In seven years, however, the Hunley's tourism generator keeps running, even though it is switched off much of the time. The submarine has drawn an average of about 43,000 people annually and is gaining popularity with school field trips and groups that arrange to come midweek.

Roughly 70 percent of Hunley visitors come from out of state. About half are Civil War buffs. The rest are drawn by other elements: the story of bravery, the unexplained mystery of its sinking, a seminal example of naval engineering. The ship even has a following in Germany because of its lineage to the U-boats of the two world wars.

If the Hunley's attendance and admission price stay afloat, its nonprofit will garner at least $512,000 a year in ticket sales.

Those kind of results have sparked a civil war of sorts among local tourism factions for rights to the sub's final resting place, almost 150 years since it sank the USS Housatonic and went missing.

In 2002, Charleston, Mount Pleasant and North Charleston squared off with proposed museums for the craft. Charleston touted the Aquarium Wharf area and $5 million of funding. Mount Pleasant pushed a site on the state-owned Patriots Point Naval Museum and an $8 million bid. North Charleston won the battle with the promise of $13 million and a 40,000 square-foot facility on the old Navy Base.

Maximum exposure?

But North Charleston has yet to ink an agreement with Friends of the Hunley or the state Hunley Commission, and some politicians and hospitality promoters still think the craft belongs closer to other popular tourism stops down the Cooper River.

Rick Mosteller, vice president of Fort Sumter Tours, estimated that a Hunley museum would draw 20 percent more visitors if it were on the banks of Charleston Harbor.

"I don't want in any way to 'dis' North Charleston," Mosteller said. "But the truth is, if the Hunley's over there, it's an island — it's a tourist island."

He said his ferry business, which hauls tourists to and from Fort Sumter, has benefited greatly from its docking locations at Patriots Point and the South Carolina Aquarium.

"My instincts and my experience lead me to believe that if the goal is to maximize the exposure of the Hunley and have the highest visitation levels, that can be accomplished most efficiently and effectively with synergy," he said.

Mosteller conceded, however, the cash North Charleston has offered might produce a better museum that could offset the purported advantage of being near other tourist attractions.

Harry Hallman, who as mayor of Mount Pleasant is a member of the state Hunley Commission, also harbors no ill will toward North Charleston or Friends of the Hunley. But he still thinks the submarine belongs at Patriots Point.

"We would have had the entire history of naval submarine warfare in one museum," Hallman said last week. "What a tourism magnet that would be for this whole part of the state down here."

Hallman, who also is a member of the Patriots Point Development Authority, said interest and visitation would wane if the sub is bolted down in North Charleston.

Sullivan, second-in-command of the sub commission behind state Sen. Glenn McConnell, said North Charleston "was, is and remains" the best option for the Hunley.

"There's sort of a blessing and a curse in downtown Charleston," he said. "It is definitely the center of attention, but you've got traffic problems and congestion problems and problems getting the size of facility that we'd like."

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley could not be reached for comment last week.

With each year that goes by, interest in the sub wanes, as measured by admission figures. Visitation has sunk 30 percent since its 2001 peak at 52,500. And ticket sales plummeted by 13 percent in the first four months of this year compared with the same period of 2006.

A Hunley museum, however, is still a long way off — at least four years, according to Sullivan. Scientists will soon sink the ship in a chemical bath for six years to leach salt and other corrosives from its iron hull.

Though there is still some talk about a last-ditch effort to plant the sub closer to other proven attractions, the political battle for the Hunley appears to be dying down.

"I think somebody else ought to begin the debate," Hallman said. "I sort of wore myself out the last go-round."