New Clues May Explain Sinking of Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley

After almost 150 years after it failed to return safely to port, experts now believe they may have finally solved the mysterious loss of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley during the Civil War.

A torpedo casing may hold a key clue, suggesting that the Hunley positioned itself much closer to its target - the Union ship the USS Housatonic on Feb. 17, 1864 - than previously believed.

The Hunley torpedo sank the Housatonic, becoming the world's first successful combat submarine. But after signaling to comrades on Sullivan's Island that the mission was accomplished, the Hunley and its eight-member crew vanished.

It has been long thought the Hunley attached a torpedo to the bottom of the blockade ship Housatonic and then backed off. But new evidence indicates the Hunley was only about 20 feet away, meaning the concussion from the explosion could have knocked out the crew.

Located in 1995 and raised five years later to be placed in a controlled environment to preserve it, speculation around the loss of the revolutionary submarine centers on the very explosives it planted on the Union blockade ship USS Housatonic.

Scientists say a pole on the front of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley designed to ram explosives into enemy ships may hold the key clue to its sinking during the Civil War.