Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-12-31
TO JACK up THE MAINE.
Novel Plan For Raising the
Sunken BattIeship.

Boston Man Who IL In the Business
Has Sailed to Havana to Bid For
the Contract-Thinks He Can Get
the Old Ship Up Whole-Cost Con-
siderable.
John T. Cavanagh, Boston contract.
or, sailed for Cuba on the Ward line
boat the other day to put In bid for
the contract to raise the Maine from
the bottom of Havana harb0r.
Cavanagh's scheme Is a novel one In
the history of raising sunken ships,
says the New York Sun. He Is not
wrecker. His business has been to
move buildings and great chlmneys
and monuments. In doing this sort Of
work he has used the. Jack screws as
the lifting power, and 1t is his intention
II he gets the contract to apply the jack
screw to lifting the Maine. His plan Is
to build two piers about 20 feet wide,
one ON each side of the Maine. These
piers are to be constructed of heavy
oak piles for foundation and heavy
flooring of hard pine. The number Of
piles and the thickness of flooring will
be determined by the weight of the YES
sci. Cavanagh's estimate of the Names
weight is 5000 tons. Allowing that
each pile can support ten tons, then $50
piles will be required for each pier. No
difficulty is anticipated in driving the
piles, as there is no heavy tide in Ha-
| vana.
After the piers are built the next step
would be the construction of the lifting
apparatus, which will consist of COM
bination Of jacks, stringers, trusses and
| chains. The trusses, 25 In number, are
to be placed in position across the piers
and above the wreck. They will rest
OIL stringers extending the length of
the piers. Beneath the stringers, hav-
ing = firm bearing on the tops Of the
piers, the Jack screws are to be placed.
Heavy chains will be run under the
wreck II it is possible, and If not they
will be fastened to whatever may af.
ford good hold. Then by the slow
but sure power Of the jack screws the
vessel can be lifted out of the water
After the Maine has been pulled from
her bed Of slime the next step will be to
get her into the floating dock. which Is
still in the harbor and is to remain
there as the property of Cuba. From
the sill of the dock after 1t has been
towed over to the scene Of the wreck
piles Of blocking will be built up level
with the tops Of each pier. They will
form the supports for the runs on
which the trusses carrying the wreck
will move. The Jack screws will fur
nish the power. They can be so ar
ranged as to push against the trusses
of the stringers. When the combina-
ton Of wreck and supports begins to
move forward, 1t Is surmised that the
| nearest end Of the dock may be forced
down by the weight coming Oh It. 1t is
believed that this depression can be off
set by opposing the buoyancy of the
dock to the weight by pumping out wa
ter In sufficient quantity so that the
upward tendency Of the dock will coun-
teract the depression. Then the same
principles which are used in the NOV
ing of houses will be used to get the
wreck fully into the dock.
Once In the dock 1t will devolve upon
the authorities to say what will be
done with the old battleship. Contract
or Cavanagh believes that it might be
possible so to rehabilitate her that in
some way she might be brought back
to the United States. If this could be
done. she would make the finest ma
tional souvenir that there could be
from the war. II 1t were found to be
impossible to get her to the United
States, she might be beached OH the
shores Of Cuba, where she would be
for centuries reminder to the Cubans
Of what more than anything else led to
that islands freedom.
If Cavanagh is permitted to try his
skill on the Maine and Is successful in
his attempt, as he is most confident he
will be, the old hull will present many
interesting features. When she energies
whole from the bottom of the harbor, it
will not be necessary to depend upon
the inexact testimony Of divers as to
the condition Of her plates. Any one
will be able to examine her hull and see
for himself just its condition and then
draw his own conclusions as to wheth-
err the explosion was caused from the
inside" or the outside.
The advertisements calling for bids
on the work state specifically that no
explosive shall be used In the removal
of the wreck. The purpose Of this was
not made clear. 1t Is possible that the
United States wants to get better
chance to examine the hull Of the ship,
or It may be that there are still some
explosives left In the hull, or again the
reason may be that the use Of explo-
sives might be dangerous to other YES
sells In the harbor. In any event they
are not to be permitted, and SO some
such plan as Cavanagh's will be netes-
sary. 1t has been suggested that cof-
ferdam could be built around the hull,
but even were that done 1t would still
be necessary to get some lifting power
at work. The ordinary methods Of
raising sunken vessels, such as the en-
ployment Of air bags. scows and der
Kicks, would certainly be Of no avail
with the Maine. The cost Of the enter
prise will be considerable-at least, It Is
estimated. several hundred thousand
dollars. II explosives were allowed, 1t