The American Civil War lasted from April, 1861 to May, 1865, just over forty eight months.
When I was researching the background information for “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare” I knew there would have to be some way of showing the influence of the outside world on the Player’s project.
The Player’s role in the game is that of Inventor and entrepreneur.
As such, you must be forever cognizant that, while that team of engineering wizards you’ve hired are busy constructing that underwater terror of yours, there is a Civil War raging across the formerly United States.
Current events generated by that Civil War will occur both near and far in relation to your machine shop’s front door, frequently accompanied by a frisson of dread.
Though the “H.L. Hunley” was the first submarine to sink another vessel in combat, it was by no means the first submarine built by the American Confederacy in the 1860’s.
There were multiple underwater marvels in various stages of completeness at several different locations when war broke out between North and South in April, 1861.
We will concern ourselves with a specific vessel, not just because it was one of the first of a type called a “fishboat” by the popular press of the time, but also for the knowledge it imparted to a team of bright young engineers and mechanics who had a dream of building a craft that would allow them to travel and fight underwater.
In our last look into the Inventor’s Vade Mecum, we learned how to recruit and retain your project’s Mechanics.
In today’s lesson, the Inventor’s Vade Mecum will provide you guidance in choosing and caring for a surprisingly necessary crewmember for your Wonder of the Age, the Journeyman.
The following article is the second in the two part series from Ed recounting his experience visiting the “H.L. Hunley” at Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, SC. You can read the first article in the series here. In this second article, we will see how the Lasch Center is carefully piecing together the answer to the Hunley’s mysterious demise, as well as the experience of the eight crewmen who perished within her iron hull.
The story told by the exhibits becomes a time machine for any museum attendee, taking them back to the America of the mid-19th century where the knowledge and skills garnered from the first hundred years of the Industrial Revolution were being bent towards what would soon be called the science of warfare. Machine shops peopled by engineers and mechanics familiar with the scientific principles and methods learned from the Industrial Revolution were adding this insight to their mechanical skills and engineering expertise, giving form to the dream of underwater travel and warfare. The museum then moves forward to the present, detailing the “Hunley’s” recovery, restoration and preservation.
While the cleaning and preservation of the “Hunley” itself was proceeding, artifacts from within the submarine were being uncovered, each being assigned a coordinate as to its location within or on the hull or the concretion covering its surfaces inside and out. A major part of the recovery effort was the location of the remains of the eight crewmen of the “Hunley” who perished in mysterious circumstances on that fateful night of February 17, 1864.
The discovery of commander Dixon’s gold coin by archaeologist Maria Jacobsen (source: Friends of the Hunley)
There was the gold coin of “Hunley” commander George Dixon, found resting near his left thighbone within the hull.
A brass oilcan as discovered, and after conservation (source: Friends of the Hunley)
A brass oilcan, found covered with concretions and the leaching of rusty iron, restored to near-original condition (it even had some of its original oil inside.)
The ”Hunley’s” rudder, almost indistinguishable from the seabed, and restored to an identifiable state (source: Friends of the Hunley)
The “Hunley’s” rudder, recovered encased with concretions and sea life, and restored to its proper appearance.
Crewman James Wicks’ silk bandana as recovered, and as restored. (source: Friends of the Hunley)
Crewman James Wicks’ silk bandana required the skills of Mary Ballard, Senior Textile Conservator for the Smithsonian Institute for a most painstaking of conservation effort.
The procedure of facial reconstruction applied to the crew of the Hunley: The finished reconstructed face of Lieutenant George Dixon: Seaman Lumpkin and Seaman Collins of the “Hunley” (source: Friends of the Hunley)
Most remarkable are the Lasch Center’s efforts to put faces with the names of the “Hunley’s” eight crewmen. Using the latest skills and techniques of forensic science, the Lasch Museum’s conservators have been able to reconstruct a face from a casting of each crewman’s skull. All eight of the reconstructions are currently on display at the museum, putting a human face upon history.
There is much more of the “Hunley” to be seen at the Lasch Conservation Center; the best way to do so is by taking a tour.
The facility is open to the public Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost is $18 for adults and $10 for youth, 6 to 12 years of age.
Membership in Friends of the Hunley will lower the adult fee to $12.
The discount for seniors and military is $15 and children 5 and under are admitted free of charge.
“Hunley” in ‘dry dock’ as preservation tank is drained (source: Friends of the Hunley)
Oh, and they have a very good gift shop on site.
(photo by the author)
Next time: the sixth entry from the Inventor’s Vade Mecum handbook counsels the Young Inventor on the Choosing and Keeping of Journeymen for his Project Team.
(Note: All graphic images of Infernal Machine game materials used in this series of articles are subjective and may change and appear different in their final form. All images show sourcing unless otherwise noted.)
To make the board game “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare” as historically rich and fact-accurate as possible, I had to reach beyond the confines of my library, beyond that of my local university and even beyond the Internet.
No, the facts and information I was looking for could only be found as close to the source as possible.
The submarine “H.L. Hunley” rests in Charleston, South Carolina, specifically at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center. Its rusted hulk lies in the care of a dedicated team of historians, archaeologists, chemists and administrators seconded from Clemson University and elsewhere, who perform the slow and painstaking task of cleaning, cataloguing and restoring a very real piece of American history.
With your new knowledge of the materials and mechanisms that will make up your Marvel of the Age it is now time to discuss the hiring and care of the Mechanics, the “wizards” who will assemble the parts and mechanisms into the whole. In some cases, they may also become part of your underwater wonder’s crew.
Because of the amount and depth of information presented here, the coverage on the hiring and care of Journeymen is presented in a chapter of its own.
Last time, your Inventor’s Vade Mecum handbook supplied you with information on the different materials and mechanisms available right now to make your dream of an underwater wonder a reality.
Today, we will discuss how to give that underwater wonder of yours its aura of dread and destruction.
We will also touch on the various types of propulsion systems that will take your fishboat into battle and hopefully out.
Our using the Inventor’s Vade Mecum today will work a miracle of modern industrial science.
No, we will not recreate the alchemist’s dream of turning base metal into gold.
Instead, we will transform paper into iron: turning your machine shop’s paper plans, mechanical drawings, work orders and invoices into the iron hull, intricate mechanisms and potent weaponry of your undersea Wonder of the Age.
Before you begin work on your fishboat, you must answer two important questions.
