Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1918-09-19

raise every ship that sunk from the very
start of the war is purely commercial Salvng
ships costs money. Building new costs
money. SO long as the cost of salving was equal
or even slightly in excess of the cost of building,
80 long it not worth the while of owners to
order salvage opcratiOns-just SO long were In
vcniOn and progress in the art of salvage de-
layed. When the salving of ships became urgent
In the course of 1916 inventors OF appli-
ances and new methods salvage experts Of many
years standing set their brains to work. and the
result is that today ships be raised and
puired from positions that two years ago would
have been abandoned as hopeless.
AS showing how need stimulates invention !
mny instance a discovery in chemistry which
has proved to be of the utmost value in salvage
work. writes ii. G. Ferraby in Country Life. It
Is obvious that when ship, laden with grain,
beef, or other pershabe stuffs, gets water-logged
with seawater, something very unpleasant is 60
Ing to happen to her cargo. In point of fact, 1t
turns into miniature poison-gas factory. Grain
produces suphuretted hydrogen, and the salvage
men who stumble on pocket of that in
5eached ship would be seized with violent sick
ness would be partially blinded for some time
and would turn a dull euden color in the face.
Experiment brought an lntdote to this trouble,
ana now the cargo of ship that is to be saved
can be sprayed with special solution as soon
as there is any reason to suspect poison gas.
This spraying removes all danger.
Salvage work before the war was purely n
private enterprise. The admiralty had no salv-
age branch, and when warships went ashore or
were beached after collision the private firms,
IKE the Liverpool Salvage association, were
called In War altered that, like many other
ahlhgs In the maritime world and today the
Whoie OF the salvage work around the United
hhgdom Is carried out by an admiralty DEPART
1nent. But since the men manning that depart-
Lent are, without exception, the former heads
VI .ne salvage business the difference is mainly
IN titles and not in methods
"arshlp salving is confidential, and the work
uohe by the department in this direction cannot
lie described Its share in keeping the allies
supplied with merchant shps. however is NOT
secret and the record of work done since Octo-
DER I9lo, is an excellent one Down to the end
vi i9l' inc admiralty salvage section under the
guidance of Capt. Il. w. Young, had rescued 26O
wrecked, mined or torpedoed ships and sent them
:" lor repairs. All that time their experience
was growing. New material was being built for
the WORK, new ideas were being put into prac.
tlcal shape, and the result is that the wear 1918
mas so FAR seen remarkable increase i'm the
number OF ships saved. The figures for the
early part of this year are january IA: Febr,-
afy' 81 March, 81; April SO; May, 10; giving
.ot''i OIL l4'. Thus in 30 months 4O7 ships have
been restored to the worlds mercantile TONNAGE
The Germans count all these and soma of +ben,
twice over, IN their calculations of the tonnage
loss inflicted on the allies by the submarine
campaign.
Every salvage man will tell you that the only
tiihs certain about it is that you never know
what Is going to happen. shin NAV he ashore
in the simplest position, with lust one hp hole
IN her to be patched up, and 1t looks like 81 iob
that VIII take Il few days. In the end Won ore
PERHAPS SIX months hanging around with that
one snip before you can get her to float Weath.
ef, tldes ana the condition Of the cargo all play
ieadlhg part in the work. The only thing the
has to, 10
patient. That perhaps, is why they all look so
tired. Waiting is weary business
Inc weather Is the worst enemy of salvara
men. IL Is very nice on q fine summers day to
stand on the cliffs and look down ot the husv
1umming workshops that we call salvage steam
ers clustered round wreck that shines red with
rust In the sunlight. The motors of tho nrn,n.
drone necessarily, and the great 12-inch nine.
send out cascades of gray water whose stale
scent travels far before it Is lost The metal
Aeiheteu dlVers Chamber up and down. sitting
'or a while IN the sun to make report of their
progress below, receiving orders for the noxt
stage or just resting 1t is different when the
eouthMester,y gales blow, when rollers pour in
from the Atlantic and pound down like Naasmvth
hammers on the decks of the wreck Tho sn1
wage boats and tugs all have to run for shelter
WORK mas TO De abandoned, and only the still
silent hulk is left to weather the storm. 81 1ono
as she Is firmly imbedded in the sand or sb;nola
however and there is plenty of water inside her
as well as outside, 1t takes good MANY mo,ths
OF storms to knock ship to pieces. II ia ofton
necessary, in order to save a wreck from tho
enects OF weather. to flood compartments IN hoe a
that had remained watertight. 80 "ef
me problem of dealing with the woter T.,
wrecks ks, and in ships that have been holed hit
sun anoat mas been advanced very far toward
solution during the war by the general a,nr t,or
OF new British invention, which hos hoa1 sa
scribed as miracle of modern electrical so us
neering. Described simply 1t is an eiectr,c0i,,,
uriven pump which can be entirely submerged
and Will stilr pump efficiently as II It were
above water: The submerslble pump. as It is
calleo. ooes things that no one ever believed
pump could do. saw one In the hold ~ =
wreck recently. covered with a black, evil-smeli.