I was lucky enough to be a part of the expedition looking for the Hunley. It was a great exerience for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was Clive Cussler.

For those of you that think that Clive Cussler went looking the Hunley for money, or even glory, I can tell you that you are wrong. Clive has a feeling about what he calls, "ships of destiny", ships that played a critical role at a climactic historical moment. He also has a great appreciation for bravery. Clive transmitted that to the sidescan sonar operators, to the divers and to all the ancillary personnel on the expedition. There were people there who had been diving on the Atocha. I remember one guy with a piece of eight he had brought up. However, these guys were diving without hope of treasure. What they wanted was a personal relationship with this remarkable vessel and the incredibly brave men who crewed her. Each time she sunk, she was raised up, the dead removed and they continued learning how to navigate in three dimensions. Remember, Man had only travelled in a two dimensional world before the Hunley. Now they had to deal with things such as neutral buoyancy, pitch, yaw, and do it all essentially blind. One man, the Lietenant who was the commanding officer of the Hunley actually survived a sinking that killed most of the crew. He immediately whent back to apply what they had learned.

Someone earlier mentioned the concern of disturbing the dead. THe NUMA folks believed, and I with them, that disturing was not the right word, "recovering and honoring" was far more accurate. I remember one evening sitting around with the divers and the subject of diving on a German submarine of the Carolina Coast came up. I thad been sunk by aircraft in 1943 or so but had only recently been located by divers. People were going down into the hull and taking out souvenirs and even pieces of the skeletons. Badges, equipment, and even a skull had shown up in a at least one dive shop. The disgust these NUMA people had for the kind of vulture who would pick over the remains of a ship and crew for personal reasons was complete. I have no doubt that they would never be a part of something that was the slightest bit like that.

Scientists will learn a lot from the Hunley but the real lesson will be learned by all of those people who visit the raised vessel, seeing with their own eyes the boat that changed the history of the world.

Clive Cussler could have taken the money he made on "Raise the Titanic" (the movie rights were very valuable) and bought all the toys he had ever wanted. Instead, he put the money into the NUMA Foundation. The first effort was to find The Bonhomme Richard lost of Scarborough Head. John Paul Jones had been raiding the English Coast to bring the reality of the American colonies rebellion to Great Britain. When his ship met a Royal Navy warship, the two started firing. THe RIchard was pounded badly, far worse than the English captain knew. When the English trumpeted through the powder smoke, "Do you wish to surrender?", Jones answered, "I have not yet begun to fight". The British, soon surrendered not knowing that the Richard had been hulled and was sinking. Jones transferred his crew to his prize and watched his own ship drift away and then sink.

The story had affected Clive and he was determined to find the ship, hopefully in time for the Bicentennial. He put his own money into the search and he pestered the Navy until they supplied him with great search equipment. Meanwhile, he and others he had caught up in his enthusiasm pored over logs, letters and diaries.

I am writing all of this to make it clear that the Hunley search was run with great deal of respect for her crew. The worst you can say about Clive and those around him is that they are selfish because they are doing something they love.

Sourdough