In 2011, a couple of treasure-hunters were searching Lake Michigan for $200 million worth of gold that fell from a ferry crossing in the 1800s, at least according to local legend. They may have been clipped by a Union rescue ship that never even noticed the collision, or perhaps someone managed a lucky shot that disabled the sub's captain and sent water pouring into the vessel. She may have been crippled by her own torpedo, according to Friends of the Hunley, or trapped by ill-favored tides, leaving the crew to die of asphyxia when their air ran out. Still, no one knows what doomed the Hunley's final mission. The sub and all aboard were never heard from again - until 1995, when a team of wreck-hunters rediscovered it, with all eight crew members inside. ![]() ![]() It would turn out to be a suicide mission for the Hunley's crew. The ship was found, modified and put back in service for a February 1864 mission in which it sunk the U.S.S. The back-to-back disasters did not dissuade the Confederate Navy, though. Someone left a valve open and it sank, killing its entire 8-man crew. The sub was recovered and launched again a few months later. Five men died, according to Friends of the Hunley. On the very first mission, the Hunley sank at the dock when either the wake of a ship swamped it or tangled lines dragged it underwater. ![]() She carried Confederate Navy men to Charleston Harbor, attempting to break a Union blockade that was strangling the city. First demonstrated in 1863, the ship is famous as one of the initial forays into developing combat submarines.
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