The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1919-02-20
with smaller craft, such as sunken
submarines and destroyers, but ire
ouently with big ships as well.
Tidal Waters Help.

submarines and destroyers, but ire
Guently with big ships as we'll
Tidal Waters Help.
OF course, in tidal waters the PROB
lem is an easier one. Full use is made
of the natural rising and falling Of
the waters, the wrecks being moved
by stages along the bottom until they
have been gotten close enough in
shore so that at low tide they are ex-
posed and salvage men may get at
their wounds to patch them. There
after. with their hulls patched, they
are pumped out, floated and towed
into the nearest dockyard.
Another discovery which Is revo-
utionizing salvage work is the dis
covery of gas to counteract the gas
es generated by certain forms of rot
ting cargo. Salvage men have lost
their lives through being overcome
by the accumulation of gases in the
hold of a sunken ship, owing to the
decomposition of vegetable matter oy
the action of sea, by the decay or
meat. etc. The gases arising from
grain, give especially deal OF trou-
BILE. Grain under sea water developes
sulphuretted hydrogen which causes
semi-blindness and violent sickness,
and turns everything a leaden color.
A chemist has, however, made an ex-
traordinary discovery during the war,
which kills these gases Immediately,
and salvage men are now able to car
ry on their work freely as soon as
the presence of the gases has been
discovered and the rotting cargoes
have been sprayed with this prepara-
tion.
British Admiralty Has Salvaged 400
Ships.
Much has already been written on
the work which has been done to date
by the British admiralty's salvages
department in the recovery of sunk
en- ships. Since October 1915, some
400 ships OF over 1900 tons each,
have been salvaged and taken to re-
pairing yards, where they have been
refitted and put into commission.
Many a ship which the Germans have
sunk is now plowing the seas as re-
suit of the skill and daring of the
admiralty's salvage men.
Salvage under private auspices al
ter the declaration of peace, however,
is expected to outshine in daring ev-
en- the most brilliant Of the admiral
tvs feats. In the great hidden-treas-
ure hunt rivalry between salvage
firms is expected completely to
eclipse the very biggest undertakings
of the past. Mammoth fortunes will
be dug up from the bottom OF the
seas, and the salvage workers Will
share in the spoil. Divers who, OF
late years, have been earning any
where from 35 to 500 dollars a week,
while working on big and risky job,
will easily eutstrip their previous rec"
ords. So keen will be be the competi-
tion for experienced men that expert
divers will command their own prices.
Many romantic tales have already
been told of the expedients resorted
to by ship salvages, but in the next
three or four years they will all be
beaten. 1t is probable that except for
salvage operations close in under the
coasts of England, the great treasure
hunt will not get under way before
next spring. 1t is expected then 10
center for time in the North Sea
"the North Sea is the center Of every
thing in this war!"
The North Sea is shallow puddle
and as soon as the mine fields which
cover it has been swept up, it ought
to be dotted with salvage outfits.
have seen an admiralty map of the
wrecks in the North Sea. Wrecks are
marked in little red dots upon the
maps, and they cover the North Sea
like the freckles on farmer boys
face. Sweeping up the mine fields in
the North Sea will not be weekend
Job, however, and it will be late in
the spring before the North Sea will
be safe for wreckers to work in. Even
then they will be armed with machine
guns to sink wandering mines. Prob
ably ships crossing the North Sea will
be armed with machine guns for
twenty years. 1 have heard more
than one naval officer declare that
he doesn't expect to live to see the
old North Sea free Of mines.