Edward
..Your welcome, does it completely solve the mysterys that remain, of course not. There are many different important pieces of the puzzle that just werent being considered and taken into account in their "new findings".

The Hunley was stationed at Battery Marshall. A crew was lost on that particular fatefull night. However It did many many testings and trials out of Battery Marshall that many others did witness, work on, and help with. There are other accounts where they would be working on something on the Hunley and gather up a few guys from the battery and take the vessel out to further test something new or changed. So you did have guys that had been inside and cranked the thing about that survived, that werent part of the final crew.

The vessel was known to have been continously tweeked, altered and adjusted even up to that very morning it was taken out and changes and adjustments made. This was known. What the earlier drawings, sketches and accounts were of the vessel differed from what they recovered, and some folks "surprized" that it was different. Superficial research..

Most all of the legends and stories surround the final mission. Much less on the earlier efforts and interm periods just prior that can give a great deal of additional information and picture of what it was intending to do and how it was planned to do it. They practiced this in many dry runs prior. They were well familier with the vessel, its abilities, and its workings. Not the sad-sack unfortunate saps that got tossed in at the last minute with no clue of what to do or how as many modern accounts tend to imply. They previously went out and tested the currents and tides, the endurance of the cranking crew and range ability. They reported they had taken the vessel out as far as seven miles distance out and back again without an issue. The four miles out to the Housatonic was well within its comfort range. They would go out and safely sit submerged on the bottom for hours. They knew what it would take to accomplish a successful attack mission.

They did frequently ponder the best type, use, placement, position, and effects of using a torpedo. Which was constantly altered as ideas and thoughts about things evolved. They wrote much about fears of any attempt to drive a torpedo directly into the side of a target vessel. If they survived the blast, one of the biggest fears was their vessel being too close and get sucked into and trapped in the hole created in the side of the ship.

Much discussion written about how to position and deploy the torpedo, and what safe distance would be ideal from the torpedo when detonated. 150 feet was thought to be most ideal safe distance, desired no less than 75 feet. The vessel was rigged with external cord reels, internal cranks, and means for remote detonation by pull cord. That was mentioned by a witness as still seen attached and mounted on the vessel just a few days prior. Ideal attack to get up under it, release/deplore the torpedo, back away, detonate, try to make your escape. All this also fits into line with what the witnesses on the Housatonic say they saw. The vessel moving away from their ship, (most likely actually backing out away from it) and was reportedly about 100 feet away when the blast occured. Pieces of the puzzle from both sides that seem to fit together. These all are an entirely different picture of what the newly released media report implies.

The spar rigging configuration and the torpedo itself was another item that was constantly altered and tweeked. Even up to that very morning before the final mission. The spar rigging had multiple supports and was adjustable for position and angle, much more complex than anyone expected. The latter version wasnt just a simple pole stuck in a holder, as most of us were thought to believe based on artist renderings. Hense we basicly have a good idea what the general intended plan of attack was. But no one is in agreement what the possible last position angle used that last day. The blast hit the Housatonic exactly where that last discussed and known plan was.

As Edward mentioned, many things in history gets twisted, washed, and altered, especially over time. Misunderstood accounts and meanings, items generalized for simplicity for readers, in regards to some items that naturally could be quite complex and cloudy. Writers artistic liberty filling in missing voids to make a story flow better or be a more interesting read. Over time such items get echoed by others and what is actually fact or fiction tends to get muddy. Going back to the original written accounts and documents usually better helps sort it out.

Frederick