Full Circle: a Re-visit to the “Hunley” at Charleston’s Lasch Conservation Center

As my co-designer, Dr. Jeremy (Jerry) White has stated in these pages, our project to create a board game on the development of the submarine in the 19^th Century began some five years ago. 

At the start of the project, I decided that if we were going to do this properly, our submarine game needed a firm foundation to build upon.

To that end, I contacted Kellen Butler, the Director of “Friends of the Hunley” organization. 

Based at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, South Carolina, “Friends of the Hunley” is integral to the salvage, restoration and archaeological study of the American Civil War submarine “H.L. Hunley.” 

Upon my contacting Director Butler, I was given sixty minutes of her very valuable time on a Monday. While there, Butler patiently assisted my use of the Center’s information base in gathering the information needed for the design and development of the “Infernal Machine” game.

Flash forward to April of 2026.

I traveled to Charleston once again to visit with Kellen Butler,, this time bringing her and the Lasch Center a completed copy of the “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare” board game.

While unboxing the game for Director Butler, I gave a brief description of each group of the game’s components as well as other associated game features.

I also stressed how easy it was to learn how to play “Infernal Machine” using the programmed tutorials in the Scenarios booklet.

Needless to say, Director Butler was very impressed receiving her copy of “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare,” remarking upon the game’s quality of construction and ease of play. 

So, the next time you are in Charleston, why not stop by the Lasch Conservation Center and have your own personal encounter with history? 

It is well worth the price of a visit…

and you may find a surprise waiting for you in the “Friends of the Hunley” gift shop.