This is one of the most researched and high-tech stories of the Civil War yet it reads like a novel. In 1862 a partnership formed to develop a "sumerine boat". The partnership formed between Horace Lawson Hunley, a 37 yr. old New Orleans lawyer and James McClintock, a designer and Baxter Watson, a machine shop owner.

The CSA offered "privateers" between $5000 and $10,000 for each Yankee ship they could sink. These 3 partners had been intrigued with their idea of a underwater boat sneaking up to a large ship and bumping it with what today we refer to as a mine (today's torpedoes came later).

Their first attempt was the CSS PIONEER built in New Orleans in 1862 but with the cities occupation by Union troops the boat had to be scuttled as the 3 fled to Mobile, AL. to continue their work. In Mobile they built the AMERICAN DIVER which sank in Mobile Bay while undergoing tests.

The Confederates feared the probable invasion of Mobile by the blockading Northerners so after this disaster they decided to move to Charleson, SC where they would attempt the third try. In Charleston the inventors built what they later named the H. L. HUNLEY which actually did sink one Yankee frigate, the U.S.S. HOUSATONIC. Only two northerner sailors went down with the warship.

Unfortunately for the Rebels the Hunley also sank mysteriously some distance from the Union ship.

Author Chaffin throughout the book speculates about several details - how did they finance the 3 vessels, what caused the final demises of the HUNLEY? He states as fact that each time they built a new underwater boat they made needed improvements. After the 3 subs sank they buried 20+ Southern sailors. The HUNLEY was propelled by 7-8 men turning a hand crank rotating the propeller and the boat could only make 2-4 mph.

A must read for military history buffs.