interior of the Confederate Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley, which was raised in 2000 after 136 years on the sea floor outside Charleston harbor, scientists said Friday.

Using X-rays to examine the area where the captain’s belongings were stored, archeologists saw what appeared to be a clasp, possibly part of a diary, ledger or ship’s log he would have carried.

Hunley Commission chairman Glenn McConnell said the team of archeologists who excavated the vessel hope the log, once retrieved, will shed light on why the ship mysteriously disappeared Feb. 17, 1864.

The scientists are using X-rays to peer inside the parts of the sub still filled with mud as the delicate recovery process unfolds.

The hand-cranked vessel became the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in battle when it plunged a spar loaded with explosives into the wooden hull of the Housatonic near Charleston.

But after signaling victory to watchers on shore, the Hunley disappeared beneath the waves, not to be seen again until last year, when the 43-foot-long craft was recovered from the ocean bottom.