C.S.S. Hunley

[Freedomlover]

By request from my thread on Vacation in Charleston here is a little more information on my involvement with the CSS Hunley.

In April of 2004 I had the honor of being selected as a pallbearer for one of the sailors who died on board the CSS Hunley following the successful attack on USS Housatonic. Subvets from all over the United States signed up in hopes of being selected, even though selection meant that two trips to Charleston would be required, even if you were from California. The first trip, a few weeks before the ceremony was to get everyone on the same page with regard to what to do and how to do it. The second was for the actual funeral. Here is a link
http://www.submarinesailor.com/histo...ey/funeral.asp to the text from submarinesailor.com reporting the thoughts and comments of the participants. I copy my comments below:

Bob Moore: Along with 6 other subvets, I was a pallbearer for Boatswain's Mate James A. Wicks.

We were on The Battery before sunrise, and the crowd was already swelling. There may well have been more Cofederate troops in town than there were in 1864. Shortly after sunrise the line of hearses approached and the chatter of the crowd quieted somewhat.

Twenty five minutes or so later all eight of the coffins had been ceremoniously placed on the biers, and the work of the Subvets was done. It wasn't like burying a friend (I have done that too often) but it was still very intense. I had in my right hand the remains of a fellow sailor whose qual number was a single digit. It takes cojones to ride any kind of submarine, but if you have seen the H.L. Hunley you have to wonder how they got the wheelbarrows on board. No kidding. Those men most definitely had what it took. Ask yourself if you would have even walked aboard a boat that had already killed two crews, much less hand cranked it into combat. They were, so to speak, my ancestors, and I am so proud of them.

Their final resting place is in Magnolia Cemetery, next to their mates from the first two crews. That is as it should be.

Robert Moore, TM-1 (SS) USN. Diesel Boat Sailor.