1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,159 Speaker 1: I'm to blame a chuck reboarding and I'm Scared. And 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 1: today we are continuing our series mini series I guess 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: little mini series of shipwrecks stories, and we focused a 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: little bit on shipwrecks and our previous podcasts, the podcast 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: that was called five Shipwrecks Stories, and we chose those 8 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: mainly for their historical value, just because we liked them 9 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: to yeah, tyrant ships, tutorships, that kind of thing. Yeah, 10 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: we just chose them completely at random, will not completely 11 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: at random. They were suggested by fans on our Facebook page, 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: but we sort of picked and chose ones from there 13 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: according to whatever we found to be cool. And this 14 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: time we wanted to focus a little bit more on 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: military shipwrecks. Somatic with it. Yeah, absolutely. We noticed that 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: a lot of the ones that were on the list 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: that we're requested were warships, navy ships, and so we 18 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: wanted to look into him a little bit. But we 19 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: really didn't expect to be as fascinated by them as 20 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: we were, right, Sarah, Yeah, it definitely turned out to 21 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: be a lot more interesting than I thought, and partly 22 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 1: I was thinking there wouldn't be quite as many personal 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: stories behind it. That was definitely a misjudgment of of 24 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: how it turned out. But one of the things I 25 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: thought was most interesting was to look at the technical 26 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: aspects of the design for these ships to learn a 27 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: little bit about not just why they sank ultimately, because 28 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: these are all shipwrecks, or why they went down, but 29 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: why they were built in the first place, and why 30 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: they were built in these unique ways that they were, 31 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: Because we're going to talk about some really unique ship 32 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: ships that were the biggest at the time, ships that 33 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: were revolutionary in other ways, and I liked that part 34 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: learning about just why these ships were created in the 35 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: first place. Yeah, a lot of first on this list, 36 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: I think, so that should be interesting for sure. But 37 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: we're gonna go ahead and get started with one the 38 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: oldest one on the list, which is the Vassa. And 39 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,359 Speaker 1: the story of the Vasa all started when Sweden's king 40 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: Gustavus Adolphus decided that it was time to beef up 41 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: his navy a little bit. Sweden had been embroiled in 42 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: war throughout the king's reign with Poland, Russia Denmark several 43 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,360 Speaker 1: wars here, and so he needed more warships so that 44 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: Sweden would be considered a world power. So he signs 45 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: a contract in sixty five to build several ships, including 46 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: the Vassa, which was the first of those to be built. Yeah, 47 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: and it took two years to build a Vassa, and 48 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: the goal, and the King's goal, was to make it 49 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: the biggest, most heavily armed ship ever. It's going to 50 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: be a goal for for a few of these ships. 51 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: And it ends up being more than two hundred and 52 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: twenty ft long, about a hundred and seventy feet high, 53 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: and built to hold four hundred and fifty sailors and 54 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: soldiers and sixty four cannon, so really heavily armed. The 55 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: King supposedly had a lot of input in the designs 56 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: with his pet project. He wanted it to be massive 57 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: and to have two gun decks, and the story behind 58 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: that is kind of interesting. He's just heard that there's 59 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: a friendship out there that has two gun decks and 60 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: he's hoping to to emulate that in his own construction project. Yeah, 61 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: so definitely going for some intimidation factor and he doesn't 62 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: want to be outdone. By any other countries here. He 63 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: wants Sweden to be at the forefront, so he puts 64 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,959 Speaker 1: a master shipbuilder, Heinrich Hybridson, on the project. Unfortunately, though, 65 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: Heinrich dies in seven in the middle of the process 66 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: and his assistant Heinrich kind Jacobson has to finish up 67 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: for him. Now, the really sort of key point in 68 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: the story here, I think is that shipbuilders at the 69 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: time they really didn't know how to calculate stability and 70 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: Dutch ships they weren't really built from drawings, So the 71 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: master ship builder was basically given some dimensions and then 72 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: he figured out the proportions based on the measurements of 73 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: other ships he'd worked on, so based on past experience 74 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: kind of and since the Vassa was pretty much an experiment, 75 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: there really wasn't a model for the master shipbuilder to 76 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: follow here. That sounds terrifying to me right off the bat. 77 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: But once they did construct the ship, they did some 78 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: stability tests before setting sail, and the tests were ordered 79 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: by Fleet Admiral cost Fleming. The test, though, was essentially 80 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: thirty sailors lining up on one side of the ship 81 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: and then running all