The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-10-02
SHIPS NO LONGER LOST.
SCIENCE HAS ROBBED THE SEA
or MANY TERRoRs.

-'N -''- ~ N~''' f"iifNR ~ ffN'N
to DO for Apparently Ruined Vessels
Is MISUNDERSTANDING en-
beavers Attended by Heroic Deeds.
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 # be beyond all human endeay.
or, or else the graphing hooks Of a
salvage company viii be reaching
down for Il.
Ultimately, the chances are, the ship
will come to the 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 prcperty-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 necessi-
ties, 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 insurance on the boat, and it
is to their interest to recover what
they can from the wreck.
Ships cannot be raised from great
depths. One hundred and eighty feet
Is considered the utmost depth to
which a diver can descent, on account
Of the pressure At less distances the
work can be done without difficulty.
For that reason the reclaimed wrecks
usually are ships which have struck
on the rocks near the coast
A typical case of raising a vessel
was afforded by the Tina. which
struck rock off the Scotch coast. The
boat settled in 30 feet of water When
the attempt to raise it was made four
large pontoons were placed at the cor
ners Of the ship. Each pair of pom
toons was then connected by huge log
pines. Flexible steel hawsers, tested
to bear a strain of 500 tons to the
square inch, were passed under the
wreck and fastened to the logs.
All necessary then was to wait for
the tide to rise and the wreck was
floated, the work having been done at
low tide. The ship then was towed to
a shallow part of the coat, repaired
and sent out to sea again.
At times a vessel seems too serious
ly damaged to be repaired after it has
been raised or taken from the rocks,
but this is seldom the case. The
Breckfeld's entire keel was torn away
on the rocks but the vessel was re-
paired thoroughly in dry dock. The
AbeTfoyle had an enormous hole in its
bow, but was patched up and is now at
work again.
When Admiral Nelson's flagship, the
Foudroyant, stranded near Blackpool
Pier in 1897 efforts were made to save
it, but it was found that the ship had
been damaged beyond repair, and
there was nothing to do but break it
up.
The Walter Bibby, a powerful dredg-
er, presented a problem to the salvage
companies when it sank in Leith har-
Dor. The boat settled down on a rock
when the tide went out and broke it's
back. For six months it lay there, an
immovable mass, on account of the
hundreds of tons of dredging gear.
Finally the keel was broken by a dis
charge of dynamite, as the first step
toward retaining the vessel. Then
the boat was broken into two sections
and the open ends were closed with
bulkheads. The water was pumped
out and the sections came to the sur.
face.
The after part, being the more
heavily laden, was the hardest with
which to deal. Six times the water
was let in and the section resunk be
fore a balance sufficiently even could
be maintained to insure it against
turning over. The boat had been in
sured for $4,000, and it cost $4,000
to get the wreck up.
Sometimes a vessel will be ground
ed in such manner that, although
the hull may be comparatively unin
jured, it will be necessary to break il
up to recover anything. Such a yes
sci, the Hosketh, was sold for $4,000
1t lay to all seeming unchanged t.
any serious extent by the disaster. blu
so beached that it could not be go
off. There was noting to do but sci
the ship for scrap iron, old copper