Before long, you could be peering inside the Hunley, staring at the bench the doomed crew sat on, the crank they furiously turned to power the submarine's propeller and the controls that helped it glide beneath the waves. As the excavation of the Confederate submarine nears its final month, that chilling view is just over the horizon. Officials connected with the process say they are beginning to study ways to let the public have a look back in time. Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, chairman of the Hunley Commission, and Warren Lasch, chairman of Friends of the Hunley, say they are talking with engineers and architects about ways to work in public viewing of the submarine at the lab.
Nothing is final yet, and there is no timetable for tours to resume, but they are working on it.
The two men say there could be some new construction around the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, perhaps a room added to the side to allow the public to look in at the sub from a different angle. But that is just one option. All of this, of course, depends on cost and how unobtrusive it would be to scientists, who will continue to study the submarine and its contents through the next year. That's what it's about. The lab was previously opened from October through January, before archaeologists began sifting through the silt-filled interior of the submarine.