at the same time to the 82 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: other side. And then going back and forth a few 83 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: times like that, raying back and forth. What is it 84 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: running suicides? Yeah, definitely, and it's bobbing back and forth. Yeah. 85 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: And so after they did that, the ship was bobbing 86 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 1: a little bit too much, it seemed, and the test 87 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: was even stopped. Fleming supposedly says had they run more time, 88 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: she would have keeled over. So, yeah, it doesn't bode well. 89 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: But since the seat is awfully rocky sometimes right, But 90 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 1: nobody steps up at this point. Nobody puts the break 91 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: on the project, especially since the king wants a ship. 92 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: He's away at war already, and he tells them, hey, 93 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: let's get this thing going. So the maiden voy age 94 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: takes place August tenth, with the public proudly watching. There's people, yeah, 95 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: everybody's there to see what happens. And within minutes of 96 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: being launched, the ship's sales catch a gust of wind 97 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: that cause it to heal, basically turn on its side. 98 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: And then it heals a second time, even further this time, 99 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: and the gun ports start filling up with water, which 100 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: at that point it's done that. The water coming into 101 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 1: the ship causes it to sink before it's even gone. Yeah, 102 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: and unfortunately there's not just crew on board, but some 103 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: wise than kids too, and about thirty of the hundred 104 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: and fifty or so people on board die and it's 105 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: obviously a huge embarrassment for the king. He launched an 106 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: investigation to try to figure out what happened and who 107 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: he should blame. But ultimately that investigation found that the 108 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: proportions were the problem. Those two big gun decks had 109 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: made the ship too top heavy, and no one person 110 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,279 Speaker 1: was found guilty. And the reason behind that, I'd have 111 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,160 Speaker 1: been partly because the king himself had so much to 112 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: do with the design. If you were going to find 113 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: somebody guilty, he was partly to blame too. Yeah, it 114 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: seems like there were a lot of people to blame 115 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: in this case, the King, the admiral, the captain, who 116 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: would watched the stability test. I mean, you could have 117 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: penned it just about on anyone. But suffice to say, 118 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: the damage was done, and in the decades after the 119 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: Vassa sank, people used diving bells to recover most of 120 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: its cannons. Most of the ship's cannons, but then nobody 121 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: really did anything about it until nineteen fifty six or so, 122 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: and that's when amateur shipwreck hunter ANDREWS Fronsen came into 123 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: the picture. He located the Vassa after several years search 124 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,359 Speaker 1: and basically did this by using a rowboat and a 125 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: homemade sounding device. So the Swedish Navy helped to raise 126 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: the structure. And the really cool thing about it is 127 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: that the three thirty year old ship was really in 128 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: really good shape. It was largely intact and um conservators 129 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: spent about seventeen years preserving it and it was finally 130 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: unveiled with great fanfare in nineteen nine. And today the 131 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: Vassa Museum is one of Stockholm's biggest tourist tractions, and 132 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: it's got a lot of artifacts there too, because, according 133 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: to the Christian Science Monitor, in the first five months 134 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: after the ship was raised, archaeologists found about fourteen thousand 135 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: items on board, including some cool things. I mean there 136 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:26,239 Speaker 1: are coins and clothes, the sort of stuff you'd expect, 137 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: but also a bat game and like board games. So 138 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: they were planning on having a good time I guess 139 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: before the ship. Yeah, well they needed a way to 140 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: while away all those hours at sea, definitely. Yeah, So 141 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: the Vassa is kind of a museum in itself too, 142 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: and it's amazing that they found all this stuff intact, 143 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: But unfortunately now researchers are having to work to rescue 144 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: the Vassa once again. In about the year two thousand, 145 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: museum staff began noticing these little white deposits on the 146 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: ship's surface, and so they launched this investigation to find out, Okay, 147 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: what is it? Yeah, what's happening? And they owned out 148 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: that sulfuric acid was eating away at the cellulose at 149 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: the wood, kind of from the inside out. So they 150 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: thought this might have something to do with the preservation 151 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: agent that was used when they were conserving the ship, 152 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: and maybe the iron that was also used in that 153 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: process is sort of used as a catalyst or is 154 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: a catalyst to this. So they've been trying to kind 155 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: of figure out ways to extract the iron from the 156 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: wood and otherwise save the ship prevent the chemical reaction 157 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: from happening. Yeah, I mean, you have to imagine that 158 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: something so old is gonna degrade somehow or another over time. 159 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: But it has become such an educational tool and and 160 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: and neat attraction to come see. They want to save 161 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: it as long as possible. As we have it up here, 162 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: I mean, might as well let us stick around. So 163 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 1: our next shipwreck has a little bit of a Swedish 164 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,559 Speaker 1: connection to which I think is pretty cool in planet 165 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: that way. But that's um. It is the USS Monitor. 