Friday, October 30, 2020

Science, history, and mystery!

 

On February 17, 1864, the HL Hunley became "the first successful submarine to sink an enemy ship" when it set off a large bomb that destroyed the USS Housatonic. Then the sub disappeared. For over a hundred years, no one knew what really happened to the Hunley. Then, in 1995, Clive Cussler announced that he and NUMA had found it. But it wasn't until 2000 that the Hunley was finally raised.
"All eight men inside were found resting at their battle stations. None showed any signs of skeletal trauma. None appeared to have made any attempt to escape the vessel. ... It looked as if all eight men simply sat back, relaxed, and died."

It was another mystery. One that Rachel Lance, a biomedical engineer and blast injury specialist, was determined to solve. She was a grad student at Duke at the time and thought the Hunley might make a good research paper. In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine is her account of the Hunley and how she figured out what really happened to it all those years ago.

"If people near a bomb die, I always suspect the bomb first."

Lance combines her own personal fascination with the Civil War vessel, with well-researched historic accounts of it, along with the modern-day science and technology she used to prove her hypothesis. And she certainly did her research! There were times the narrative bogged down a bit with all the technical details, but overall this book is a well-written and oddly compelling read. And I learned a lot about black powder, shock waves, and certain historic figures like Horace Hunley, one of the men involved in the funding and building of the submarine, who actually died on one of its test runs. This ended up being a very interesting book.

Happy Reading!

 

32 comments:

  1. I bet this was absolutely fascinating and I would 'never' have imagined a submarine sinking a ship in 1864! Wow.

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    1. Isn't that crazy? And the fact that they found and raised the sub over 150 years after it sank is pretty amazing, too. :)

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  2. This both sounds fascinating and intriguing!

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  3. This does sound interesting & I hadn't heard of it. Thanks!

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    1. :D I ran across it looking up another book on my library's catalog, so I feel like it was a bit of bookish serendipity that I found it.

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  4. I'm so intrigued! Books like this fascinate me. It's always interesting to try to figure out what really happened with historical events like this.

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    1. Fascinating is a good word to describe this one. Books like this are some of my favorite nonfiction reads. :)

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  5. Never even knew they had submarines in 1864. I should read more non-fiction. This does sound like an interesting account. :)

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    1. I'm trying to read some of the nonfiction books that have been languishing on my TBR list for ages this month and next. And this one turned out to be a very nice surprise. :)

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  6. Probably not my kind of book but it sounds interesting.

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  7. It's an interesting mystery for sure, but I can't say that's it my cup of tea. I'm glad you enjoyed this!

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    1. Civil War submarines aren't for everyone, that's true. :)

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  8. I think this sounds fascinating! I love history and I love researchers, so it sounds like a great combination!

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    1. Then I think you'd really like this book! :D

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  9. Oh, wow, I'm happy that you found this one. I'm an avid reader of Civil War history and will definitely be adding this one to my list - or maybe even to my collection. Thanks.

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    1. I thought it was so interesting. I even liked all the science-y bits. :)

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  10. This makes me think of Jules Verne and The Nautilus which was published in the 1870s. How brave of the crew to man such an experiment!

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    1. You do have to be brave to be the first to do things like go down in a submarine when it's never really been done before! I am definitely not one of those people. But I like reading about them. :)

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  11. Oh wow- this sounds super interesting. I love historical mysteries like this!

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    1. I do, too. And this one was so interesting and well-written!

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  12. What a fascinating story! I am definitely interested.

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  13. This sounds like a great book. I also love history and the technology and science underlying this sounds fascinating.

    It is intriguing how people can go back after all these years and piec all this together.

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    1. That's what made this book so cool. And who knew the history of black powder could be so interesting? ;D

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