Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-25
WRECKING.
The Salvage Of Ships is Very Profit
able Work.

|
able Work.
| Not many years ago treasure hunting
WINS regarded as a decidedly unprofit-
| allie industry, and the man who
described himself as "a professional
scC..cr for treasure would have at
| tra cted the suspicion of the wise OF
late years. however people have begun
to understand that the gathering of
su'iken and hidden treasure has been
n fairly profitable occupation, and with
! tho f~aEual evolution of the modern
| wrocker it has come to pass that as
careful an inquiry is made into the
| records and legends of sunken treasure
ships as is made in the case of any
other lost valuables.
Actual wrecking-in the sense of the
salvage of ships-began to assume pro-
| portions of Importance during the Civil
War. During hostilities in the South
| number of government ships were sunk
| by the fire of the enemy, or by accidents
| incidental to sea travel, and the fed
| eral government was at one time pre-
pared to sacrifice almost any sum of
money in order to place them once more
among the defences of the country. In
| the army and navy at that time there
were probably more mechanical gen.
| fuses than either arm of the service has
Stree mustered and these men set to
work with wits and hands to solve the
problem for the government. The re-
| suit was the construction of the first
wrecking Iighter-a gigantic scow car
ryng big derrick-the whole being
modelled after the apparatus which had
| been found so useful in replacing
wrecked trains upon the track. At the
same time diving bells were improved
and diving dresses underwent such
changes as fitted them for the rough
| and ready work around sunken ships
| in harborS and rivers.
| After the war the commerce Of the
United States was not in such condition
as seemed to warrant the belief that the
| salvage of wrecked merchant vessels
| would be profitable and the govern
| ment, although importuned, declined to
go the expense of raising any more of
| the ships sunk during the latter days of
| the war. unless they were of supreme
Importance. One of the men who had
| been most active in the work of devils
ing and working the apparatus and
scows used for raising sunken vessels
| is now at the head of the best known
and wealthiest marine salvage con-
Germs in the United States, but in
those days he was simply an eX-gov-
eminent employe with nothing particu-
| lar to do.
| During the days of war the men who
had worked on sunken wrecks had ac-
quired extraordinary dexterity in their
work and some of the divers attached
to the corps had managed to descend
safely to depths before considered i'm
possible. These men were quick to see
the possibilities of the trade they had
made.
| Peace came at last and from news
paper files and government and marine
records these men gathered together
the details of such wrecks as they re-
garded as profitable. When the list
was made these earliest treasure hunt
| erS set to work to try to raise those
wrecks which were nearest home and
richest in treasure. The attempts were
successful as far as the recovery of
the gold and silver which the ships con-
| tanned. The divers recovered that. and
were thereupon content to let the ships
lie where they sank.
| Gradually the field was extended
| Sometimes arrangements were made
to share results with the owners of a
sunken vessel, but more often no own
ers could be found for these ancient
| wrecks. Soon. too, the treasure hunt
| ers learned when to regard a wreck as
| Improbable. They knew that in some
| places n wreck was covered by sand
so swiftly that in a week it was utterly
h,yp in1 In, 9TH Ill
cred that ships disappeared in quick
sand, while in others the vessels main
tanned their position for nearly a CEN
tury.
Soon other people learned of this
profitable form of treasure hunting
and other companies Were organized
for the purpose. Among them all the
known wrecks were soon examined.
the treasure recovered and the ship
raised. or the whole abandoned as use
less, as the case might be, until the
time came when there We're no more
known ancient treasure ships' worth
the seeking. From time to time record
was found of some Spanish galleon
which had sunk with all her crew
and treasure. and dozens of these re-
ports were investigated. Little, if any.
of this old-time treasure was ever
/ brought to the surface of the sea but
for years the tale of a sunken treasure
ship was sufficient to gather a crowd
of divers and wreclSers around the
spot.
BY the time the supply of old wrecks
gave out shipowners had begun to
realize the value of the wrecking COM
panies. Once upon a time a ship
which sank. even in the Hudson, was
regarded rs irretrievably lost The adj
vent of the wreclers showed shipown-
ers that it was as easy to recover a
sunken ship as to gather bricks from a
fallen house. One after another of the
owners sought the wrecking companies
to ask if it would be possible to raise
! such and such wreck. and man after