166 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: Of course, it went down long after the Vasea did, 167 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: and it was the invention of ace Whedish American named 168 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: John Ericsson, and it was the first ironclad commissioned by 169 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: the U. S. Navy. It's dimensions don't seem that impressive 170 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: if you just we look at that alone. It's a 171 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two feet long, not too big, but 172 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: it's really unusual looking, and I definitely urge you to 173 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: go google a picture of it or something, because it's 174 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: it's hard to describe it without seeing the picture, but 175 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: I'll do my best. Almost everything is below the water line, 176 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: including the steam engine, which was a really useful development 177 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: because obviously it could be armored down there. Uh. The 178 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: only stuff that was above the water line was the 179 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: pilot house, which had these little slits for the commander 180 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: to see from and a revolving gun turret so that 181 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: the guns could turn without having to maneuver. The whole ship. 182 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,839 Speaker 1: Apparently the guys inside the turret would get a little 183 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,440 Speaker 1: bit dizzy though, and it started wheeling around. I can 184 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: imagine seems very submarine like to me in my limited 185 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 1: its ships knowledge, it kind of looks like one with 186 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: some strange boxes sticking up. Yeah, but fans saw this 187 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: as the Navy's kind of great hope, right. Yeah, it 188 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: was a new technology. It seemed like it could really 189 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: blow the wooden ships out of the water. Skeptics though, 190 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: called it an iron coffin because it does look kind 191 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,840 Speaker 1: of like a scary submarine. So regardless of what people thought, 192 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 1: it got tested really quickly. It's maiden voyage was from 193 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: New York to Virginia to meet the Confederate counterpart, the 194 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: CSS Virginia, which was another ironclad that had been constructed 195 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: from the former U. S. S. Merrimac, which was a frigate. 196 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: And this battle they're rushing off to is the Battle 197 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: of Hampton Roads. And after a rough journey, they approached 198 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on March eighth, eighteen sixty 199 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: two to find Confederate destruction, complete destruction. The Virginia had 200 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,199 Speaker 1: sunk the USS Cumberland. The U. S. S. Congres Us 201 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 1: was on fire, the USS Minnesota had run aground, so 202 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: clearly the older wooden ships were no match for the 203 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: Iron Cloud. That was the lesson here, But that's not 204 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: really saying that the Iron Cloud Monitor looked that tough 205 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: at all. No, it was kind of tiny and it 206 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: was kind of ridiculous looking. Yeah, sightings from the Virginia 207 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: report actually say, quote a shingle floating in the water, 208 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: that's how they describe it, with a gigantic cheese box 209 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: rising from its center. So it looks like nothing they 210 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 1: had ever seen before. And I don't know if they 211 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,599 Speaker 1: were terribly impressed right away, but the two ships engaged 212 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: the following day and they had four hours back and forth, 213 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: and the Monitor was hit by both the Virginia and 214 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: the friendly Minnesota. So managed to survive hits from both 215 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: sides there and after noon a shot hit the monitor's 216 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,320 Speaker 1: pilot house, and this was sort of the key point 217 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: in this battle because the shot temporarily blinded the commander 218 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: and so he was the one who's trying to steer 219 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:02,559 Speaker 1: the ship. He's got to stop and take a break 220 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: for a minute. So he had the ship veer over 221 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: toward a shoal to recover a minute to get a 222 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: replacement in, and the Virginia sees this and they think 223 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:14,559 Speaker 1: it's a retreat. They think the Monitors finally given up, 224 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: and so the Virginia turned away just as the Monitor 225 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: swings back around, and so the Monitor thinks it's a retreat. 226 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: So it's this really weird battle where both sides think 227 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: they've won. I guess it's a draw. There is one 228 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: clear winner, though, and that is ironclad ships, because as 229 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: we saw from the US of Cumberland the Congress to Minnesota, 230 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 1: it wasn't they were no match, no competition. But the 231 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: Monitor's celebrity really didn't last long. It did gain some 232 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: recognition um the crew I think became quite famous. But 233 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,959 Speaker 1: by December of that same year, the ship was ordered 234 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: from Hampton Roads to Beaufort and North Carolina, and the 235 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,079 Speaker 1: plan was to tow it along the steamer the Rhode Islands. 