Book Review: The H L Hunley by Tom Chaffin

We would be nowhere without risk takers. People who decide that, despite the potential for tragic consequences, they will put their lives on the line. Sometimes the potential for tragedy is ever-present but remote.

And sometimes you're volunteering to serve in the first ever military submarine.

Tom Chaffin's The H L Hunley explores the history of the eponymous vessel, the first ever military submarine AND the first submarine to ever sink another ship.

That's about as far as the accolades go.

Chaffin explores why the Confederacy would even entertain the idea of using a submarine (their harbors were blockaded and they would consider any ideas to break them) vs how the Union scoffed at the idea (it wasn't considered a genteel idea). The book then focuses on H L Hunley himself, who comes up with the idea for a military submarine and has early versions built in both New Orleans and Mobile before his final version is deployed in Charleston harbor.

Couple things about the submarine. First of all, it consisted of seven crewmembers sitting on a bench together and one captain peering out of windows. Second, those crewmembers were hand-cranking the propeller to move forward. Third, as a military vessel the submarine carried a torpedo - and by "torpedo" that meant either an explosive trailing the boat on a rope, or an explosive connected to a very long stick. And finally, the vessel did in fact have an escape hatch in case of emergency - that hatch was barely large enough for a person to climb out of even with their arms above their heads (because of course it is - why make it bigger?).

You're not going to believe this, but a whole lot of people died in that boat. Even BEFORE it was deployed on its first mission. H L Hunley HIMSELF died in the H L Hunley before it carried out its mission. Twice the submarine was raised from the seabed, twice the bloated corpses had to be pulled from the vessel, twice the boat had to be thoroughly cleaned (and if you're guessing, yes, both of the previous two services were performed by slaves).

But people kept filling the boat! With the blockade of Charleston harbor crushing the Confederate economy and military losses piling up, there was never a problem finding new crews to take the place of the previous (and dead) crews.

And then one day the Hunley left its home in Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant (where there are now some awesome restaurants!), crept out towards the Union blockade, and successfully sank a ship.

And it never returned to port. And wasn't discovered for another 130 years.

This was a much more fascinating story than I thought it would be - I'm frankly surprised that I never heard it before. And Chaffin's writing is solid, making sure that we thoroughly understand the main characters surrounding the Hunley as well as the boat's place within the larger context of the Civil War.

This was a really amazing book that I'd very much recommend - eight out of ten hot dogs!