Dr. E. Lee Spence's sketches of the rivet pattern of the old Housatonic wreck buoy as drawn on his November 24, 1979, edition of NOAA chart 11523.
This unusual rivet pattern which was sketched in pencil from memory on this chart by Dr. Spence during a discussion he was having at the National Archives with Archivist John VanDerRoot on May 17, 1981. In an effort to record a time line for his discovery, Spence asked VanDerRoot to sign the chart. VanDerRoot's signature is in pencil along with the date. The note in blue pen was added in 1997 by Spence while compiling documents for placement in  the affidavit. That annotation incorrectly notes the word "it" as being the snag (Housatonic's old wreck buoy). From a subsequent review of notes (probably May or June of 1997), it became clear that point "It" was a plot of a magnetic bearings and angles taken by Spence and Captain Jack Parker directly over the Hunley's location. A plot of the magnetic bearings taken by Spence the day he found the Hunley in 1970 were used as the coordinates of the center point of Spence's 1974 filing with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. To protect against looters, that center point was shifted slightly for the filing of Spence's salvage claim in Federal District Court. The center point on this chart is the one used in the court filing. The spot identified in Spence's notes as "object" is the wreck of the Housatonic. The point marked "W.O." is the snag shown in Spence's notes as "O'Neal." Both "W.O." and "O'Neal" are simply shortened forms of Captain Walter O'Neal's name. The snag has been tentatively identified by Spence as the remains of an iron buoy that once marked the wreck of the Housatonic.



 

Check out: Dr. E. Lee Spence's Sworn Affidavit on his discovery of the Civil War submarine H. L. Hunley

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© Copyright 2005 by Sea Research Society {Warning. Do not republish annotations or images of letters or other documents without written permission. All rights reserved. Unless specified elsewhere, all annotations were written or provided by Dr. E. Lee Spence. All U.S. and International copyrights owned by Edward Lee Spence and used herein have been assigned to the Sea Research Society or are used by permission. For written permission to quote or reprint, contact Dr. E. Lee Spence, 411 West Richardson Avenue, Summerville, SC 29483 (843) 821-0001. All rights reserved. Click for expanded copyright & trademarks notice.}

For more evidence of Dr. E. Lee Spence's discovery of the Civil War submarine Hunley, see annotated section of this same navigational chart showing the radar and magnetic bearings of the position of f/v Walter & Daphne when it was at point "W.O." (on November 24, 1979, edition of NOAA chart 11523).

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