236 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: Since its battle ready design made the Unitor very unseaworthy. Yeah, 237 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: it was made for fighting other ships, not for heading 238 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: out into the ocean. So bad weather delayed the trip 239 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: until December twenty nine, and the crew was expecting pretty 240 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,840 Speaker 1: rough water around Cape Hatteras it's called the Graveyard of 241 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: the Atlantic. I think you would expect that to be 242 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: a little rough, and they secured everything they could. They 243 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:25,720 Speaker 1: calked the pilot house slits, and they knew that the 244 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: most dangerous thing was going to be possible waves breaking 245 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: over the deck since it wasn't particularly watertight and there's 246 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: a crew of sixty two men on board. So here's 247 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: how it goes. The ship was towed out of Hampton 248 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: Roads past Cape Henry out to the Atlantic. Sharks were 249 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,840 Speaker 1: following along, which was kind of an ominous sign. By 250 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: December thirty there were really high winds and seas and 251 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: by six thirty pm, a huge storm breaks. Waves were 252 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: pounding that huge turret in the center of the monitor 253 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: and crashing over the deck. And the ship works out 254 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: a plan with the Rhode Island, and that's if the 255 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: monitor is in trouble, they'll hoist their red signal lantern 256 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: on the turret math and the Rhode Island will know 257 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: they need to go help them or syst them in 258 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 1: some way. So trouble does set in around seven pm 259 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: when a tow line breaks. At that point, water starts 260 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: to pour in and so a chain of men to 261 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: kind of counteract that. They start passing buckets of water 262 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: out of the turret that's the only escape hatch that 263 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: they have. Water also starts coming in the coal shoots, 264 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: which leads to a pressure drop. So the red lantern 265 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: of course goes up at ten pm because they are 266 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: in fact in serious trouble at this point. But then 267 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 1: the remaining tow lines start to sag. Of the three 268 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: men who volunteer to cut the lines, two are swept overboard, 269 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: and then the last guy only cuts one line. Yeah, 270 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: so meanwhile the Rhode Island is is coming over to 271 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: start rescue operations as the Monitor shuts down her engines 272 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: and drops and her and everybody is evacuating through that turret. 273 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: Some guys are being swept overboard because the seas are 274 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: still so rough, but the rescue effort really seems like 275 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: it couldn't have gone any worse than it did. The 276 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: Rhode Island and Monitor almost collided, then the two ships 277 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: almost crushed the little rescue launch that had been set 278 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: off to to get a few guys, and then the 279 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: loose toe lines even get caught up in Rhode Island's 280 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: paddle wheels. So just everything going wrong, But somehow sixteen 281 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: men managed to make it aboard the rescue cutter, and 282 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: then it really does get worse, I guess, because they're 283 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: almost hit by a freaking whale ship that's also come 284 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: to help, and this sort of I guess I'm thinking 285 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: of movies or cartoons when you're in a little rowboat 286 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: or something and suddenly a giant Titanic size ship comes along. 287 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: But the they know that if the ship hits them 288 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: head on, the cutter will just break in two and 289 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: they'll all drown. So the monitor surgeon who's on board 290 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: this little rescue cutter, stands up and manually pushes the 291 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: ship aside, or pushes the smaller ship aside so it's 292 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: not just hit head on. He crushes some of his 293 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: fingers in the process and loses them, But pretty wild story. 294 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: I think it does start to get a little bit 295 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: better after that, though. By about twelve fifteen, the Rhode 296 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: Islands paddle wheel is finally freed and the men on 297 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: the launch make it safely aboard. A second cutter goes 298 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: out and gets everyone they can who is left behind. 299 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: Some men actually refuse to leave the turret, though they're 300 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: clinging to the turret, and by one thirty there's a 301 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: third launch set out, but by that point nobody has left. 302 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: The red lantern is gone, and the commander has survived, 303 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: but four officers and twelve crewmen from the Monitor have died. 304 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: Five guys from the USS Rhode Island are actually awarded 305 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: Naval Congressional Medals of Honor to for helping with this 306 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: rescue effort. But that red lantern sort of has an 307 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: interesting role in the later his Street of the Monitor, 308 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,120 Speaker 1: because it's the first artifact that was recovered in nineteen 309 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: seventy seven. Speaking of interesting shipwreck finds, though, our next 310 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: shipwreck involves also a signal, a light signal, a colored 311 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: light signal in fact, that is found after the fact, 312 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: many years later. It's the H. L. Hounley, and its 313 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,440 Speaker 1: claim to fame is that it was the first submarine 314 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,639 Speaker 1: in naval history to sink an enemy ship. This was 315 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,640 Speaker 1: a Civil War era Confederate submarine named for Horace L. Hunley, 316 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 1: a New Orleans lawyer and businessman who financed its construction. 