Painstaking removal of silt that had accumulated inside exposed the plank that the men sat on, running along the port side of the ship.

The skeleton of Lt. George E. Dixon, the commander, was found beneath the forward conning tower, where he had controlled the ship's movements. Other men's bones were beneath the bench. One man had carved the bench so there was more room for the hand crank to turn without slamming his knuckles on the wood as they worked.

"It still remains a mystery why the sub was lost," Neyland said.

Earlier theories were that a shot fired from the Housatonic as the Hunley attacked had blown out a porthole, with the bullet hitting Dixon in the head and the hole in the conning tower allowing water to flood in. But that has been discounted, and scientists now believe the hole may have happened later, perhaps decades after the Civil War, maybe when an anchor smashed into the wreck.

The bones showed no sign of panic among the crew, he said. They were not piled on top of each other trying to open the conning tower — they were basically at their stations.

"These were all very hardened men," he said. They were able to control feelings of panic.

The most amazing artifact was a dented coin. In the years before the Hunley was discovered, descendants of a woman named Queenie Bennett passed down the story that she had given a $20 gold piece to Dixon when he left for the war.

During the Battle of Shiloh, a Yankee bullet smashed into his leg and would have severed an artery and killed him, except that it had hit the gold piece in his pocket, the story went.

When Dixon's remains were excavated, archaeologist Maria Jacobsen found the gold coin. It was dented where the bullet had hit it and traces of lead remained on it. On one side this was engraved: "Shiloh. April 6, 1862. My Life Preserver. G.E.D."

Besides old injuries that had healed and Dixon's wounded thigh bone, no injuries were found among the skeletons. That showed the theory about a bullet striking Dixon through the porthole was false.

Another mystery concerned a Union dog tag that one of the Hunley's crewmen wore. Genealogists were able to find the grave of a relative of the man thought to be on the Confederate submarine. The woman's body was exhumed, DNA was taken, and scientists matched the crewman's DNA with that of his relative.

That showed the Union soldier whose name was on the dog tag was not among the Hunley's crew. The crewman probably picked the dog tag up from a nearby battlefield as a souvenir.

The Hunley's compass, signal lantern, crewmen's canteens, a pencil stub, a candle, 16 shoes, Dixon's gold watch (stopped at the time of the attack on the Housatonic), bits of clothing fabric, buttons, all were excavated inside the sub.

Archaeologists also recovered a diamond-encrusted woman's ring, found with Dixon's remains. Without much doubt, 140 years ago it was intended for the finger of Dixon's beloved Queenie Bennett.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com