Claustrophobic as a drain pipe, the Hunley’s crew compartment was filled floor to ceiling with sediment when the submarine was raised. Archaeologist Shea McLean (examining the crankshaft used to propel the hand-powered sub) and his colleagues spent months carefully uncovering the bones and belongings of the crew—some of which were embedded in the corroding hull. “Coaxing the delicate remains of a crewman’s hat from the cement-hard encrustation,” says McLean, “was like trying to get wet tissue paper out of rock.”