Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-02-18

Divers, cropping in the dim green
light that filters through a mass OF
broken timbers, twisted iron and up.
rooted piling of ruined drydocK are
today determining the fate of Pearl
Harbor These submarine explorers
are trying TO deduce from conditions
below the surface the real reason for
the chaos that appears above. On
their report depends whether another
effort viii be made to conquer the
treacherous coral beds of the harbo-.
or whether the present plans will be
abandoned and floating drydock sub
Stituted.
Four years of heroic effort were
wiped away at one blow YESTERDAY
while the men who had fought and
seemingly won the hardest engineer
ing fight insthe history Of drydock con-
struction looked on, powerless to save,
and hardly able TO realize the mean
Ing Of the awful havoc that was being
wrought before them. Even today, IN
the light of cool Investigation and
solid engineering knowledge. only one
fact stands out as an absolute ce--
tainty-that where there was a pa1-
italy completed drydock there is now
no drydock; nothing but a huge basin
cluttered with smashed timbers and
overturned machinery.
The One vital Question.
While the total wreck of the dry
dock is an indisputable fact, there is
one point which must be settled before
the navy engineers and the drydock
contractors can turn again to the
fight. That is the actual location and
condition of the bottom under what
was former Section of the false
cribwork. When, Section 2, which was
being pumped, was forced upward by
the pressure of che water below, and
went crashing to destruction, Section
3 sank, and slid seawerd some twenty
feet, pushing the other section before
il toward the outhoard end of the
dock. II this sinking of Section 3 was
due to sudden caying away of the
harbor bottom, the problem of building
q drydock on the present site is prac-
ticaliy hopeless. If, on the other
hand, Section caved in because the
supports were knocked from under it,
there will still be a way to rebuild,
and make the bottom hold.
'We can make no plans until the
divers have made their reports" said
Civil Engineer <. r. Gayler, the navy
engineer in charge of the entire PEAR
Harbor project, as he picked his way
across the floating timbers of Section
3 this morning. "If we find that this
section sank because the bottom slid
away from under it, il looks like &
hopeless job to ever build a drydock
here. IL 1t sank because the props
were knocked from under it, by the
upheaval and breakup of Section 2, il
will show that conditions of the bot
tom are not so bad after all. More
than that | can't say just now. This
is the third and by far the greatest set
back that we have had on this job
and it will take some time to estimate
the real cause and extent of the DAM
age"
Awaiting Further Orders.
This was busy morning at Pear
Harbor, and a discouraging one foi
engineers and contractors However
the work OF salvage has already been
started. and as, the debris is cleared
away, and more extensive tests made
it will. be possible to- see ahead, Nc
definite steps will be taken until in
structions arrive from Washington
which will not be until a full report
4 has been mailed there, and an answer
received. A report of what actually
occurred has been cabled by Admiral
: Cowles, but probably the navy depart
ment will await further cabled details
before sending orders.