The herald., 1898-09-04
SAVING SPANISH SHIPS
HOW HOBSON Is GOING ABOUT
HIS WORK
He Is Quietly Experimenting on His
Own Account and Paying No At
tention ts Amateur Experts

NEW YORK, Aug. 30.--(Specal Corre-
spoEdence to The Herald) Quietly abb
sOrbed in experiments for the raising of the
suAken warsh.ps that We're once SPANS
pride, Lieutenant Hobson has spent much
time in this vicinity recently, ignoring all
attempts on the part of well-meaning
friends to distract him from his work. He
places strong faith in the plan that COM
prises the use Of air bags, but is bent on
trying all kinds Of experiments until he has
hit upon the best.
The hero of the Merrimac has been nun-
dated with advice regarding the best means,
in the opinion Of the advisor, of raising the
sunken Spanish ships. 1t is usual to begin
raising sunken vessel by sending down
men to patch up the holes by which the
water came in. Divers take with them the
necessary tools and material together with
electric lamps for Illuminating purposes.
when they report that the hull is repaired
the next process is to erect upon the deck
a superstructure generally Of WOOD, which
cases in almost the whole of the upper
works Of the vessel and constitutes huge
! water-tight compartment. AS soon as this
| IS completed powerful tugs, provided with
enormous centrifugal pumps, capable of
| dscharging many thousands of tons of
| water per day, come upon the scene. The
| pump-suction pipes are coupled up 10 the
1 ship and she is soon cleared of water. d.
| rectly this is done the vessel becomes suffi-
Gle ntly buoyant to float to the surface. and
She is then towed to the harbor, where her
Injuries are permanently repaired.
| Still another plan that has been success
fully tried is to sink pontoons and secure
ttem to the side of the sunken ship. Their
watery contents are pumped out and the
buoyancy which they then possess serves
| 10 raise the wreck. The use of this plan,
however, Is usually confined to small YES
scis. which in some cases have been lifted
by the main force of powerful cranes work.
ing from barges or pontoons moored over
the spot
OF course the work necessary to raise
sunken ship, or the possibility Of raising
her at all, depends on the position in which
she lies at the bottom of he sea or harbor.
The clever mechanical contrivances in
vented in recent years have been the means
of saving many noble vessels from the sea.
Proudly steaming on the ocean today are
ships that a century ago would have been
given up as totally lost when they sank be-
tan of the British navy, went on the rocks
Of the Comino channel, which separates the
islands of the Maltese group, it was thought
that 5000 tons of ship of war were lost to
the queens service. 1t was with considerable
hesitation that the admiralty officials con-
sented to allow the experiment Of raising
the Sultan to be tried. The necessary ap-
paratus was sent to the scene of the wreck,
l. CI11 NJ
guns, stores and ammunition the hull was
repaired and rendered water tight and was
then pumped dry and on August 20 the, vast
structure was successfully lifted. She was
ltowed to Malta and subsequently returned
to England. few years ago she received
new engines and boilers and no one who
sees the Sultan. a splendid specimen OF the
older fashioned ironclad, would imagine
now that she had spent so long time at
! the bottom Of the sea. 1t took four months
ard half to complete the work.
Another famous achievment In the rats
Ing Of sunken vessels was the rescuing Of
the Atlantic liner Utopia from the oceans
nav. During heavy storm in March. 1891.
the Utopia, which was bound for America
from an Italian port, sought refuge IN the
hal Dor Of Gibraltar. So fierce was the
storm that while endeavoring to anchor the
Utopia was driven across the bows OF the
British warshp Anson. The sharp ram Of
the ironclad tore huge rent In the Utopia's
side, and very short space Of time elapsed
before she foundered, taking with her sew
eral hundreds of her passengers, mostly
Italian emigrants. The Utopia was subse-
quently raised by the cofferdam process,
and presented very remarkable appear
ance when she was home for repairs. She
is still running, though under different
name.
Still another vessel which owes her life
to modern methods Of raising sunken ships
is the Austral fine ship that sank at her
moorings In Sydney harbor. The lower ports
on one side were carelessly left open while
the vessel was listed in that direction. A
puff of wind sent the fine ship the little bit
fu:her over that gave the greedy water the
chance for which it was waiting. The water
rushed In, the liner heeled over more and
more, it was impossible to stop the influx.
and the Austral quietly subsided to the bot
tom of the harbor. OF course, the raising
of the Austral presented fewer difficulties
than usual, as she had sustained no struct-
ural damage. She was successfully f1oated,
and, afer being refitted and cleaned, was
again put upon the service between Eng
land and Australia,