317 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,160 Speaker 1: So we made sure we had a Union civil warship 318 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: and a Confederate Civil War submarine balanced coverage here, Yeah, definitely. 319 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: So Hunley, along with James McClintock, and Baxter Watson designed 320 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: the submarine. The thing was powered manually. There was a guy, 321 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,119 Speaker 1: actually several guys who would turn a crankshaft that set 322 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: a propeller into motion, and that's how the submarine would 323 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: actually move. And the whole thing was lit on the 324 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,640 Speaker 1: inside by this one small candle and so that provided 325 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: a light source, but it also provided kind of an 326 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: oxygen level indicator and the men would watch it for 327 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:13,880 Speaker 1: when it flickered out. Yes, so when the candle flickered out, 328 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: and some sources say that that only took about twenty 329 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: five minutes or so, that was when they knew it 330 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: was time to come up for air. Some of the 331 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: sources say that they may have had as long as 332 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: two hours down there, but regardless, it wasn't a very 333 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 1: long time, right, Well, I think, well, I think Hunley 334 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: dot org, which is the Friends of Hunley organization, so 335 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: that you have about two hours, or they would have 336 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: about two hours down there. I kind of hate the 337 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: idea of watching a candle to see when my ears 338 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: kind of Yeah, it's pretty stressful. I think everything about 339 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: the Honley sort of stresses me out, including the interior dimensions. Yeah, 340 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,640 Speaker 1: it was very small, with hatchways measuring fourteen inches by 341 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: fifteen and three quarter inches, so it was a tight 342 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: squeeze just to get into it. I think one source 343 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,879 Speaker 1: I saw likened it to uh, crawling in the middle 344 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: of a tire, so if you can imagine that as 345 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:03,920 Speaker 1: your entrance and exit, so not a whole lot of 346 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: room to move around on the inside either. Sounds pretty primitive, 347 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:09,920 Speaker 1: but the Hunley was actually way ahead of its time. 348 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,719 Speaker 1: Present day submarines have some design similarities, including adjustable diving 349 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: planes and a few other things that that the Hunley had, 350 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: so it seems basic, but it was really advanced. Yeah. 351 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 1: So it was constructed in Mobile, Alabama, and it's there 352 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: where a few successful test runs took place in eighteen 353 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,159 Speaker 1: sixty three before it was put on to put on 354 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: a train to Charleston in August eighteen sixty three, and 355 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 1: the plan was to try to break the Union Army's 356 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: blockade on all Southern ports, which Charleston was, of course 357 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: the focal point there. So the Confederate hope was that 358 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: the Hunley could sneak in. It would be their secret 359 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: weapon and they'd helped break through that blockade. It didn't 360 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 1: get off to a great start, though. Yeah, before the 361 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:59,160 Speaker 1: Hunley was ultimately wrecked, there were two failed initial runs too, 362 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: in which the sub sunk, killing most are all of 363 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,400 Speaker 1: the crews. The first run or kind of attack attempt 364 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 1: was on August sixty three, and Honley himself was part 365 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: of the second crew, and he died October eighteen sixty 366 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: three when the sub sanct during a routine diving exercise. 367 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: So yeah, but the amazing thing is both times the 368 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,120 Speaker 1: Hunley thinks people are able to recover the Hunley from 369 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,360 Speaker 1: the ocean floor and bring it back up and put 370 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: it into service again, although surprisingly not everyone is that 371 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: enthusiastic about this, perhaps not too surprisingly since it does 372 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: seem to be a bit of a death trap already. 373 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: General p G. T. Beauregard, who was in charge of 374 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: Charleston's defense, really wasn't eager for a third go round. 375 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: He said, quote, I can have nothing more to do 376 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: with that submarine boat. It's more dangerous to those who 377 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,479 Speaker 1: use it than the enemy. Yeah. So he wasn't for it, 378 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:53,879 Speaker 1: but others eventually talked him into it, so he finally 379 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: agreed to a third try, with one condition that those 380 00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: who volunteered for the crew must be warned of the 381 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: quote desperately hazardous nature of the service required case you 382 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: hadn't already gotten work, in case you hadn't already gotten 383 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: the picture. But he did get volunteers. He managed to 384 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,879 Speaker 1: recruit a crew. They assembled a crew of nine and 385 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: got ready for the Hunley's third mission, which happened the 386 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: night of February sev eighteen sixty four, and their target 387 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,399 Speaker 1: was the Union Navy's largest ship, the USS WHO Satanic, 388 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 1: and that was located outside Charleston Harbor, approximately four miles 389 