The first brave men

Whether they realized it or not, the residents of 19th century Charleston, South Carolina were witnesses to history being made. Many times during the summer of 1863, a small vessel would be visible floating through the water with only a small portion protruding above the waterline. The submarine would ease its way into the harbor and, suddenly, a hatch on the only visible portion would close and the vessel would go down quickly in a surge of bubbles.

During the height of the Civil War, the secret vessel known as the Hunley began to create a name for itself within the circles of people who knew of its existence. Because of the hype surrounding this vessel, it was not hard to find a volunteer crew to test the Hunley and see if it was capable of doing what it was meant to do – sink an enemy ship. On August 29, 1863 the first volunteer crew of eight brave men climbed aboard the Hunley as it was moored at Fort Johnson, near Charleston, South Carolina. Lt. Charles Payne was the captain of the ship that day. With the other seven crewmembers already seated on the crew bench, Payne began to climb in the hatch to seat himself in the captain's position. Just then, a ship came barreling through the water within a few feet of the almost-hidden Hunley, and the wake caused by the ship rolled directly over the Hunley, sending water crashing through the still-open hatches. The weighted keel of the sub that was intended to keep the submarine upright throughout the water actually served to pull the submarine down at a faster rate. As the submarine filled with water, the men scrambled over one another to try to squeeze through the tiny hatch and get away from the quickly sinking sub. Charles Hasker, a Hunley crewman with sufficient naval training in the Royal Navy, fought his way through the waterfall rushing into the open hatch above him. Tripping over the controls, he managed to make it only halfway out of the hatch before the pressure of the water forced the hatch down on top of him. He was trapped inside the jaws of the hatch as the water blinded him and the submarine sunk to the murky bottom. The entire submarine filled with water and the Hunley finally settled on the bottom of the ocean floor. Luckily, the pressure inside and outside the sub equalized, and Hasker was able to open the hatch, free himself and swim to safety.

Payne escaped without even touching the water while another crewman escaped from the aft hatch while Hasker was fighting to free himself through the forward hatch. Unfortunately, the other five crewmen lost their lives inside the submarine. The Hunley had claimed her first lives before ever seeing combat. Hasker would later claim that this fatal accident was speeded along because Payne got tripped up while entering the sub and stepped on the lever which controlled the dive planes, sending the sub immediately toward the ocean floor. Payne, however, denied any wrongdoing up to his death many years later.