The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-05-01
SHIP WRECKERS.
.Ponderous Appliances for Saving
Stranded Vessels.
ingenious Pontoons and Huge
Floating Derricks Used.

iihI class IN the communicative
wreckers. No business in the world
has so many remarkable phases about
A. depending entirely upon the mis-
fortunes Of othora
It's singularity and uureliability are
well illustrated by the fact that the
wreckiug companies that finally pulled
the st. Paul of have put ia claim
lapproximating nearly half a million
dollars for their work. As the big
liner WAS only stranded ten days this
iH at the rate Of $4,000 day-as
much as the president Of the United
States earns in year.
"Bnt, as one wrecker said to re-
porter for tho New York Journal,
''these things don't come every day,
and whou they do we've got to make
hay while the sun shines The last
good thing like this that we had, and
The wreoker smiled with much salts
faction, "was over seventeen years
ago. That was when the French liner
.Amerique went on the sand in pretty
much the same place where the st.
paul got into trouble. The Amerique
Salvage was based on the computation
of 81, 900 on every million. She was
no such ship as the st. Paul and had
mo such cargo. The st. Paul was
oaded with gold, aud was altogether
worth close to So, 600, 600"
! In the case of the st. Paul tue gen.
ieral impression was that she was
pulled off by tugs. As matter of
fact the tugs had practically nothing
to do with pulling her off
+ CAL the tugs in New York harbor,
as the wrecking man put it, couldn't
have pulled the ST. Paul of in nine
years. Every wash of the sea that
Forced the ST. Paul further up would
have forced the tugs back just as well,
and just when they were getting in
their best ticks some big wave would
come along and undo in a minute
everything they might have accom-
plished in hours. "
Instead of the tugs the method en-
ployed was this: A huge anchor
weighing 1900 pounds was dropped
out to the sea about the stern. A six
inch cable was then run from this
anchor on board the ship, where it
ran to some monster block and tackle,
or pulleys, as they are generally
called The machinery of the ship
was then used to shift her inch by
inch, pulling toward the anchor. The
cable was carried around the drum Of
the hosting machinery, and at each
favorable action of the wind and
waves power was put on, the cable
being drawn in.
Sometimes, when the conditions
were particularly good, the monster
ship might give couple of inches at
each effort of the machine Again, as
she got further and further Quito sea,
and the hold of the sands became less
and less firm, the progress was even
more rapid, and toward the last, just
before she finally slipped off, she
would go foot at time, finally
reaching a position where the tugs
could drag her out into deep water.
This system OF drawing her off the
sand put no such strain on the hull OF
the ST. Paul as would have been the
Cease if she had been ierked around by
Ia lot OF tugs. 1t is due no doubt tc
this fact that she went off the sand
practically uniniured.
There have been number Of in
stances in this harbor where compare
lively large vessels have been sunk a
their docks or out in the East or Nortl
river In every one Of these cases
the vessel has been raised and foateC
again at comparatively small cost
The chief damage in these cases is t.
the cargo, which is practically ruined
10y immersion in salt water.
There are two distinct systems o
raising vessels that have gone down
One is by pontoons, and the other i
with huge floating derricks The pom
toons are monster boxes built Of har
wood, and built with straps so tina
they can be filed with water to sin
4boro After thew are sunk thew ar