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 1: off Breach Inlet and Sullivan's Island. So if you can 390 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 1: imagine this, imagine you're the lookout aboard the U S 391 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,360 Speaker 1: S Who Satanic. He looks down and sees a moonlit 392 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: object in the water approaching the ship at a speed 393 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 1: of three knots, and he thinks it's a porpoise? What 394 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: else is it going to be? What else is it 395 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 1: going to be? As it gets closer, he realizes it 396 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: must be the Confederate submarine that his admiral had told 397 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: him about. There had been kind of rumors of this 398 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: floating around, of this contraption that the Confederate Army was 399 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: going to have, and so he sounded the alarm. There 400 00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: wasn't much they could do at that point though. The 401 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: ships cannons weren't any use against something that was so 402 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: low in the water like that. So Union soldiers just 403 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: started shooting at the submarine with their revolvers and their rifles, 404 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: and the Hunley continued to advance and managed to dislodge 405 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 1: its weapon, which was a spar torpedo, a hundred and 406 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,440 Speaker 1: thirty five pound torpedo that was fastened to the end 407 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 1: of the spar and then fitted with a barb on 408 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,400 Speaker 1: its end. And it's really weird the way it works. Yeah, 409 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: So basically, the submarine had to ram the torpedo into 410 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: the Housatanic and then back away. As the Hunley backed away, 411 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: aligned from the torpedo to the submarine would spool out, 412 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: and once the submarine was at a safe distance and 413 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: the rope finished unspooling, the tightening of the rope triggered 414 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: the torpedoes detonation. So it's basically like a rope detonate 415 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: ever if you think about it. So the Union ship burned, 416 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 1: the torpedo went off, and the Union ship burned for 417 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: three minutes after the explosion before it sank to the 418 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: bottom of the Atlantic still though all x for five 419 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: of the five man crew survived, so it wasn't a 420 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,120 Speaker 1: huge loss of life, not for the Union side, definitely. 421 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: It said that the rebels then open the hatch and 422 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:13,240 Speaker 1: wave their blue light that they had, which was to 423 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: be their mission accomplished signal to their fellow confederates on 424 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 1: the South Carolina shore. But at some point after that 425 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: it vanished and theories of what could have happened very 426 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: Some people think that maybe the submarine was too close 427 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: to the Hausatanic when the torpedo exploded, or it may 428 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: have taken in too much water when the hatch was 429 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: lifted to wave the blue light. Some people think that 430 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: the wakes of the Union ships rushing to assist the 431 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,640 Speaker 1: Hausatanic swamp the Honey or one of the ships may 432 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: have actually struck the sub Yeah. And then another possibility 433 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,719 Speaker 1: is that the soldiers when they were shooting at the submarine, 434 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,399 Speaker 1: managed to somehow shoot out the glass on the sub's 435 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 1: conning tower which was sticking slightly above the water, and 436 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,440 Speaker 1: that allowed the water to Russia. Yeah. So regardless, though, 437 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,959 Speaker 1: the Huntley went down and people looked for it for 438 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: years and years and years. P T. Barnum, our old friend. 439 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: He's appearing in all these podcasts lately. Once even offered 440 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: a one hundred thousand dollar reward to whomever could find it, 441 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,600 Speaker 1: and it wasn't until nine though, when a diving team 442 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: that was led by the novelist Clive Cussler found the 443 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: Hunley on the ocean floor under thirty feet of water 444 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: and several feet of silt and sand, just outside of 445 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: the Charleston Harbor. Other people claimed that they found at first, 446 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,919 Speaker 1: but Cussler gets the credit and the Hunley was finally 447 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,880 Speaker 1: raised in two thousand and Since then, researchers have been 448 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,679 Speaker 1: exploring it really carefully, trying to solve the mystery of 449 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: why it never came back home, why it never got 450 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: where it was supposed to go. A recent theories that 451 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 1: the submarine wasn't actually flooded, but rather that the crew 452 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 1: died of suffocation or some other cause instead. Um and 453 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: they think this because the remains that they found in 454 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: the submarine actually suggests that that people were still at 455 00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: their assigned battle stations when they died. So mystery we 456 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: might hear more about in the years to come, I 457 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: think definitely. So the next and final ship on this 458 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 1: warship list is the Japanese battleship the Umato, And we 459 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 1: got a lot of requests for the ships that were 460 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,919 Speaker 1: lost at Pearl Harbor. They were really popular suggestions for 461 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: this list, but so was Themato in in in a 462 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: sort of strange way, it's a bookend to Pearl Harbor, 463 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: and you you'll see why in a minute, air power 464 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 1: takes out battleships, except in this case the players are reversed. 