The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-27

of ships bound In or out of Norfolk or
Newport News. or heading up the hay
or off for the open sea. In short. II II
a point where the mariner must be cx'
tremeiy vigilant especially upon foggy
or stormy nights.
Difficulties of the Task.
| some time after darkness fell on Dee
4. last, the Powhatan c,llided with a
/ Rilt!shcr tanker of Trlmble shoai. and
"A few minutes later sank In water 30
feet deep az high tide. when subse.
quentiy examined II was found that the
tanker had torn hole In the side of the
Powhatan IS feet long and about feet
wide. Not only that. but the bow had
ripped of goodiy section OF the super.
structure ~ housing. carrying away AT
tho rame time the snokcstack.
The ship had all the outward appear
amer of had wreck and her owners
abandoned any idea OF trying TO salve
hcr. She was sold for ssi 900. aud the
Pawhatan Steamship Company. newly
organized bought her as she lay on
! Thlmblo Shoal. The next thins WAS To
try 10 rcflost her. and the contract for
the job was given 20 the Yankee sal
wage Company Of New York.
Tho vessel exposed position consti-
tutcd the main stumbling block For
days al time the heavy ground swclls
swept Over hoe injured body and made II
Impossible for the wrcckcrs To work
at all Again. sudden squalls would
whip the bay into fury " flying spray
and battorlng waves. and send the sal
vors scurfylg 10 shelter behind old
Point Comfort The task they set them
rclves was T. bnild cofferdam upon
the Towha;an's deck so that the sea
water could he kept at hay while the
water inside % the ship was pumped
1ut.
Imagine a sunken upright bottle with
, broken neck and a hole in it, body.
This, in principle. may he said 10 rep.
resent the wrecked steamer. The sal.
vors had two things TO do. First, %
buId up temporary neck 80 that il
would rise clear OF the surface Of the
hay. and then to seal the hole or wound
40 that no more water could leak into
the craft that way.
with these things done. manifestly
the vessel would float II pumped out by
way OF the mGkcshift dock or Golfer.
dam. SO far so good: but the wreckers
were badly hampercI when they made
their first moves to build the frame
work for the coffcrdam.
When the British tanker carried
away the powhatans housing Il ripped
off the points of contact which would
ordinarily provide the holding places
for the coffcrdam structure. The puz
zic was to get footing for the bottles
temporary neck.
The salvage work was under the di-
rection of Captain W. f. Brennan. an
expert wrecker. and II. Reiss. naval
architect Having nothing To rest their
cofferdam on securely the experts de-
tcrmined to span the gap between the
ragged ends of the superstructure or
promenade deck BY means Of long tim
bcrs. square in section, and thus TO form
flying supports for the rectangular
watertight wall Of planking 10 be built
upon the submerged deck
Divers Battle Wit, Sea.
Theoretically the solution or the
problem was admirable. but execution
was made difficult by the elements.
Time after time the ponderous tim
would send the waters rushing across
the gap and sweep away the beams
like SO many matches. Not only that.
but the resultant wreckage would be
in such II tangle that ii would some
times take days after to clear it away
and make ready to DO the work over
afresiG
The mere springing Of the timbers
across the gap in the ruptured struc-
ture was but part of the job. In order
to hold the beams down and to steady
the associate framework, IL was neces-
sary to make some sort of union with
tho underlying fabric Of the steamship,
even though the mental partswere torn
or fractured This, after a great deal
OF labor and ticklish work on the part
of divers, was accomplished by means Of
tie rods placed wherever they could OBJ /
tain a sure grip.
IL is safe to say that never before
was a big cofferdam held in place after |
the fashion described. and the results I
speak volumes for Yankee resourceful- |
ness. With the framework in place. it /
was comparatively easy task to rear
the watertight wooden walls of the dam |
and To St1len Lnefn so tfdl lutS cOulu Z
withstand the compressive force Of the .
putlayine sea water when the water |
within was being lowered by the pumps. I
When complete the cofferdam mea- ,
sured around all four sides iS0 feet and /
was 13 feet high. That is to say, its
two long sides We're each 200 feet In |
length and the width of the two short
sides was 40 feet, corresponding to the
beam of the vessel.
Because Of the interfering sea and |
weather. II took six weeks to build the
cofferdam and then, with that task |
safely behind them. the salvors next !
tackled the hole in the side and covered ,
IL with a watertight wooden patch. I
Again. this gave the divers plenty to /
do. but after something like a weeks |
labor the wound was securely covered 4
In the meanwhile powerful pumps
had been put in position and made /
ready for the final effort. Just two /
months after the work was begun the J
pumps were started. II was necessary
to drain the whole ship to obtain the 4
desired buoyancy. one hour after the
cot "a, hn oh