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On Eve of Eighth Anniversary of H.L. Hunley Raising
ETV’s “The Big Picture” Spotlights Advances
Sparked by the Restoration of the Hunley
From Barnacles to Longer Lifespan for Bridges

Sen. McConnell Predicts Hunley Museum-Bound by 2013 Says Exhibits’ Visitors
Will Become Virtual Crew Members

For Immediate Release
August 7, 2008

Columbia SC… Tonight, Thursday, Aug. 7, the eve of the eighth anniversary of the raising of the H.L. Hunley, ETV’s “The Big Picture” takes a sweeping look at everything from the array of new technologies emerging from restoration work on the Hunley, to the reason the sub sank, to when it will head to its final resting place and what visitors might see when they arrive at the museum.

“The Big Picture” airs at 7:30 p.m. and will be rebroadcast Saturday, Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 10 at 1 p.m.

The Hunley’s final home and what museum will be like:

For the first time, on “The Big Picture,” Sen. Glenn McConnell publicly shares when he envisions the restored Hunley arriving at its final destination, and what visitors to the permanent facility may expect to see and experience.

“I think by the year 2013 we’ll be built out upstream (in the permanent facility),” McConnell said. “The facility will…go more for…what we call—virtual reality. It will be an exhibit where you literally think through their (the crews’) brains and look through their eyes at the world they were in, and you will understand why they would go out on that submarine and engage in that type of risk. Then…we’re going to have science components like the challenge of salts, how do salts get in metal? How do they get out? And interactive exhibits. Because to tell the Hunley story, we found we’ve got to have science, you’ve got to have science of conservation, you’ve got to have science of archeology—those coming together, to describe the blueprint in time, so we can tell that story. And we want the public to understand how we got to that story, because if they understand that, they also will support missions, such as what has occurred here with this.”

Latest news on why the sub sank, whether that mystery ultimately will be solved—and why a big movie may hang in the balance:

Maria Jacobsen, senior archaeologist for the Hunley Project, who has toiled away on the restoration of the sub for years, says she thinks that, “down the road we will be able to answer it, if we have the data. But right now as we are accumulating different aspects of the data…the puzzle is getting more and more complete. So right now it looks pretty hopeful. The data at least is not horribly contradicting itself, you know. But if we are in a scenario where, let’s say, that your logical data opposes what we see on the hull underneath the concretion, then we have a problem. But right now, the road’s coming together very nicely.”

For his part, McConnell is convinced that we are going to learn why the Hunley sank with its doomed crew. “Well, let me tell you, we technically…had a group approach us about a movie, a big movie on the gold coin, the love story and everything,” said McConnell. But they need one component—what happened in those final minutes of the voyage, and we can’t tell them. We can’t complete our exhibits for the museum unless we know why she didn’t come home. And so, if we don’t ultimately solve it, which I think we will, I think we’ll have the good strong clues to say this is what happened, we’re just not sure if it happened 10 minutes after, or two hours after.”

McConnell ticked off several current scenarios in contention. “Some think they were sitting out there waiting on the change of tide, weather front moved through, the water got rough. And when they took on the water, it occurred then. Others suspect it occurred when they opened the hatch, signaled with the blue light, and the wave from one of the boats—the U.S.S. Canandaigua—may have swamped her. Others theorize that maybe something hit the submarine—(and) somewhere something broke. You have many different theories on it. I think there’s even a theory that she was anchored out there. But I’m confident that what will happen here is we’ll pick up the pieces. For instance, eliminate or include the front eye piece. Decide if it was being bilged, or wasn’t being bilged—the crew compartment. Then, are we in the flood compartments? Is there the remnants of an anchor, rope, or cable on the outside, underneath that concretion? That’s something we won’t know until they take the concretion off. So, we’ve got some distance to go, but I’m going to tell you, the big picture is the final answer, too, and the big picture says that we’ve got to bring all the talent and all the disciplines together to solve this story.”

Array of new technologies emanating from work on the Hunley:

Dr. Mike Drews, director of the Clemson Conservation Center, tells “The Big Picture” host Mark Quinn that scientific advances sparked by work-to-date on the Hunley, include everything from the patent they’ve received for a sub-critical process they created to desalinate iron to a process now in development that might banish barnacles.

Drews points out that the sub-critical desalinization process may one day have major implications for increasing the lifespan of American bridges. This is a development that couldn’t be timelier, given the bridge collapse in Minneapolis a year ago, and the recent finding by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation that almost one in four of South Carolina’s bridges—and throughout the U.S.—is either structurally deficient, in need of repair, or functionally obsolete.

Said Drews, “We used to have two bridges going across the Cooper River, and what is the reason that we had to replace those bridges, other than the fact that traffic was increasing? The bridges were beginning to fail. And why were they beginning to fail? Because of the same kind of corrosion problems that we’re experiencing on the Hunley.”

Later, in response to a question as to whether there is science emerging that might prevent barnacles from attaching to boats, Drews said, “There are some faculty members in material science and engineering that are working on a type of polymer coating that would inhibit the marine organisms from growing...if you can figure out how to keep stuff from growing on the hull of a boat, you’ve got a better boat than the guy next door to you. Now, if you can keep it off a big boat…that translates to fuel dollars.”

Dr. John Kelly, executive director and vice president for Public Service and Agriculture for the Clemson University Restoration Institute, established in 2004 to create and develop restoration industries, credits the Hunley as the genesis for the Institute. “We’re putting about $3 million worth of new investments into that laboratory,” said Kelly, “which will include electron microscopes and things that would be used well beyond the Hunley project. But the Hunley project has been an important seed. We’ve learned a lot in this conservation. We’ve learned not only from the material side, but the thoughts about what we might do in the future, relative to rust and prevention of corrosion.”

Then, evoking a CSI Charleston scenario, Kelly said, “But even on the archeological side, you have people developing information from essentially what was a scene, and determining whether there might be applications and current law enforcement relative to the recreation of a crime scene. So, science is helping to drive a lot of opportunities that might occur in the marketplace that would be beneficial to today’s society while we’re restoring at the same time and conserving an important artifact.”

Hunley by-the-numbers sidebar:

1—The number of labs using the sub-critical process to desalinate iron (the lab housing the Hunley)
8—The number of countries the staff working on the Hunley come from (Sweden, Denmark, France, England, Greece, USA, Uruguay, Chile)
21—The number in metric tons of the combined weight of the Hunley and its contents
1500-plus—The number of human bones excavated and documented
2010—The year the first International Conference on Metals Conservation will be held in North America. In recognition of work on the Hunley, it will be in Charleston
2800—The number of rivets used to join the iron plates and strakes on the Hunley

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.

Mark Quinn, host of "The Big Picture," in front of the HL Hunley. Photo Credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV

Senator Pro Tempore Glenn McConell reveals what visitors to the proposed HL Hunley Museum will experience. Photo Credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV

Mike Drews, director of the Clemson Conservation Center. Photo Credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV

John Kelly, executive director and VP for Public Service and Agriculture for the Clemson University Restoration Institute. Photo Credit: Clemson University.