465 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,959 Speaker 1: But when the Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned Themato in the 466 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,960 Speaker 1: mid nineties, battleships were really at their height. They were 467 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 1: key to fighting a war, and it was the heaviest 468 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,879 Speaker 1: and most powerful battleship that was ever built, and a 469 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: complete secret to they didn't want anybody to know. There 470 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,439 Speaker 1: were miles of fishing net that were stretched around the 471 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: dry dock where it was being built, and no one 472 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: ever even had a full set of plans, so people 473 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: didn't know what exactly they were even working on. Now 474 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: we know the base expects. Though it was eight hundred 475 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,159 Speaker 1: and sixty three ft long and seventy thousand tons, no 476 00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: Japanese shipyard at the time could accommodate these planned dimensions 477 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,200 Speaker 1: that they had because they were just so massive. There 478 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:14,919 Speaker 1: were also three main turrets that held nine guns that 479 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,959 Speaker 1: fired eighteen inch shells at a range of twenty five miles, 480 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,120 Speaker 1: so pretty far, because these were meant for other battleships. 481 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: Of course, the irony here though, is that the MTTO 482 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: never fought another battleship. But we'll find out more about 483 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: that in a minute. Yeah, the other guns on board 484 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: could shoot more rounds per minute still at really great distances, 485 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: and the turrets, the turrets for the main guns were 486 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,679 Speaker 1: protected by twenty five in thick armor plates, so they 487 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: seemed pretty invincible, and the sides were also really well protected. 488 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: But the bow and the stern were sort of the 489 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: most vulnerable spots. That the ship is going to have 490 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: a vulnerable spot, it's that, yeah. But the ship was 491 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: quick for its size, twenty eight knots and four steam 492 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,959 Speaker 1: turbine engines. It also had one thousand, one hundred and 493 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: fifty watertight compartments and these could stop the flooding or 494 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: flood on purpose to stop listing. And an added bonus 495 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,240 Speaker 1: to this was that it was really comfy too, had 496 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: more room than average and better food on board as well, 497 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 1: I think is an interesting detail. I saw noted a 498 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 1: few times that the sailors were served white rice instead 499 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: of barley, so big difference. There another really comfortable thing. 500 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: It had a c not everywhere in the ship, but 501 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,160 Speaker 1: still you have to imagine that a lot of these 502 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: boats would be really, really hot. I think apparently the 503 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: monitor was supposed to just be almost intolerable the ironclad ship, 504 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 1: but consequently the Japanese Imato was the pride of the fleet, 505 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: and it featured this six ft wide golden chrysanthemum shield 506 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,360 Speaker 1: that decorated the bow of the ship. And even the 507 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: name Yamato had poetic connotations. So it was a real 508 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: pride for the Japanese Imperial Navy. But the ship wasn't 509 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,399 Speaker 1: so well prepared for fighting aircraft, which we'll see. It 510 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 1: was refit in April nine with machine guns, but was 511 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,640 Speaker 1: still quite vulnerable. There were no fighter planes on board, 512 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: that was one thing. They only had reconnaissance planes which 513 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 1: would fly towards targets to help gunsight these long twenty 514 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: five mile distances. That was kind of their purpose, right, yeah, 515 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,200 Speaker 1: because the they wouldn't be able to see the other 516 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: ship that was twenty five miles away without this plane 517 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,160 Speaker 1: sort of helping them spot it. Again, these are all 518 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: things that are designed for fighting other battleships, not fighting planes, 519 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: which is what's going to happen. But despite these shortcomings, 520 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,719 Speaker 1: the Yamato was just almost too good to use. It 521 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: was so expensive and so impressive, and sailors joked that 522 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: being stationed there was like staying in a hotel. I 523 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: guess you got your white rice rations and you're saki, 524 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: and yeah, I mean it was kind of nice, and 525 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: it seemed almost like the Navy didn't want to risk 526 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: her in any way. But by nineteen forty five, with 527 00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: the Americans moving in despite Kamikaze's it was really time 528 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,720 Speaker 1: to commit the Yamato. She couldn't just sit around anymore. 529 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: If you have Kamikazees out there or troops, you've got 530 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: to commit your navy, Yeah, even if it meant a 531 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: suicide mission to protect the Home islands. So most of 532 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: the men don't know where they're going, but they assume 533 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: it's Okinawa, where the American fleet was headed. The plan 534 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: was to meet the American fleet fight ships, and failing that, 535 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: ram ships, and failing that fight hand to hand with them. 536 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: So the Japanese figured that the Yamato would ultimately fall 537 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: against the American fleet, but it would probably be able 538 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: to get in some pretty serious damage before that happened. 