The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1918-09-20

VWCJ improved In England as the strih-
gency Of the shipping shortage be
came greater each month The reason why the
British authorities were not fully equipped 70
raise every ship that was sunk from he very
start of the Is purely commercial Saving
ships costs money. Building new ones costs
money so long as the cost of salvng was equal
or even slightly in excess of the cost OF building
SO long il was not worth the while OF owners TO
order salvage operations-just so long were m
vention and progress in the art or <hivaee Ne
Iayed. When the salving of ships became urgent
in the course of 1916 inventors of new appii
ances and new methods, salvage experts OF many
wears standing set their brains to work, and the
result is that today ships can be raised and re-
paired from positions that two years ago would
have been abandoned hopeless.
As showing how need stimulates Invention.
may instance ii discovery In chemistry which
has proved to be Of the utmost value in salvage
work writes II. c. Ferraby in Country Life. 1t
is obvious that when ship laden with grain.
beef or other perishabe stuffs, gets water-logged
with seawater something very unpleasant is go
ing happen her cargo. In point of fact, II
turns into miniature poson-gas factory. Grain
produces suphuretted hydrogen, and the salvage
who stumble pocket of that In
beached ship would be seized with violent sick
ness, would be partially blinded for some time.
and would turn dull leaden color In the face
Experiment brought antidote to this trouble.
and now the cargo of a ship that is to be salved
can be sprayed with a special solution as soon
as there is any reason to suspect poison gas
This spraying removes all danger.
Salvage work before the purely a
private enterprise. The admiralty had salv-
age branch, and when warships went ashore or
were beached after collision the private firms.
like the Liverpool Salvage association, were
called in. War altered that, like many other
things in the maritime world and today the
whole OF the salvage work around the United
Kingdom is carried out by an admiralty depart
ment. But since the men manning that depart
Lent are, without exception, the former heads
OF the salvage business. the difference Is mainly
in titles and not In methods.
Warship salving is confidential. and the work
done BY the department this direction cannot
be described. Its share in keeping the allies
supplied with merchant ships. however. Is not
secret and the record of work done since Octo-
Der, 1915, is an excellent one, Down to the end
OF 1917 the admiralty salvage section, under the
guidance OF Capt. f. W. Young had rescued go
wrecked mined or torpedoed ships and sent them
In for repairs All that time their experience
was growing New material being built for
The work new Ideas being put into prac-
tical shape. and the result is that the year 1918
mas so far seen remarkable increase in the
number OF ships saved. The figures for the
early part Of this year are: January, IA; Febru-
airy, Al March, 81 April. 36 May. 10 giving a
total of l47. Thus in 81 months 4o7 ships have
been restored to the worlds mercantile tonnage
The Germans count all these and some Of them
twice over. in their calculations of the tonnage
campaign.
Every salvage man will tell you that the only
Nhing certain about Ii Is that you never know
what is going to happen. ship may be ashore
in the simplest position, with just big hole
in her to be patched up, and it looks like a job
that will take few days. In the end you are
perhaps six months hanging around with that
one ship before you can get her to float Wealth
er, tides and the condition of the cargo all play
IA leading part ii. the work The only thing the
salvage man has got to do all the time is to be
patient. That. perhaps. is why they all look SO
tired. Waiting Is weary business.
The weather Is the enemy of salvage
men. 1t Is very nice on fine summers day
stand on the cliffs and look down at the busy
huInming workshops that call salvage steam
ers clustered round wreck that shines red with
rust in the sunlight. The motors of the pumps
drone necessarily. and the great 12-inch pipes
send out cascades of gray water whose stale
scent travels far before it is lost The metal
heiheted divers ciaipoer up and down, sitting
for while in the -,,n to make report of their
progress below. RECEIVING orders for the next
stage, or just resting. II is different when the
southWestery gales blow when rollers pour In
from the Atlantic and pound down lise Naasmyth
hammers on the decks of the wreck. The sal
wage boats and tugs All have to run for shelter
work has to be abandoned and only The still
silent hulk is left to weather the storm So lony
hs she is firmly imbedded in the sand or shinple
however, and there is plenty of water inside her
as wei as outside, II takes good many months
Of storms to knock ship to pieces II is of,en
necessary, in order to save wreck from the
effects of weather. to flood compartments in har
that had remained watertight.
The problem of dealing with the water IN
wrecks and in ships that have been holed but
are stif afoat has been advanced very far towa I'd
solution during the war by the general adoption
Of new British inveption, which has been DO
scribed a. miracle Of modern electrical .engt
neering. Deecr1bed simply, it is an electricaIlv
driven pump which can he entirely submerged
and VIII s. Pump efficiently as ~ II were
above The submersble pump as II Is
called things that ever believed
q pump voad do. 1 saw one in the hold Of
vreck rsctsIy. covered with a black evfsneil-