Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-08-03
Work for the Salvors
BY Frederic I. Haskin

err plant which supplied the town with
electric light, and was otherwise USE
full. Just about the time the Sesostris
had become an important part of the
municipal life Of Ocos. another salvage
company came along and succeeded In
floating the vessel.
Daring and hard work are the two
qualities that count in salvage. It is
a good business for a man that Is not
afraid to take chance, and Is very
hard to discourage. That kind of a
man was w. H. Johnson, plumber
living in Boston, Mass. When he
heard that a ship and cargo worth
100000 which had gone down off the
Maine coast was to be sold at auction
he decided to go up and have look at
it. Having looked, he attended the
auction and bought the ship for 5000,
which shows that nobody else wanted
her. w. II. Johnson, however, organ
lied salvage company Of his own,
despite the fact that she was nearly
broken In two, and patched her up IN
his own leisure. He can now sell the
vessel for 100000 any time he wants
to-; but owing to the high freight rates
that prevail, he prefers to keep her
himself. 41 sa @
There was no treasure in that ven
ture either. It was case of save the
hull, or lose the investment, for the
cargo was not bullion. but potatoes and
paper, neither OF which things stand
salt water well. ~
Methods of salvage have improved
during the last few years, and with
the seabottom strewn with valuable
wrecks, the next few years will doubt
less see still further progress. One OF
the most ingenious devices that has
been built recently is the invention OF
William B. Sisson of Los Angeles,
California. 1t consists essentially Of a
system Of magnets and alright pom
toons, by which the ship is foated to
the surface.
The outfit includes tender ship, a
number of pontoons and a diving bell,
which is equipped with propellers.
searchlights, telephone, four great
magnets, and steel drill with motor
to run it.
This bell is sphere eight feet In
diameter, which carries two men. De
scending into the water on the end OF
a. long cable, it is able to travel about
in wide circles, by means of its pro-
pellers, to rise and descend and to
search the depths over a wide radius
with it's giant searchlights.
When the wreck has been accurately
located, the bell returns to the surface
for one of the pontoons. This Is a
metal cylinder, ten feet by thirty,
equipped with pump and two mag
nets. The cylinder is filled with water
so that it will sink, and is carried
down by the bell to the side of the
ship, where it clings by means Of its
great electromagnetic like great bar.
nacle. The bell then returns to the
surface for another pontoon and con
tinues to bring them until enough have
been attached to the ship to lift 1t.
Holes are now drilled through the
steel plates Of the ship by the electric
/ drill in the bell, great hooks are in
serted in It's sides, and these are chain
ed to the pontoons. Now the water is
pumped out of them, the power to op.
crate the pumps coming from the ten.
der ships by means of cable. Being
thus an approximate vacuum, each
pontoon becomes very light, and the
united upward lift carries the ship to
the surface.
It is believed that with this appar.
atus ships will be successfully raised
from very deep waters. 1t is probable
| that few valuable bulls will escape the
army of salvors that will-sail the seas
after the war. t.