Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-06-17
RAISING OF :
: WARSH|P Maine
Noted Diver Claims Il will Be
a Stupendous Job.
LIES INAMASS OF STICKY MUD

Captain Sorcho, Who Recovered One
Hundred and Thirty two Bodies From
the Warship sunken Many Feet In
Havana Harbor, Tells Of the Diff
eultiss to Be Overcome.
'"They may be able to raise the
Maine, but it's going to be a darn
tough job" said Captain Louis Sorcho,
the great deep sea diver, who was one
Of the eight chosen by the United
States government to go down in the
wreck of that i'll fated man-of-war i'm
mediately after it was blown up in
Havana harbor on Feb. Is, 1898.
"Havana harbor has no cleansing
tide. merely rise and fall. 1t is like
huge basin. with a big niche on the
side of the rim, through which the wa
ter comes in and runs out. Now, the
bottom of the harbor, because of this,
Is mass of mud. and as the refuse and
dirt of the city are emptied here to
great extent and there is no current to
$arry the filth away the stuff settles at
the bottom. TO Judge how bad the
condition of the bottom of Havana har-
Dor is call attention to the fact that
ships are not allowed to anchor there,
buoys being provided. for if boat
were to drop its mud hook when it was
pulled up it would stir up such muss
that probably the way would be paved
for an epidemic.
"Just as soon as we were dressed In
our divers suits and had made sure
of our air pumps we went over the
side and down into the blacklist water
/ have ever worked in during all the
years have been a diver.
In Mud to His Shoulders.
1.-THE depth where the Maine lies IS
thirty-one feet and the pressure Of
water to the square inch about twelve
pounds. As soon as reached the bot
tom l was up to the shoulders in that
awful sticky mud. 1t was impossible
to see anything in that water. Ev-
erything depended on the divers sense
of touch. Although we were equipped
with the submarine lights, they were
useless. and we abandoned these after
the first trip down. Our first duty was
to get the bodies, and most of these
were in the berth deck, forward. 1t
was an awful task. l believe l recov-
cred 1872.
Il will not attempt to say whether
the explosion was from the inside or
outside, but do know that everything
was pointing upward as if the force
was from directly underneath. 1t must
have been terrible, for things were
blown all out Of shape.
I'VE worked in the Maine nineteen
days. and during that time we noticed
that she sank several feet deeper in
the mud. So you can imagine how
much she has settled by this time. 1t
has been estimated that the vessel
rests in eighteen feet of mud, and it
is going to be job to lift the Maine
out Of it.
UbVO VvdyS 10 U0V00 0uIPs
There are five ways which can be
employed to raise the warship. The
first is with steel pontoons and
chains, but how are they going to
pass the chains under the bottom?
You can't tunnel through mud as you
can through sand. If they should sue
coed in fastening the chains to the
sides and then harness on the steel
pontoons the lifting will be unequal.
another way would be with air
bags. One Of the faults In this sys-
TEN is the absence Of q valve to reg
ulate the air pressure to equalize it
with that Of the water.
Cofferdam Method.
"Another method is that Of Golfer
dams. Either the dams are built in
side the ship, the holes patched and
the water pumped out or else they are
built all around the vessel and the
pumps set to work. As it seems i'm
possible to get at the hole in the
Maine, the second method would be
the one used. and I don't see how it
can be done. First you must get a
firm bottom to hold it on, and the rails
ers would have to drive the whole of
that dam through that eighteen feet or
more of mud and then not be certain
as to what they would find underneath.
The pressure at the depth to which
the Maine lies is nearly twelve pounds
to the square inch, and so each square
foot Of the dam when the water was
pumped out from inside it would be
subject to a pressure Of about 1,72S
pounds. Unless it was well braced it
could not withstand it, and there is
apparently no way that braces can be
placed so as to hold 1t.
"But let us suppose that this way is
, n on6 tho for vIrrnnoH O11f