Charleston, South Carolina

The floating condo ship

The USS Yorktown

A beautifuld day here in Charleston after yesterday's rain. We went this morning with Jim and Gloria from Crawdad to visit the Hunley, the world's first successful combat submarine. This submarine was launched in 1864 by the Confederates in the Civil War here in Charleston harbour. It's mission was to sink one of the Union ships participating in the blockade of the harbour. The sub was run by 7 men using hand cranks to turn a propeller. They managed to get to the USS Housatonic, they rammed it with the spear on the front of the sub and got some explosives onto the ship. As it happened, whether by accident or design, they hit the ship's powder magazine, and so the whole thing blew up within about 3 minutes. The Hunley never made it back to shore, it was found in the bottom of Charleston harbour in 2000, painstakingly raised and brought to a research facility here in Charleston. A university is still cleaning it and researching how it was made and particularly why it sank, you can only tour it on the weekends. I can't believe that the 7 men and the captain actually went under water in that thing.


The Submarine Clamagore(1945-1975)



On the Clamagore

The Skyhawk

After lunch, we visited the  naval and maritime museum at Patriot's Point, which is across the Cooper River from Charleston. They have a submarine and an aircraft carrier from WWII times which are open for tours. The submarine is certainly bigger than the Hunley, but still pretty tight for the number of people who lived and worked in it. The USS Yorktown, the aircraft carrier was the opposite, very large. It was commissioned in 1945, and served for many years. It's last act was to rescue the Apollo 8 capsule after its return to earth. It is amazing to stand on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier and look out over the harbour. Several planes are on display on the flight deck, they are on loan from the museum in Pensacola that we visited last fall.

Wayne and Jim inside a replica of the Hunley; not much room inside to move. Wayne is pushing the crank that turns the prop

The Hunley

Returned to Charleston peninsula by water taxi, watched a huge ship called "The World" go by. It is about the size of a big cruise ship, but it consists of condos, so it is a floating home for the condo owners. We have heard of one man who was choosing between buying his wife a castle or a condo on this boat, he bought the condo.Walked back to the marina across town, felt good to walk. Stopped for pizza, admired many of the homes along the way.