Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1918-09-26

raise every ship that sunk from the very
start of the is purely commercial. Salving
ships costs money. Building new ones costs
money. So long the of salving equal
or even slightly in of the cost of building.
long it not worth the while of owners to
order salvage operations-just SO long were in
vention and progress In the of salvage de
Iayed. When the saIving of ships became urgent
in the 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
paired from positions that two years ago would
have been abandoned hopeless.
AS showing how need stimulates invention, i
may instance discovery in chemistry which
has proved be of the utmost value salvage
work, writes HI. 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 to happen to her cargo. In point of fact. it
turns miniature poison-gas factory. Grain
produces suphuretted hydrogen, and the salvage
men who stumble pocket of that in a
heached ship would be seized with violent sick
ness would be partially blinded some time
and would turn dull Ieaden the face
Experiment brought antidote this trouble
and now the cargo of ship that is to be salved
can De sprayed with special solution
as there is any to suspect poison gas
This spraying removes all danger
Salvage work before the war was purely a
private enterprise The admiralty had no saly-
age branch. and when warships went ashore or
were beached after collision the private firms
IKE the Liverpool Salvage association
caiieo H. War altered that, like many other
Things in the maritime world, and today the
whole of the salvage work around the United
hlnsdom is carried out by admiralty depart
ihent- But SINCE the men manning that depart
lent are, without exception. the former heads
VI .ne savage business. the difference is mainly
in titles and not in methods.
Warship salving is confidential and the work
zone Dy the department in this direction cannot
oe described. Its share in keeping the allies
euppneo with merchant ships, however. is
secret and the record of work done since Octo-
Der, 1915. is excellent one. Down to tbe end
or 1917 the admiralty salvage section under the
euiuahce OF Capt F. w. Young. had rescued 26O
wrecked mined or torpedoed ships and sent them
IN Tor repairs. All that time their experience
was growing New material was being built for
.ne work, new ideas were being put into prac-
,icai shitpe, and the result is that the wear 1918
nus SO Iar seen remarkable increase in the
nuiioer OF ships saved. The figures for the
carry part OF this year are: January, IA; Febru-
airy, IL; March. 81; April. Sc; May 10: giving
total of 141. Thus in 81 months 4O7 shps have
been restored to the worlds mercantile TONNAGE
me Germans count all these and some of them
twice over in their calculations of the tonnage
loss inflicted the allies by the Submarine
campaign.
Every salvage man will tell Won that tbe only
thing certain about it is that you never know
what is going to happen. A ship NAV be ashore
In the simplest position, with Just one big hole
IN ner TO De patched up. and it looks like job
'hat VIII take few days. In the end you are
perhaps. six months hanging around with that
one snip before you can get her to float Wealth
er. tides and the condition of the cargo all nlav
leauing part in the work. The only thing the
savage 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
8 Ihe weather Is the enemy of salvage
tuen. IL Is very nice on fine summers day TO
stand on the cliffs and look down at tha husv
RUNNING 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 12incb mines
send out cascades of gray water whose stale
scent travels far before it is lost. The neral
heimeted divers Chamber up and down sitt;n, S
Tor a while in the sun to make report of tboS-
progress below. receiving orders for tbe naxt
stage. or just resting. 1t is different when the
southwesterly gales blow. when rollers rsour q,
from the Atlantic and pound down like Naasmvth
hammers on the decks of the wreck The sal
wage boats and tugs all have run for shelter
work has to he abandoned, and only the sin
silent hulk is left to weather the storm s., 49,,
as she is firmly Embedded in the sand or sbngIe
however. and thsre is plenty of water inside har
as well as outside il takes a good MANY ,,,or,,.
or storms to knock ship pieces It Is oft,,
necessary. In order to wreck from The
enecfs OF weather. to flood compartments in ber
that had remained watertight.
The problem of dealing with the xrat.- a.,
wrecks and in ships that have been b,,a, -.
are still a1oat has been advanced very far fow.rs
soiution during the war by the general adoption
or new British invention. which, has neon T.
scribed as miracle of modern electri,,,, e,.i
neer1ng Described simply 1t is an el.erri,-,irv
driven pump which he entirely suhn,.r,.-,
and will stir pump efficiently as If II vrero
above wafer. The submersible pump as II is
called. does things that one ever believed
pump could do one in the hold Of n
wreck recently. covered with black. evtl-smeu