A submarine ‘howdunit’
Author Rachel Lance discusses a Civil War mystery
Ajournalist expresses concern to author Rachel Lance about how much information to give away in a newspaper story about her book “In the Waves — My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine.”
Lance laughs and says, “Spoiler! Everyone dies!”
It's true. The entire eight-person crew of the HL Hunley, the Confederate Civil War submarine credited with sinking the U.S.S. Housatonic in Charleston Harbor in 1864 — the first incident of a successful submarine attack in history — DOES die. Readers find that out in the first few pages.
The big question at the heart of the book — a marvelously constructed work that combines elements of narrative nonfiction, memoir, and a historical mystery — is not whether the victims died but how. Late on a February night, the HL Hunley approached the Housatonic, which was part of a northern blockade to withhold supplies from the Confederate city. By extending a spar torpedo and placing it against the big ship's hull, crew members of the HL Hunley detonated the weapon. Five Housatonic crew members perished, and the ship was destroyed.
However, the Hunley also vanished on the mission and remained missing until it was discovered in the harbor waters in 2000 — with the skeletal remains of the crew at their positions and no visible signs of trauma, or that any of them were reacting to enemy fire or any sort of malfunction suggesting the vessell suddenly took on water and caused panic.
Lance will address these questions and more Tuesday in a virtual presentation sponsored by the Waterford Public Library.
The idea for the book, which is her first, was a bit of a happy accident. Lance, a biomedical engineer and a blast injury specialist who studies the effects of underwater explosions on the human body, has a PhD from Duke University and an extensive resume that includes working for the U.S. Navy as a civilian engineer who designed rebreather systems for navy divers. Currently, in addition to her burgeoning career as an author, Lance is employed as a scientific researcher at the Duke University Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology.
She came across the Hunley case while searching for a thesis topic for her PhD, and the elements of the mystery, all of which fall in her range of interest and natural curiosity, immediately captivated her. The more she learned, the more Lance suspected there was a book to be written — a Howdunit, if you will — because there were so many unanswered questions about what happened to the crew of the Hunley and why the submarine sank.
One important thing to note: Lance intuitively, and with wit and a natural tone, conveys dense scientific detail on matters such as fluid dynamics and the different reactions of explosions based on whether they happen in air or underwater in a fashion that's easily understood — and indeed fascinates — the layperson.
But that's only part of the appeal. Lance provides details of her own life and involvement in the story with often hilarious observations and the development of real-life friendships with unlikely people as she found her way through her investigation. Published in 2020, “In the Waves” is one of the best mysteries you'll read, a delightful autobiography, and a primer on complex science and physics that will make you wonder why you hated math to begin with.
On Wednesday, Lance took a few minutes to talk about her career and how it led to writing “In the Waves.” In conversation, she’s prone to bursts of laughter, is very modest, and talks with the enthusiasm of someone who clearly loves what they do. Here are a few of the questions she answered, edited for space and clarity.
Q: This is submarine country up here with the U.S. Naval Submarine Base and Electric Boat. Have you ever visited and what did you think?
A: I have visited. Of course! I was very impressed, but it’s also true I’m obsessed with submarines. All submarines! The Submarine Base has great facilities, and because of what I do, I was fortunate enough to tour the on-site acoustic testing labs and the hyperbaric chambers. Amazing.
Q: Do you think the HL Hunley, with its small dimensions and lack of modern technology, could for those reasons sneak through the waters of the Thames River and attack the submarine base?
A: (Laughs) I have no idea what the defense system at the submarine base is, but I suspect it’s probably up to the challenge. It is interesting to note the design of the Hunley has persisted over the years. In World War II, Germany had advanced submarine technology and utilized slightly smaller vehicles that recall the Hunley design.
Q: As a layperson whose inability to grasp even the fundamentals of basic science and math, I was able to formulate a theory pretty quickly while reading “In the Waves.” Was I wrong? Yes, cringingly so. But it makes me wonder: Did you early on have what turned out to be an accurate working theory as to what happened in Charleston Harbor that night? And in any event, how did you go about proving it?
A: I did suspect what happened because of my background in blast trauma. But suspicion means nothing in science without data. You have to eliminate all other theories; you have to try to prove yourself wrong. If you fail to do that, you might be correct.
Q: One of the great things about the book is how readable you make your descriptions of the scientific process — including forging unlikely relationships with all sorts of people pursuant to experimentation. Those anecdotes are amazing and fun.
A: Well, I reflect what happens in science. The experiments got harder and harder as we went along, and it can get stressful. (Laughs) I think I lost 12 pounds over the course of writing the book. But, yes, I made some friends. Somehow, we all found each other. Who’d have thought I’d meet and get to know an older, North Carolina tobacco farmer? Or a Civil War re-enactor? And we definitely do keep in touch.
Q: How did it occur to you to write a book about your experiences, and how did you sell it?
A: I lost my job with the Navy at a time when I was doing a project on hyperbaric chambers. And the project was important to me because we’re trying to save the lives of Navy divers. I needed money to keep going on that, and I thought maybe if I was able to get an agent and sell a book, that could help fund the work.
I got a tip from a colleague at Duke, a writer, and the tip was to go to a bookstore and find books that are somewhat similar to what I wanted to do. Go to the acknowledgments section in the books and write down the name of the authors’ agents because they always thank them. So, I stood in a bookstore flipping through books and writing down names. And I got a hit in the first batch of five queries I sent out. I was pretty lucky.
Q: Were you able to finish the hyperbaric chamber project?
A: I was! And I’m happy to say it was successful.
Q: Do you have a contact in the area? How did the Waterford Library event come about?
A: They were nice enough to email me and ask! I was raised around public libraries, and I was constantly reading.
I wouldn’t have had access to so much material without libraries, and my parents couldn’t always afford to buy all the books I wanted. And to this day, there’s something wonderful and delightful about the semi-randomness of a public library. We’re all used to the idea that, you know, if you want to know something specific, just go online and Google it. But I like going into a library with the idea of learning something without a plan. Just wander around and see what’s interesting and then diving into it. So, I was very happy to hear from Waterford and to have this opportunity.
Q: It seems almost not fair that one could be a biomedical engineer focused on pulmonary physiology, a blast-injury specialist, and an effortlessly fluid writer. And I don’t want focus on the morbid. But for the last question: If you could pick one incident from history for which you’d be called to the scene as a blast-injury specialist, what would it be?
A: (Laughs) Well, from an academic research standpoint, I’d say in the trenches of World War I. That was the first war with a high rate of explosives casualties, and it was something that many people knew nothing about at the time. It would be fascinating to experience that and learn from it at the source.