Hunley captain's pocket watch goes on display: ‘It brings more of a personal effect’ | News | postandcourier.com

2022-06-03 20:52:26 By : Ms. Shen Lu

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Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Low 71F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph, becoming NE and decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

A pocket watch found among the remains of Capt. George Dixon inside the submarine H.L. Hunley is on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston on  June 2, 2022. Upon opening the watch, scientists found the hands at 8:23 p.m. Researchers are hopeful the discoveries from the watch and other artifacts from the Hunley may lead to unearthing the fate of the submarine and crew. Henry Taylor/Staff

A $20 coin said to have stopped a bullet and saved the life of Hunley Capt. George Dixon is on display as a part of a new exhibit with jewelry found in the sub at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston on  June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

Nicholas DeLong, an archeologist with Clemson University, explains the meaning behind some of the items found with the remains of Capt. George Dixon in the wreck of the H.L. Hunley that are now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, on June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

An overview of the H.L. Hunley museum with a banner showing the actual size of the submarine, stairs leading to where the Hunley is preserved, and in the left corner, a new exhibit featuring artifacts found with the remains of Capt. George Dixon, is pictured at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston on June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

Nicholas DeLong, an archeologist with Clemson University, and Kim Roche, a conservator from Clemson University, talk about the artifacts found with the remains of Captain Dixon and the submarine H.L. Hunley that are now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

A pocket watch found among the remains of Capt. George Dixon inside the submarine H.L. Hunley is on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston on  June 2, 2022. Upon opening the watch, scientists found the hands at 8:23 p.m. Researchers are hopeful the discoveries from the watch and other artifacts from the Hunley may lead to unearthing the fate of the submarine and crew. Henry Taylor/Staff

An overview of the H.L. Hunley museum with a banner showing the actual size of the submarine, stairs leading to where the Hunley is preserved, and in the left corner, a new exhibit featuring artifacts found with the remains of Capt. George Dixon, is pictured at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston on June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

Nicholas DeLong, an archeologist with Clemson University, and Kim Roche, a conservator from Clemson University, talk about the artifacts found with the remains of Captain Dixon and the submarine H.L. Hunley that are now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

NORTH CHARLESTON — Capt. George Dixon was decked out in a cashmere suit and suede boots along with jewelry and an 18-carat gold pocket watch the night he died manning the submarine H.L. Hunley.

Now, experts hope research about his watch can help solve the mystery of why the first successful submarine to sink an enemy vessel abruptly disappeared afterward off Sullivan's Island for more than a century.

The watch tells experts when during the night things turned terrible for the Hunley and its crew, either after being affected by some sort of strike or becoming awash in seawater on Feb. 17, 1864. It stopped ticking at 8:23 p.m. local time.

Several of Dixon’s gold pieces — 22 years after they were hoisted out of the ocean — are on display beginning the weekend of June 4 as part of the Friends of the Hunley "Treasures of the Past" exhibit.

"Looking at a display like this is amazing because you don't often get this kind of information out of any shipwreck," said Clemson University conservator Kim Roche, who works on the Hunley inside its conservation lab on the grounds of the former Navy base and shipyard in North Charleston.

"And the fact that this all came from one person — it's a 'blingy' display,” she added.

Before finding the watch, experts believed the Hunley sank sometime between 8:45 and 9 p.m. Because this was before the period in which train travel mandated keeping universal time, the Union’s standard time was about 20 minutes ahead of Charleston’s local, or Confederate observed, time — the two match up.

Finally, we know when the Hunley’s mission turned sour. But experts still don’t know why.

"Everything about the Hunley is unique," Clemson archaeologist Nicholas DeLong added.

Though experts are confident Dixon’s watch stopped at 8:23, they still can’t tell why.

What they do know is that it was working earlier that night, DeLong says. Not only was the watch in pristine condition, but the main watch spring was intact and its wind key was later found aboard the vessel.

A $20 coin said to have stopped a bullet and saved the life of Hunley Capt. George Dixon is on display as a part of a new exhibit with jewelry found in the sub at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston on  June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

"From a nautical navigation standpoint, time is incredibly important,” DeLong said. “In order to navigate you got to have a watch, you have to have a clock of some sort, some sort of timekeeper.”

The watch, which is made of high-content gold, silver and copper and has crystal, a ceramic face and iron hands on the inside, was preserved in mud along with other artifacts in the Hunley, Roche said.

Experts believe the internal mechanism of the watch was made by S.I. Tobias and Co. in England, and was built in the 1830s or 1840s.

They think the case was built in the United States as late as the 1860s. While the “flashy” Dixon engraved most of his belongings, the watch was not engraved, so one theory is that he got it shortly before the final mission and didn't have time to have that done — as he had done with the fob at the end of the watch's chain, DeLong said.

Other artifacts on display include a coin which saved Dixon’s life when he was shot during the Battle of Shiloh (stopping the bullet), his gold ring and a broach, and binoculars and silver suspenders.

"Artifacts like these are so fascinating because they tell so many layers of stories," Roche said. "You have the story of Dixon, the story of a missing submarine, you even have evidence of timekeeping practices."

Nicholas DeLong, an archeologist with Clemson University, explains the meaning behind some of the items found with the remains of Capt. George Dixon in the wreck of the H.L. Hunley that are now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, on June 2, 2022. Henry Taylor/Staff

The privately owned vessel that was sanctioned by the Confederacy sank twice before Dixon took charge, convinced he could crack the code of making the sub a military success. That happened that February night when his team successfully sank the Union blockade ship Housatonic.

Though the artifacts haven’t yet explained why the sub later sank, taking her crew of eight away, DeLong is hopeful that research set to be released soon will help tell more of the story of that fateful night.

"For the longest time, it's just been the sub, you couldn’t find anything else," Butler said. "Now we have artifacts. They had those in their hands. It brings more of a personal effect.”

For now, the public can visit the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, 1250 Supply St., North Charleston, on weekends to see the Hunley and its artifacts. For more information visit Hunley.org.

Follow Kailey Cota on Twitter @kaileycota.

Kailey Cota is a business reporting intern for the Post & Courier. She is the S.C. Collegiate Journalist of the Year and the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Gamecock. Feel free to email her with Charleston restaurant recommendations or business tips.

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