The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-06-13
.STILLSON INF|RM
FORMED TO SALVE
CARGOES OF SHIPS
Man In Charge Of Divers Who
Worked On "a Here
Leaves Navy

The IntcrOcean Submarine Engineer
ing Company, Inc, has been inrorp"rnt
ed ut AlDany. 1t has $l25,0UO : per
cent cumulative stock, all paid in, and
10000 shares Of common stock Of Il"
par value. The company = field IL tn"
seven scus, and its purpose is t" rarSr
ships from the Ocean bed or salvage
their contents.
The company will begin work on
ships sunk along the Atlantic seab"urd.
IL successfuI in it's first undertakings
IL will eudcuvor to float or salvNgt the
contents of some of the $3OOOoO,ooO
worth of merchantmen sunk by tn"
German submarines.
Rear-Admtral Is President
The president of the company Is
Rear Admiral Colby Mitchell Chester,
u. s. ~, retired. The principal dnan
cial hackers are George +. Baker,
chairman of the First National Bank :;
Charles Sabin, president of the Guar.
enty Trust Company, Albert II. Wig
gin, president of the Chase National
Bank; Percy A. Rockefeller, and &. NJ.
P. Murphy, vice-president of the Guar
anty Trust Company.
The moving spirit in the rnterprIs"
IL, however, Chief Gunner Georg"
David StilIsOn, T.. =. n, retired, who
was in charge Of the divers who work
ed on the I 4 here. Mr.. StillSOn brings
90 the company practical experience in
Hydraulic engineering, and will prepare
oil the salvage plans and supervise
their execution. He is Vice-prcsident
Of the company. Another retired naval
II 4.
Treasurer.
Start On Ward Liner
Mr.. StIlsOn proposes 10 begin work
at once. he has the precise location of
most of the ships that have gone down
of the Atlantic coast in recent years
and has drawings and plans of many of
these ships together with invoices Of
their contents. For the initial expert.
mont he favors a Ward liner, sunk
or Hattcras in 362 feet Of water, which
is fOrty.four feet less than the depth
from which the FL was raised.
No attempt is to be made to bring
the liner to the surface. But her cargo
includes 500, 900 of silver and $j00,OO0
in other articles which salt water does
not damage. With the money raised
from the sale Of the preferred stock
Mr.. Stillson thinks he can charter Il
ship, get all the needed appliances, and
employ expert divers. From the $780,.
900 to be taken from the liner there
win 60 q small percentage to the under
writer's and the remainder to working
capital which will be used in salvaging
another ship whose contents will sup
ply funds for other ventures and so on.
VI he ~ 10
high enterprise, - said one of the or
ganizers. Gas matter of fact its
praetieability has been demonstrated
by Mr.. Stillson in his work on the F-4
and other underwater business for the
Government. Besides that Mr.. Stillson
has perfected many devices, some of
them protected or to be protected by |
patents, whereby effective work can be |
dVne at greater depts than have been
heretofore deemed attainahlr.
The company will not only raise
the contents of wrecks and in some
cases the wrecks themselves: it pro-
poses also to engage in other marine |
engineering, such as cnisson work and |
tpnnelmg. Mr. StiIson has several
plans for improving tunnel c"nstruc.
tion. OF the practicnbilty of these
plans there is no doubt whatever.
In the beginning the company will !
not undertake work at depths greater
than 300 feet. There Will be plenty |
fJfi il TO do on wrecks living much |
nearer the surface than that. Improve. I
ments in mechanism and in organiZa.
tion may soon lead Us, however, to 90 |
deeper for the treasures that lie at the
bnttOtta of the son Va ,Ir nnt S,,rn,nsn |