The Portland daily press., 1900-04-02
CALIFORNIAN FLOA TED.
was TOwsd Down to Cape shore and
Bcached.

ship Californian, which ran on KAN ISL
and ledge i've weeks aga, while leaving
port. was foated OF her cradle on the
ledge aud towed into the harbor. The
saving of this handsome ship was q
great surprise to many people Of the oily,
for predictions had freely been made
that she would never aoat again. The
work Of saving this ship has been long,
tedious and costly job. The work was
in good hands, however. The Boston
Tow boat company had entire charge Of
the work and there is no better equipped
wrecking outfit In this part Of the ooun-
TRY than is this concern. They came
here on We lnesday following the 6atur-
day night on which the ship went on
the rocks and at once began operations.
The cargo Of the ship had 10 be removed
and this required an enormous amount
of work, but 1t was done and thousands
Of dollars worth nf goods saved. Then
as careful an examination as possible
followed by the divers of the wrecking
corpany. They found that they could
get under the ship for little distance
aft, but that owing to the rocks on
which the ship lay they could do nothing
forward. Big rotary pumps were In
stalled and at low tide the work OF patch
ing up the forward compartments with
blankets, plugs OF wood aud other things
was carried on as fast as possible Two
weeks after the accident, an effort was
made to pull the ship of, but IL failed
because the pumps could not free her
from water. This attempt was made be-
cause OF the anxiety Of the Allan line to
save the ship and was not exrestsd to
be q success by the wreokers. The work
from that time on, was kept mp with
a. much rapidity az possible. 1t WAS
found i'm possible to stop the leaks In the
after compartment and so recourse was
had TO o novel scheme Between four
and i've hundred bags Of Portland oe-
ment were slung In the lower hold Of the
ships after compartment. This cement
was carefully packed down by divers
and left to harden about "a to 4S hours.
On these bags planks were laid and
stanchions put In to the tween deok
beams to hold the cement In place.
Everything being now In readiness
the ten pumps were started about o
o'oloek Saturday forenoon. It was found
that they freed the ship Of water much
better than was expected and that the
wreoksrs had been successful In stop
ping many Of the leaks. The cement
floor in the after compartment seemed 70
work perfectly. 1t was high water at
II O'Clock and 10 was thought that the
chip would be fioated At about that hour.
At Is minutes past ten O'Clock those on
board the Californian felt the ship slid
ing OF the ledge and In second she
was floating away from the dangerous
spot. The towbosts Herald, Storm King,
Pallas and Underwritsr Of the Boston
Towboat company took her in tow and
started with her towards the harbor. 1t
was an anxious moment for all on board,
but all went well. The big pumps were
kept going and from the steamships
eide there came ten large streams Of vat
er. At II O'Clock the Californian was
headed In towards the cove on the Cape
shore lust outside the breakwater, and
took ground on the mud fats. At low
water she was high out of water and
lowered up to enormous Size to those
looking ct her from shore.
So far no divers have been able TO get
r.aa- ,h. sh,r,s bo..oun fe.r muoh of its
,s,g,h T., saa tha rs.l extsnt Of her in
,n-;., This n.xs thing tn do IL to rst out
wh., o.ruo r.r.,ns on hoard. This will
h. ..oor.r,,sh.d this vsak. The grain
a. NJ h,,d vii, ba ramoved and then
A.. on.I and s.or.s taten out. When
th,s 4. aona it ,s mot unlikely that the
.n,n mas, n. floatsd into dseper watsr
60 .,va tho a,vers . obapoe TO ret st her
t,o.tou, Tht. viii h. patobsd nm tenn
uorar,Iv so that abe NAV be tovsd to Bos-
ton for repairs
Cspt. Humphreys of the Boston Tow
boat company Is a happy man and all
day Saturday he was receiving the hearty
on. sne 'iv. -
d,dn's ''' II" i"N stated S' the captain, when