The Civil War News & Views Open Discussion Forum

Re: First Successful Submarine- not

The smoking gun which discounts the myth of a blue signal lantern is the lantern which was found on the recovered Hunley! It has a clear glass lens, not a blue lens. I repeat for emphasis: the lantern which the archeologists have found on the submarine is clear glass. I have personally spoken to Maria Jacobsen, the head archeologist on the Hunley project. She confirms the color of the lens, and is as skeptical as I that an oil fired lantern could be seen at any significant distance. Glass doesn't magically change color over time. It was a common bullseye lantern, likely an oil-fired wick burner, and emitted a white light, just as any other clear lensed lantern would. Sure, it could have been waved outside the hatch as a signal, but Lt. Dixon wouldn't have been stupid enough to rely on a dim oil lamp to attempt to signal to shore, four miles away. And, since the lantern didn't have a blue lens, how do we explain the two historic references to a "blue light?" The only explanation is that the "blue light" observed by the eyewitness lookout on the Housatonic conformed to the period definition of "blue light": a pyrotechnic hand-held "flare" in common use for night-time signaling. You read lots of inane explanations of what the "blue light" signal was, and they are all ludicrous: magnesium light; carbide lantern; phosphorous light; calcium light. The reason there are so many opinions is that no one has ever understood what "blue light" meant in 1864, and they try to think of a light source which would have been bright enough to be easily seen at Battery Marshall, where the Confederates stated they saw the prearranged signals from the Hunley. The lookout said he saw a "blue light," and "blue light" at that time in history meant the pyrotechnic signal I've described. If the first modern author on the Hunley - Housatonic engagement had bothered to look at a period dictionary, we wouldn't have to have this conversation. He would have discovered what I found after a five minute Google search. Pretend you're the first author writing on the Hunley, go to the internet, and do a search for "blue light." Once you get through the rock bands, the lasers, the medical applications, the cartoons, you finally find the period use of the term. You can shorten the search by doing a Google Books search for "blue light" and limiting the search to the nineteenth century. Bingo. Blue light, a pyrotchnic signal, also known as Bengal Light or Bengal Fire, when used as a firework.

Messages In This Thread

First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
sjgi1t76
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Blinded Me With Science
Re: Blinded Me With Science
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not
Re: First Successful Submarine- not