The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-03-18

Very Much the Worse for Wear
Their War Scars-Repairs Al
ready Made. y:
The first two Of the chickens have got
home to roost. There has been good bit
of anxiety about them among the war
ships this week and the telegram from
Hongkong which told of their safe arrival
there was received with great satisfac-
ton. The chickens are the three little
Spanish gunboats. Isla de Cuba, Isla de
Luzon and Don Juan de Austria. They
were run aground by the Spaniards and
abandoned on May 1, and ,afterward were
set on fire by Dewey's orders, along with
four or five others. These three were
found to be worth raising, and the work
vas undertaken. AS it progressed inter-
est grew among the watchers on the
warships. Finally, all three ships were
up, and it began to look as If we were
sure Of them. There was only the trip
to Hongkong to be made, and now two
of them have got there
The navy's end of the work Of raising
the three ships has been in charge Of
Naval Constructor W. l.. Capps. Mr..
Capps came down with the first brigade
of troops and reached Cavite on June 80.
Until the surrender of Manila on Aug.
10 there was no practical step taken to-
ward securing any of the sunken Spanish
vessels for the United tSates navy, but
after that Mr.. Capps had opportunity to
make a more thorough investigation of
the condition Of the wrecks and of the
problem of raising them. Divers. were
employed from a shipyard in Cavite, and
the work began under the supervision Of
Mr.. Capps. A careful examination of the
condition of all the wrecks was made
outside, and, as Tar as possible. inside.
All the ships were we'll down in the mud.
but, so far as it was possible to deter
mine, the hulls We're in fairly good con-
dition. Evidences Of the work of the
Spaniards just before they fled We're plen-
tiful, even from the outside, in the NUM-
Der of smashed headlights, says a Manila
letter in the New York Sun. Very slight
damage had been suffered from the Amer
lean fire. The ships simply ran from
what they feared might happen.
AS a result of his preliminary examina-
ton Mr. Capps reported to Admiral
Dewey that it was possible to recover
almost all the ships, and feasible to raise
the two Islas and the Austria. About
that time the Olympia went to Hong
kong to be docked, and Mr. 'Capps went
with ftcr. St1aerczlre. saWzrepresenta-
tives Of the Hongkong Dock company.
and told them something of what he had
found out about the wrecks in Bakor
bay. The dock company sent its exam
liners to Cavite and made an examination
for itself. Mr.. Caps worked with the
dock company's representatives and gave
them the benefit of his personal expert
ence with the wrecks. The dock company
men were satisfied that the two Islas and
the Austria could be raised and reftted
for a reasonable sum, and so when Ad-
miral Dewey advertised for bids for the
work the dock company was one of the
bidders. Ensign Moffett, Of the Charles
ton, who had raised the Bulusan, sister of
the Callao, and the transport Cebu, in
the Pasig river, wanted a chance to go
at the wrecks in Bakor bay, but the ad.
miral gave the contract for all the work
to the Hongkong Dock company at a
total price for the three ships entirely re-
fitted, except as to guns, Of about $500, 600
silver.
The company at once sent down a gang
Of men with apparatus from Hongkong,
in charge of w. G.. Jack. Later the tug
Powerful came over with more men and
the engineers who were to fix up the old
engines and take the prizes back to Hong
kong. The old schooner Dos Hermanos
was fitted UP as an abiding place for the
men, and made fast alongside the Isla de
Cuba. The steam tug Oeste, which was
seized when Manila FELL and the Balusan
rescued from the Pasig by Ensign Moi
felt, were used to furnish steam to oper
ate the pumps and other machinery. Mr.
Capps lived on the Dos Hermanos with
the wreckers. Work was begun on the
Cuba first, on Oct. 20. The first thing tt
do was to fill up all openings in the hull
These had to be found and filled up from
the outside, because the conditions were
such that it was impossible for a man tc
go below in the wrecks. Mr.. Capps hac
very complete plans of all the ships, how
ever, and that greatly simplified the work
The Spaniards had opened every out
board delivery and smashed all the dead
lights in the airports, but for some reason
they had not damaged the machinery II
any way. Perhaps they hoped to have
the job of raising the ships themselves
was caused by the fire which was started
by the Americans, in pursuance Of thu
navy departments orders to capture an(
destroy.
While the divers were at work on thu
outside of the Cuba the Triggers on the Do!
| Hermanos were getting the pumps ready
| There were three centrifugal pumps, ont
of twelve inches, one of nine inches ant
one of six. One was rugged to drain thu
forward part Of the wreck, one the en-
| CINE room and one the afterpart. The
ships had been run ashore at high tide
and had settled we'll into the mud. Pump
| ing could be done only at low tide. Each
ship as she settled had made a bed fol
herself in the mud, throwing up a ridge
was ready to begin pumping on the Cuba
It happened that low tide came about
midnight, and so the first effort to raise
the Cuba was made at night. All three
| pumps were set to work. Steadily thu
water lowered in the Cuba, but she made
| no move The pumps were kept at unit
| a buoyancy of 400 tons was. given the
little shin. and still she did not bulge
Work was stopped and the tired mer
| turned in. When they got up again the
| tide had risen and filled the Cuba full
again.
| That night pumping began again, but
this time there was different plan. Only
| the after pumps were worked, while the
forward one stood idle. The clearing of thu
| after compartments gave the ship buoy
ancy at the stern which gradually started
| her up out Of the mud berth in which she
| had been lying for six months. AS she
| came up there was lively work for the
divers. Openings were found which had
been concealed by the mud, and 1T was
necessary to plug them with all speed
| Several small compartments were found
! which were not reached by the ships
| drains The smaller bunkers were full Of
water, as were the boilers. The decOmpO
! sition of stores and other things in the
ship and the coating of mud and slime
! which was over everything made the all
below so foul as the ship came up thai
| it was Impossible to send men down tt
| work inside, so everything In the way o.
| stopping leaks had to be done by thu
divers When the ship foated a new diff
Guilty was met; the mud wall which sh'
/ had thrown up around herself as she set
tied stood in the way Of dragging her of
into deeper water. The divers were il