The San Francisco call., 1898-02-21
COULD RAISE
 THE WARSHIP Engineers Favored by the ShallOwneSS of the
 Water. The Task Would Be Expensive, but Quite Likely to Be
 Successful. England's Experience in the Past With Warships Similarly
 Situated.

The task of raising the Maine, while it woud be expensive, presents appa- rently no insurmountable engineering difficulties, as she lies in depth of only forty-fve feet, and divers, with the requisite apparatus, can get access to the hull As she now lies, her weight does not exceed 5000 tons, and the re- moval of guns and other detachable heavy weights would still further de- crease the load to be lifted.
 The idea expressed by prominent na- val officials to resurrect the Maine and bring her back to the United States, and from the remnants to reconstruct the ship will be approved by the people for patriotic as we'll as other reasons. In the first place. the wreck must be removed, and even if the entire for ward part of the ship shall be found to be blown out. the remainder or It, constituting two-thirds of the hull, and containing the engines and boilers, IS likely to be uninjured. No recourse was had in her construction to stint her scantling in order to gain displace- ment to carry other weights, and the hull is probably the strongest and best built of any ship in the navy.
 It is the universal practice of all na- tions not to abandon lost ships so long as there is chance of recovery, and in this instance conditions are favorable for the resurrection of the Maine. Great Britain has had some experience in this line In September, 1875, the Iron Duke accidentally collided with the Van guard while maneuvering in the Brit ish Channel, and the Vanguard, an ironclad of 1900 tons displacement, sunk in 120 fet of water and settled on her keel, with a slight list to starboard. It was not until the following March that efforts were made to raise the ship, during which time she had settled twelve feet in the mud and sand, and all attempts to raise her proved fruit- less. The great depth of water, In which the divers could work only from fifteen to thirty minutes, and the con stant banking up of sand against the ship made the task greater than the wreckerS could overcome, ana the snip was left to her fate.
 In the early part of 1889 the Sultan, an ironclad of 9200 tons displacement, while at torpedo practice in the Medl- terranean, ran upon an uncharted rock in the Comino Channel and sank in sixty feet of water. Several unsuccess- full attempts were made by British wreckers to raise the ship. but an Ital- ian company finally succeeded and car ried her into Malta December 29, 1889, where she was docked and repaired The sum paid to the company was S25O,- 900, and 1t took S225,000 to repair the hull and refit the ship. The difficulty in floating the Sultan was aggravated by the fact that she lay damned in be- tween two points of rock, so that the divers were compelled to remove, by loc hcf hpfnra fhQv could get access to the wounded parts of the hull. Huge holes had bee.i made in the bottom and these had to be tenn porarily repaired by means of iron plates and timber the whole made tight with many tons of a peculiar ce- ment, which hardened under water. When all Assures and holes had been made water-tight, powerful pumps were brought into play, forcing air into the interior of the hull, and the ship arose to the surface and was made se- cure.
 In October 1892, the British armorclad Howe, 10, 300 tons, ran upon rocks while entering the harbor of Ferrol, Spain. A hole forty feet in length was ripped in her bott~m, and the ship settled down with her bow under water. It took sey- eral months and S100,000 to raise her, af- ter which she was repaired at an ex- pense of s150.000.
 The Victoria, sunk in the Mediter- ranean on June P, 1893, lies in over 200 feet of water. yet all hope has not been given up that the ship may be re- covered, but 1t will have to be accom- plished by unusual methods, for ordin- ary diving cannot be carried on at such a depth.
 Of these incidents, that of the Sultan bears some resemblance to that of the Maine. with the advantage to the for mer that the rents in the hull were