The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-20
THE LIFE OF 1.-THE WRECKER' It Is One of Most Dan gerous Profession. FROM .DAvY JONES LOCKER Modern Methods Applied in the
 Work. The Pay i'm the Work is Not Larse' But the Element of Work IS
 Attractive--'waiking
 shsp to Hex Cablss."
FROM ..DAvY JONES LOCKER"


 New York, Dec 19.-honolng Dasy z. Ionss Iocker-that is, the business ot tss .l secker. whose profession IS Se onca most romantic, the most tnrhl, t the most dangerous or eh ,s,c,, .ra piled on the Seven Seas. t.t. nart 1t Is to rescue ships Wnicn have been wrecked, sunken. or peacncu bv the storms which they onoouneea, , and to bring to profitable service onco more the vessels at which the ocean has grasped. His 1t is to grappie Waeh and thwart Father Neptune.
 Hundreda of thousands of persons throughout the country have read, TOT instance, of the recent wreck oL t ne United States cruiser Yankee on es rrsa and criekens reef on the Cape TSod ahora. To null her from the rocks oy, which she was impaled, the Govern ment has spent over $200.o0o only % saa fha vessel once saved, turn turtle ana stnl< thus necessitating raising ner again. So much the puba knoWs' But of the men who snatcneo tn.s sss eel and who annually snatch shouss ands of vessels from the devouring Tnaw of the ocean, and of tn cir pro- fession, not one person in l0,OOV knoWs.
 Alone every mile of the thoussnds m fine coast line of this country At lantic, Gulf and Pacific. the wreckeE IS plying his romantic profession.
 
 known, of all marine trades. Eors.ns shipwrecker has a profession which he carries out on the wrecking amp where he lives. What his career IS, tts dangers and work, and described by A. W. Rolker in Appleton's Masa- zine.
 "rhe career of the shipwrecker. says MT. Rolker. consists of series of hardships and adventures and ac- cidents and narrow ecapes from the first days he enIists with big wreckfng 2 company up to the time he Is brought ashore from tie grim ship he calls shorne', crippled or fatally injured. Of all me professions that demand heavy toll of human. life, nonef not even mining or powder making, Is as dan srarous aa the one of these Wreckers. Every year these daring men who brave storm and wave and tempest to save the stranded liner 70 raiss the sunken ocean greyhound, 10 res cue the ship impaled upon rocks, and' if nothing else. to salYe what valuable cargo may be removed from helpless wrecks. meet death by the score. Many of them, exposed often for days ana nights to the icy blasts of winter seas fo driving bIizzards and to drenchtng storms that bite to the marrow, suc- cumb to pneumonia. Others, at work on pitching, tossing barges. have legs or arms shattered during the risky operations of removing masts or of siinging wrecking pumps. or otner castings that weigh tons. Others nave hands or feet so dreadfully frozen that they must be amputated- And still others are wiped out of existtnce after suffering hours of untold agony and exposure before the eyes of their help less comrades"
 How human creatures may be in- duced to accept such a life Of hard shin and to take the risks of working in profession where it is almost nothing but a mere question of time before they look mutilation or har- rowing death in the face. seems no less than a psychological problem. Stil1. despite the fact that the wages of the average wrecker are not more than he can earn as sailor before the mast, none of the big wrecking companies even runs short of good men. The very danger and the very excitement of juggling with death lures strong men into the wrecking crews just as it lures thousands to en- list in regiments during time of war, just as 1t lures men to risk burial alive within the shield of an under river tunnel Like these tunnelers, the wrecker has long since ceased to think of the chances he is taking. He has risked so often and has come out of tiGA { places so successfully that he begins kto regard the danger of his work as a mere everyday affair. and when once in a while he Is jolted to the soul by seeing his comrades per ish miserably before his eyes, even then to his unimaginative brain there seems no extraordinary chance of dan ger.
 Of what type of men do these wreck Ing crews consist? Of several distinct types; in general, of the sort born to live by unconquerable elements, men who sometimes for months live togeth- CT aboard wrecking schooner without setting foot on shore; men who would not close an eye in a decent bed for want of the feel of a pitching, plunging board bunk beneath them.
 what it means to salve a wreck" :" continues The Appleton article, zig something that few outside of practical seamen can properly appreciate. The wreck Is a ponderous, unwieldly noun tain of steel and oak, weighing between three thousand and twelve thousand tons. often dangerous for any vessel to approach, and this must be lifted bod ily and floated from the decks of pitch ing. unstable scows and barges. The wreck may be submerged beneath fif- teen or thirty feet of water and so stove in that divers must go down and effect temporary repairs before it can be raised. IL may bS a WAVCA So SAloe- tered that it is not worth raising so that the wreckers' work consists mere ly In blowing up thee hulk and remov- ing 1t as a menace to navigation. Or, the vessel may be fairly intact but sunk too deep to make attempt at raising advisable, the wreckers work consist ing in salving valuable cargo Often, inc wreck is one not submerged at all. A shin may have run on to reef where if lies, nose on a crag and stern afoat. rising and falling on the ocean swell. bounding and pounding and pounding, until the very ocean bottom drones and she is gradually broken to pieces"
 How the Yankee Lay.
 It was thus that the Yankee lay, with her bow fast on rock Into her stern was poured a thousand barrels of ce- Tnent in the hope that it's weight might lift the forward part of the vessel clear of the rock on which 1t was tm-