Norwich bulletin., 1919-11-15
SALVAGE WORK OF THE BRITISH NAVY

caught fire and was scuttled and in l the absence Of captstans on the quayi arrangements were made for disen- gagged railway engines to haul the wreck upright.
 Four engines were straining at the Onward simultaneously, but after alrl this expenditure Of effort and inge- nuity when ahe was lowed round to the Thames she was reported upon as not worth conditioning.
 During one, of the pushes" on the. Western front, when Boulogne har7, bor was a vital link in the line of communication, ?. for receiving men and munitions-a grain ship, the Araby, grounded in the fairWay and broke her back.
 The salvage fleet promptly cut her in halves and brought them across to England thus clearing what might have proved disast obstruction in the way Of q projected attack. The opinion in the navy is that the
 Germans would have poured out CO., lossal wealth to introduce this block. In the case of the Laurentic, from which bullion valued a5 G1,9O0, ,000 ] was recovered by divers working at a depth of g fathoms, the strong rooms | in which the bars of gold were locked 1 had to eb forced with explosives and i the ensuing debris removed.
 i It has happened that after weeks 1 of arduous' labor a vessel has been l refloated with the standard patch mot unlike the lid of the TO-! top 1 desk is the description of it-appIied
 t othe gaping wound inflicted by tor
 pedo or mine, and has been towed to within few miles of the repair yards when disaster has again over | taken her.
 One such ship, duly patched, after
 salvage on this side was sent to
 America to relieve the pressure oh our own dockyards, and when nearly
 across the Atlantic she was torpedoed
 again. Another ship, salved and 1 patched on the East Coast. was sent round to the west for repair, and when nearing harbor received a tor tpedo on the side opposite the patch she later, however, remaining in po- sition.
 To offset this there is long list, oi
 successes. A convoy of three mer- chantmen and two destroyers, sailing from Liverpool, ran into a heavy fog
 of Ireland four of them within a
 and grounded off the northeast coas radius or han a mile.
 i Salvage craft were hurried to the spot and the whole convoy was re-
 fioated in ten days. Ingenuity ac-
 counted in part for the swiftness se- cured, for destroyers were employed tt
 race around the water at top speed
 anda so to create a wash in which ont
 or two of the stranded vessels slid off
 Similar methods were used to re
 float the U. s. Transport Narragan sett, which stuck on the Bembridg Ledge, Isle of Wight, and was in dan ger of breaking her back.
 , = One, of the smartest pieces of sal wage, linked with seamanship, relate to U-boat. with a displacement 0 roc tons, which was sunk 30 miles of : the Tyne The department was or dered to bring her into dock for ex r animation, with a view to obtainin l information concerning enemy design
 plans
 l. Divers located the wreck, passe, l lifting wires under her which in tur s were attached to a lighter, and tn t whole was taken in tow and brougb :, to the mouth of the Tyne. Here : four hours wait occurred, durin
 which the submarine slipped from tn I wires. But again she was praggled u i and brought into harbor >. 1 Gathering of intelligence from sunk a en U-boatS was a recognized functio }. of the salvage section. When tn e armisice was signed the departmer y was engaged in raising a U-boat tha : had become entangled in our defens ,, nets and had touched off mine an 0 gone to the bottom.
 The diver who descended for tn a examination and to secure any secre t papers and documents she might ear e ry, found that the crew consisted CT e l tirely of German officers. Protruo t ing through a hatchway were a pa : of hands, in the lifeless fingers ! e which were clutched the documents | n sought. When death came, tht q member of the crew was endeavorin
 to cast adrift the secret orders for u e submarines last hope" cruise.