The Saint Paul globe., 1903-08-09
sATIG. Of LIVES
AMfRo|PtRTY P IT
SEA is A SCIENCE
Little That Is of Value Is Now
Lost Salvage Companies do.
Marvellous Work i'm Raising
or Wrecking Sunken Yes
sels-Brave Rescues.

Saving from the sea has become al
! most a science. It includes not only
the saving of lives, but the saving OF
property. The ship that goes down
and is heard of no more must sink
where it will be beyond all human
endeavDr, or else the graphing hooks
of a Salvage company will be reach
ing down for it.
Ultimately, the chances are, the ship
will come to top again, and viii be put
in dry dock, where repairs will make
it seaworthy, and it will set forth to
try the perils of the ocean anew.
An account of these property saving
endeavors is a relation of all that is
heroic in sea life A shipwreck is the
preliminary. Then come the salvage
companies, with their specially con-
structed boats, laden with all neces-
sites. from divers to derricks.
What the salvage companies are able
| to do for apparently ruined ships is
marvellous. Usually it is the salvage
company which undertakes the work
for the underwriters. The latter have
paid the assurance on the boat, and it
is to theiF interest to recover what they
cam from the wrecMs
Ships cannot be@raised from great
depths. One hundred and eighty feet
is considered the utmost depth to
which a diver. can descend, on account
of the epressafe. At less distances the
work can be done without difficulty.
For that reason the reclaimed wrecks
usually are ships which have struck
on rocks near the coast.
Simple Method of Raising Ships.
A typicalo ease asof raising a vessel
was affordedsBy the Tina, which struck
a rock off the Scotch coast. The boat
settled in thirty feet of water. When
the attempt4o raise it was made four
large ponteshs Were placed at the cor
| ners of the ship. Each pair of pom
toens was. then connected by huge log
to bear "a Strain Of 500 tons to the
square inch, We're passed under the
wreck and fastened to the logs.
All necessary then was to wait for
the tide to raise and the wreck was
f1oated, the work having been done at
low tide. The ship then was towed to
shallow part Of the coast, repaired,
and sent out to sea again.
At times a vessel seems too seriously
damaged to be repaired after it has
beene raised or taken from the rocks,
but this sis seldom the case. The
Breckieldss entire keel was torn away
ION the rocks, but the vessel was re-
paired thoroughly in dry dock. The
I Abeffoyfe: had an enormous hole in it's
bow zbaltsWasa patched UP and is now at
work again.
When Admiral Nelson's flagship, the
Foudroyant, stranded near Blackpool
lspier in 1897 efforts We're made to save
it, but aitswas found that the ship had
been damaged beyond repair, and there
was nothing to do but break it Up
|. Break. Vessel With Dynamite. -.
The Walter Bibby, a powerful dred-
<r<> L
companies when it sank in Leith har-
Dor. The boat settled down on rock
when the tide went out and broke it's
back. For six months it lay there, an
immovaf31es mass, Ion account of the
hundreds of tons of dredging gear.
Finally the keel was broke by a dis
charge of dynamite, as the first step
towards reclaiming the vessel. Then
the boat was broken into two sections
and the open efds were closed with
bulkheads. The water was pumped
out and the sections came to the sur
face. aas4~~ ssss4ssss
The afterpart, being the more heavi-
ly laden, was the hardest with. which
to deal. Six times the water was let
in and the section resunk before a
balance sufHeiently even could be
maintained to insure it against turning
over. The boat had been insured for
9bo,UVU adIIetTftA COSl 9A0,OUV LO get -lue
wreck up.
Sometimes a vessel will be grounded
in such fnahner that, although the
hull may bssaomparatively uninjured,
it will be necessary. to break it UP to
recover anything. Such a vessel, the
Hesketh, was sold for $4,000. 1t lay to
all seeming aTd damaged to any serious
extent by the disaster, but SO bleached
that it couIdsnp be got off. There was
nothing to ada but sell the ship for
scrap irone Old copper, and timber.
The stoEy of the Danmark isa
thrilling Illustration of the saving Of
lives at sea. In this case the property
loss was total The accident which
disabled the Danmark took place 130
miles from .fand. The vessel, from
Copenhagen, carrying emigrants from
Denmark tor the United States, had
broken enc of the Fnainshafts, which,
in whirling around before the power
could be shut off, had torn great hole
In the bottom.
...:s., Brave Rescue at Sea.
The boat was leaking and filling
rapidly Signals of distress were
flown, and finally assistance was
sighted The Missouri carrying car
go of cattle, cement, rags, skins, etc,
was sighted. Capt MurriIl of the lat