The Ogeechee Rifles Camp #941 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans held its 7th annual Lee-Jackson Banquet at First Baptist Church in Statesboro Monday.
Deke Cox, camp commander, told the assembled audience of some 125 people that the purpose of the group is to act as a living bonded brotherhood keeping the honor of their Confederate ancestors alive by preserving the history of their deeds.
The evening’s festivities began with the awarding of special certificates honoring people who helped the Sons of Confederate Veterans in carrying out their mission in the area.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Fred Tetor, from Mount Pleasant, S.C. Tetor has been involved with the efforts to locate, raise, and then preserve the submarine the “Hunley” for about seven years. A retired fire chief from the city of Mount Pleasant, he first went to work volunteering at the W. Lasch Conservation Center on what used to be the Charleston Naval Base. This special Maritime Conservation Lab was created for the specific purpose of restoring this most unusual sub.
Tetor told the audience that the Hunley as we know it today was actually the third sub to be designed to serve the Confederate Navy. The sub first arrived in Charleston for sea trials. On one of these voyages the sub sunk, with the loss of five crewmen. It was raised and restored, only to be crewed and then sink again, with the loss of an additional eight crewmen.
There were many who believed the sub to be doomed, but those in charge convinced the authorities that it was not the sub’s fault but rather the poorly-trained crews were responsible for the subs repeated sinking. Raised and restored again, the next crew was given much more intensive training. Now, they began looking at targets to attack.
Tetor said the sub set out to attack the U.S.S. Housatonic in Charleston’s harbor. While the Housatonic’s crews sighted a strange set of trails approaching the vessel, no one sounded the appropriate alarm, and the sub was able to set off it’s eighty pound charge of black gunpowder right amidships. The Housatonic sank almost immediately.
Unfortunately, the compass which was intended to get the Hunley and its crew back to safety in the dark, moonless night proved useless inside the metal sub. As such, the Hunley was lost with all aboard, now bringing the number of lost crewmen to a final total of 21 dead.
Once the Hunley was located, the Navy claimed the C.S.S. Hunley as an enemy ship of war and rightfully their prize, but the Carolinians asserted that the Hunley was acting as a “privateer,” and not an officially commissioned Confederate vessel. An agreement was reached by which the U.S. Navy would have veto power if it felt that the restoration of the sub was being done incorrectly, but the State of Carolina would be the legal owner of the sub and all of its artifacts.
According to Tetor, the Hunley is now being restored by an International effort of archaeologists and conservators, with the two teams being headed respectively by Senior Archaeologist Maria Jacobsen from Denmark and Senior Conservator Paul Mardikian from France.
Clemson University’s Material Science Department is controlling the overall effort.
Tetor ended the lecture with the news that the city of North Charleston was awarded the right to to hold both the Hunley and the Dr. Perry’s Collection of Confederate memorabilia. This, he said will be the final resting place of the Hunley once all restoration is complete.
Deke Cox, camp commander, told the assembled audience of some 125 people that the purpose of the group is to act as a living bonded brotherhood keeping the honor of their Confederate ancestors alive by preserving the history of their deeds.
The evening’s festivities began with the awarding of special certificates honoring people who helped the Sons of Confederate Veterans in carrying out their mission in the area.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Fred Tetor, from Mount Pleasant, S.C. Tetor has been involved with the efforts to locate, raise, and then preserve the submarine the “Hunley” for about seven years. A retired fire chief from the city of Mount Pleasant, he first went to work volunteering at the W. Lasch Conservation Center on what used to be the Charleston Naval Base. This special Maritime Conservation Lab was created for the specific purpose of restoring this most unusual sub.
Tetor told the audience that the Hunley as we know it today was actually the third sub to be designed to serve the Confederate Navy. The sub first arrived in Charleston for sea trials. On one of these voyages the sub sunk, with the loss of five crewmen. It was raised and restored, only to be crewed and then sink again, with the loss of an additional eight crewmen.
There were many who believed the sub to be doomed, but those in charge convinced the authorities that it was not the sub’s fault but rather the poorly-trained crews were responsible for the subs repeated sinking. Raised and restored again, the next crew was given much more intensive training. Now, they began looking at targets to attack.
Tetor said the sub set out to attack the U.S.S. Housatonic in Charleston’s harbor. While the Housatonic’s crews sighted a strange set of trails approaching the vessel, no one sounded the appropriate alarm, and the sub was able to set off it’s eighty pound charge of black gunpowder right amidships. The Housatonic sank almost immediately.
Unfortunately, the compass which was intended to get the Hunley and its crew back to safety in the dark, moonless night proved useless inside the metal sub. As such, the Hunley was lost with all aboard, now bringing the number of lost crewmen to a final total of 21 dead.
Once the Hunley was located, the Navy claimed the C.S.S. Hunley as an enemy ship of war and rightfully their prize, but the Carolinians asserted that the Hunley was acting as a “privateer,” and not an officially commissioned Confederate vessel. An agreement was reached by which the U.S. Navy would have veto power if it felt that the restoration of the sub was being done incorrectly, but the State of Carolina would be the legal owner of the sub and all of its artifacts.
According to Tetor, the Hunley is now being restored by an International effort of archaeologists and conservators, with the two teams being headed respectively by Senior Archaeologist Maria Jacobsen from Denmark and Senior Conservator Paul Mardikian from France.
Clemson University’s Material Science Department is controlling the overall effort.
Tetor ended the lecture with the news that the city of North Charleston was awarded the right to to hold both the Hunley and the Dr. Perry’s Collection of Confederate memorabilia. This, he said will be the final resting place of the Hunley once all restoration is complete.