"Christ ... preached unto the spirits in prison"

Our chapter for this Sunday, 1 Peter 3, has some controversial sections ... including this one:

Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing. (v. 18-20)

Conservative Bible students have generally taken one of two views on this:

(1) Between His death and resurrection, Jesus in spirit went to Hades (the holding place of the wicked dead) and preached to the spirits there. This "preaching" was not an evangelistic message offering a second chance at salvation, but a proclamation of Christ's victory. (Some believe Ephesians 4:8-9 refer to the same thing.)

(2) Back in the time of Noah, Christ (in the person of the Holy Spirit and through the preaching of Noah -- see 2 Peter 2:5) preached to the ungodly of that day, who rejected the message of coming judgment and as a result are now spirits in prison.