Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-09-27

yNHHJ improved In England as the strln-
gency OF the shipping shortage be-
came greater each month. The reason why the
British authorities were not fully equipped to
raise ev>~y ship that was sunk from the very
start of ne war Is purely commercial. Salving
ships costs money. Building costs
money. So long the cost Of salvng was equal
or even slightly In excess of the cost of building,
30 long II was not worth the while OF owners to
order salvage operations-just so long were in
vention and progress In the art OF salvage de-
ayed When the salving Of ships became urgent
I'm the course of 1916 inventors of new appll-
ances and new methods, salvage experts Of many
years 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 as hopeless.
As showing how need stimulates invention, l
may instance discovery In chemistry which
has proved to be Of the utmost value in salvage
work. writes ii. Q. Ferraby in Country Life. II
is obvious that when ship. laden with grain.
beef or other perishable stuffs gets water-logged
with seawater, something very unpleasant Is GO
ing to happen to her cargo. In point of fact, II
turns into miniature pois&n-gas factory. Grain
produces suphuretted hydrogen, and the salvage
men who stumble on pocket of that In n
beached ship would be seized with violent sick
ness, would be partially blinded for some time.
and would turn dull eaden color In the face
Experiment brought antdote to this trouble
and now the cnsgo of a ship that is to be salved
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 q
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
caiieu In. War altered that like many other
things In the maritime world. and today the
, wno'e OF the salvage work around the United
Alngdom 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
Warshp saving is confidential and the work
done by the department In this direction cannot
De 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 26O
wrecked, mined or torpedoed ships and sent them
IL Tor repairs. All that time their experience
was growing. New material was being built for
the work, new ideas were being nut into prac-
tical shape. and the result Is that the year 1918
mas SO Tar 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, &c. May 10; giving a
total of 147 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
loss inflicted on the allies by the submarine
campaign.
Every salvage man will tell you that the only
thing certain about 1t Is that you never know
what is going to happen. A ship may be ashore
In the simplest position, with just one big hole
In her to be patched up and II 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
a leading part In the work. The only thing the
salvage man has got to do all the time is to be
patent That perhaps, Is why they all look so
tired. Waiting is weary business.
The weather is the worst enemy of salvage
men. 1t Is very nice on n fine summers day to
stand on the cliffs and look down at the busy
humming workshops that we call salvage ste.m.
clustered round IA wreck that shines red with
rust In the sunlight. The motors of the pumps
drone necessarily, and the great l2-inch pipes
send out cascades of gray water whose stale
scent travels far before II Is lost The metal.
hemeted divers Chamber up and down sitting
for a while In the sun TO make report OF their
progress below, receiving orders for the next
stage, or just resting. 1t is different when the
southwesterly gales blow, when rollers pour I'm
from the Atlantic and pound down like Naasmytb
hammers ON the decks of the wreck. The sal-
wage boats and tugs all haze TO run for shelter
work has to be abandoned. and only the sim
silent hulk is left to weather the storm So long
as she is firmly imbedded In the sand or shlngle
however and there Is plenty OF water inside her
as wen as outside, II takes a good many months
OF storms to knock ship to pieces II Is often
necessary. In order TO save u wreck from the
effects of weather, to food compartments in her
that had remained watertight.
The problem Of dealing with the water I'm
wrecks and In ships that have been holed but
are still ahoat has beeo advanced very far toward
solution during the war by the general adon,Ion
OF new British invention. which has been de-
scribed as miracle OF modern electrical engi.
neering. Described simply, II is an electrically
driven pump which can he entirely submerged
and VIII stir pump as efficiently as II 1t were
above wa'er' The submersible pump. as It Is
called things that one ever believed
a pump could do. l saw In the hold of a
wreck recently. covered with black, evil-smeIi.