Having another go at it

Knowing that the Hunley had taken more than half of her crew during the first attempt at engaging her in battle would cause most people to run away rather than volunteer to man her on her second run. However, Horace Hunley felt very strongly that the Hunley could be successful with the right people piloting her. Within a week, divers equipped with copper helmets were diving into the Atlantic to recover the Hunley.

Horace Hunley knew that the submarine would be successful only when filled with a crew who truly understood the intricacies of the vessel. For this reason, Hunley sent word to the Park & Lyons Machine Shop in Mobile, Alabama to recruit a crew from the men who made the vessel. Many of these men that had helped to build the sub were initially unhappy that they were not in Charleston for her first run. Hunley was able to gather eager crewmen from Park & Lyons who were willing to try their luck on the Hunley. After a few test runs in Charleston, the second crew was prepared for their launch. On October 15, 1863, they were ready to show everyone what the Hunley was made of.

This time, Hunley himself was part of the crew manning the sub. Hunley had intended this day to be the day that he would demonstrate to the few people milling about how his submarine would deliver her floating mine when engaged in combat. At this time, the Hunley was still equipped with the first model of floating torpedo that dragged behind the sub. Hunley stated that the sub would dive under an anchored ship that was waiting out in the harbor and would come back up on the other side. Things began as planned; however, from shore it was obvious that something seemed different about the way the Hunley submerged. Normally, the sub would submerge quickly with almost no sign of where she had been, but this time the water bubbled up for quite some time in the area where the sub had submerged. People on shore knew immediately that something had gone wrong.

The submarine had gone down quickly and her nose became stuck in the mud at the bottom of the ocean. The frantic men inside tried desperately to get the submarine to surface again. They dropped the weighted keel ballasts that held her upright and cranked the propeller in reverse to try to pull the nose of the mud. This was not an easy task for the men as the stern of the submarine was sticking up at an almost 45-degree angle, which made staying in position almost impossible for the men. The immense water pressure at the bottom of the ocean made it impossible for any of the men to open the 150-pound hatches as the water spilled into the submarine from the open ballast tanks. If the crew had been able to close the forward seacock, they would have been able to pump out the water. But they could not, and the Hunley had taken her namesake and second crew as quickly as she had taken her first.