The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-17
IRON CATERPILLARS
TO HUNT SEA GOLD
Plans Call for Tanks. to Bur-
row Around Sunken Mer:
cnanJ Ships.
WINGS SET TO LIFT EN-
Prosecutor Told of SIS, 100000
Stock Idea, and Calls Prof.
Get Visionary.

Ina ination, enterprise and spirit OF
adventure. once consecrated to the
search amid coral islands for sunken
Spanish galleons and their cargoes OF
corroded doubloons. are now apparently
being devoted to raising the merchant
ships which settled to the oceans bed
in the course OF the great war.
II even a few OF the hulks can be re-
trieved at no great cost and sent about
the worlds business again there Is
fortune In it. no doubt of that And II
the public can be persuaded to buy stock
OF a corporation with such vision
there's a fortune in that too-for some
body.
Practical saivagers who have studied
the feasibility OF lifting a ship lying
more than 200 feet beneath the surface
most of them lie deeper--say It can't
be done. Meanwhile inventors with I'M
pressive domes are rushing to the Patent
once with plans of new ship raising de-
vices and processes, and here and there
a company is being organized to prove
10 the world that the practical mon are
wrong.
One OF these companies is the United
States Ship Salvage Participating Syndi-
cate of 459 Fifth avenue. An essential
part of it's programme for bringing back
to sunlight ships of the worlds sunken
navies is nothing less than our old friend
the caterpillar tank, which in this case
will become a subterranean creature an"
burrow beneath the keels carrying
cables, so that inflated pontoons or
balloons may be affixed on either side
Of the ship and up she comes.
Prosecutor seeks Information.
To satisfy his curiosity as to the ma
ture of the proposed undertaking Assist
ant District Attorney Kilroe had in his
office yesterday. by invitation, four men
who, he was told, were the projectors
of the syndicate. They were Edward
Radcliffe of 81 West Thirty ninth street,
an actor figuring ip the movie play, The
Fighting Roosevelts." and son-in-law OF
the late Peter De Lacey of race track
fame; Alois P. Saliger of 80 Union
Square East. inventor OF the salvaging
process; r. Barton PERTH OF 4l4 West
.120th street described by Mr.. Kilroe as
the manager OF the New York Worlds
uptown office, although the manager s
first name is Bernard and he lives at
Forest Hills, according to the city direc-
tory, and Frederick S. Mordant OF Hast
ings, n. Y, formerly manager for Ar
thur Lipper & CO.. members OF the New
York Stock Exchange of 81 Exchage
place.
They talked frankly to Mr.. Kllroe and
told him just what they were trying to
do. Mordant and Radcliffe. he said later.
had supplied $4,000 to finance n demon
stration OF the process at the Fifth ave-
nue. Office. 1t was to be shown to friends
and others. and by subscription enough
money was to be collected to enable the
syndicate to go out and actually raise
a full size ship to prove 1t could be done.
Then, according to Mr.. Kilroe. a corpora
ton was to be organized, with 5000, 000
shares of 81 par value each. The in
ventor, Saliger, was to get 100000
shares for his patents, which have been
applied for Mordant was to get 1000
400 shares. Ratcliffe 100000, and PERTH
was TO get 100000 for his services in
bringing the other mer together. The
rest was to be reserved for promotion
purposes. No stock had ever been offered
or sold to the public thus far.
They left with Mr.. Kilroe sketches OF
a ship as 1t would look with their rig.
ging attached. A small caterpillar trac.
tor was burrowing beneath the stern
and rows of partly submerged inflated
air vessels were ranged along the sides
zach pair OF these watervings being con.
nected by a cable passing under the
keel
Tractor to Resist Sea.
The idea apparently was that r
tractor could be built to withstand the
water pressure at a much greater depth
than any diver could work, and. oper
ated electrically by connection with ma.
chinery at the surface, could carry the
ca bles beneath the ship. The submerged
eEd of the cable could then be lifted t.
the surface and the waterwings at
tached.
Mr.. Kiroe's visitors also spoke, h,
said, OF "subsea visionscope." anothe
OF Saliger's contrivances, enabling engi
neers at the surface OF the ocean to Sc,
clearly what was going on at the bottom
and thus to direct the movements o
The caterpillar borer. Self-htting seal
ing patches which would cover any hole
in the hull were also mentioned.
Mr.. Saliger, said Mr.. Kiroe, admitte,
thA he was also the inventor OF tn
secret process which was supposed t
be locked in the safe OF Walter @. Fur
Maid at az Wall street for use by tn
International Marine Salvage Corpora
ton. which the District Attorney starte
investigating a few days ago.
At the end OF yesterdays interview
Mr.. Kiroe thanked his visitors for com
ing. and did not commit himself as t