539 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: So they get three days at home to sort things out, 540 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: and then they sail with destroyers to protect them from submarines. Yeah, 541 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: so April seventh, ninety the Yamato sets out. She has 542 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: three thousand men on board just alone, plus the convoy, 543 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: their eight destroyers. There's one cruiser and the officers who 544 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 1: have a better idea of what's really gonna what's about 545 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: to happened. Then many of the men do break out 546 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: the sake for the men just trying to create like 547 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: a party atmosphere, so nobody gets too gloomy. That same day, 548 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 1: the Yamato was spotted by US reconnaissance planes in the 549 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: East China Sea and she was still pretty far away 550 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: from her intended target, which is of course the American 551 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: fleet when dive bombers started to strike from nearby aircraft 552 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: carriers and cloud cover. This is the case where the 553 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: weather proved to be really important, but cloud cover really 554 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: helped to conceal them and this first round of um 555 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: dive bombers really reeks havoc on the deck and it 556 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: makes it easier for the next round of attacks from 557 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: the Americans and the fighter planes and low altitude bombers 558 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:48,200 Speaker 1: start launching torpedoes, and these guys concentrate torpedoes on the 559 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: Yamato's weaker bow and stern and all on one side too, 560 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: and all under the waterline. Yeah, so really going for 561 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,320 Speaker 1: the weak spots. Yeah. At this point things are getting bad. 562 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: Even the Yamato's watertight comp artments can't handle the repeated 563 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: torpedo hits. It starts to flood. Some men are shut 564 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: inside these watertight compartments, which sounds terrifying, and eventually there's 565 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 1: a huge series of explosions and it breaks the ship 566 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: in half. People have tried to figure out by looking 567 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: at the wreckage since then what really happened. It's likely 568 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: that a fire ignited in the magazine and blasted the 569 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:27,080 Speaker 1: ship in two, but it might have been the largest 570 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: blast ever at sea. And if you look at some 571 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,239 Speaker 1: of the survivor accounts, it's really I mean, a lot 572 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: of them don't even remember falling into the water just 573 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,320 Speaker 1: because this blast is so big. They're just launched into 574 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: the water, but two thousand, seven hundred and forty seven 575 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: men go down with the ship. The surrounding ships lost 576 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,720 Speaker 1: one thousand, one hundred sixty seven men and only two 577 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty nine are rescued and picked up by 578 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: a Japanese destroyer. And a strange thing about this, since 579 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: the Navy didn't want word of the disaster to get out, 580 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 1: the men were sort of taken on board the destroyer, 581 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 1: cleaned off there, coated in oil and really cold and 582 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 1: exhausted and taken to land and then just hidden away 583 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: for about a month and their families I think they're 584 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: dead and finally they are allowed to go home again 585 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: once word is definitely out. Just so fairly a strange 586 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: end to to such a huge disaster. Yeah, and one 587 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: of the worst I think that we've covered. And our 588 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 1: shipwreck lists are very shipwreck coverage. And as far as 589 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: life loss of life goes, yeah, definitely. Well, we have 590 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: one more battleship that we're going to cover in its 591 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: own episode just because there are two ships involved. So 592 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: I mean, how many ownus can you have on one life? 593 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: I guess that'll bring us to eleven total for this 594 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: little mini series. Yeah, and there's still so many more 595 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:57,719 Speaker 1: to go. It's not like this is the last time 596 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: we're ever going to cover shipwrecks. But it's been fun 597 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: to kind of do a bunch of them at once. Yeah, 598 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: and just seeing all the all the wrecks that you 599 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: guys suggested to it's it's really interesting. I guess a 600 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: lot of y'all have favorite ship wrecks. It's been fun 601 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,239 Speaker 1: to learn about them. Yeah, definitely, we're going to hang 602 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: onto that list and um, maybe pursue some of them 603 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:17,959 Speaker 1: a little further in the future. Yeah. And so for 604 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: those of you who didn't get your ship wreck recommendations 605 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: into us yet, please write in with those. You can 606 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: write us at History Podcast at how stuff works dot com, 607 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: or you can hit us up on Facebook or on 608 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: Twitter at Myston History. And if you want to learn 609 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: a little bit more about diving bells, which we mentioned 610 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: in this episode, you can look it up on our 611 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 1: home page by searching for diving bells at www dot 612 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. For more on this and 613 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com 614 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: to learn more about the podcast. Clock on the podcast 615 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: icon in the upper right corner of our home page, 616 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 1: the how stuff works. iPhone up has a ride. Download 617 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: it today on It is e