IMPROVEMENTS IN RECOVERING SUNKEN SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN APPARATUS RELATING THERETO
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of
France, and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RECOVERING SUNKEN SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN APPARATUS RELATING
THERETO."-A communication from Ernest Bazin, residing at Rue de
Provence, Paris.
Sealed the 22nd September 1866, and dated the 29th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1866.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
24, Rue da Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester
Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RECOVERING
SUNKEN SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN THE APPARATUS RELATING THERETO," commu-
nicated to me by Ernest Bazin, a person residing at Rue de Provence, Paris,
aforesaid, to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the recovery of sunken ships or vessels.

page_text: It consists in employing for raising the sunken mass a kind of gigantic cast
net previously spread out upon the water by means of a flexible tube supporting
its edges and filled with air, so that water being allowed to enter it sinks.
The centre or head of this net passes through a sheet iron buoy, which is
made to sink down on to the submerged ship by allowing a suitable quantity
of water to enter it, and then lightened by pumping in air when the net has
been made fast to it. This latter having enveloped the ship in its folds is
with the latter brought to the surface. In order to raise the ship quite out
of the water a raft composed of sheet-iron tubes connected together by suitable
beams is passed under it. Water is allowed to enter the tubes until they
sink just under the ship, and then air is pumped into them until the wreck is
quite emerged.
It will be easily understood that the water-tight hollow cylinders aforesaid
may be more or less submerged by partly filling them with water, and that
this water being driven out by pumping air into them they may easily be
brought to the surface of the water, and thus raise the wreck,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should in any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RECOVERING SUNKEN SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN THE APPARATUS RELATING

page_text: THERETO," a communication from Ernest Bazin, a person residing at Rue de
Provence, Paris aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :—
This Invention has for object the recovery of sunken ships or vessels. It
consists in employing for raising the sunken mass a kind of gigantic cast net,
previously spread out upon the water by means of a flexible tube filled with
air supporting its edges, and held together by pieces of rope, so that when
these are cut the net sinks. The centre or head of this net passes through a
sheet-iron buoy, which is made to sink down on to the submerged ship by
allowing a suitable quantity of water to enter it, and then lightened by pumping
in air when the net has been made fast to it. This latter having enveloped
the ship in its folds is with the latter brought to the surface. In order to
raise the ship quite out of the water a raft composed of sheet-iron tubes
connected together by suitable beams is passed under it; by allowing water to
enter the tubes until they sink just under the ship, and then pumping air into
them till the wreck is quite emerged. It will be easily understood that the
water-tight hollow cylinders aforesaid may be more or less submerged by partly
filling them with water, and that this water being driven out by puniping air
into them, they may casily be brought to the surface, and thus raiso the
wreck.
In order that the said Invention may be more fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 is a view of the net spread out on the surface of the water by means
of an air-tight tube, to which it is made fast; Figure 2 is a view in elevation
of the whole apparatus, by means of which the vessel is lifted from the bottom
of the water; Figure 3 is a view in elevation of the net, the lower portion of
which is seen as it passes through the chimney and buoy; Figure 4 is a

page_text: longitudinal view in elevation of the lifting buoy with superincumbent air-
tight floating buoy; Figure 5 is a section in elevation of the same by the
line A, B, of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a plane of the same.
Figure 7 is a magnified portion of the tube and the edge of the net, showing
how they are joined together; Figure 8 is a magnified section of the chimney;
Figure 9 is a side view of the raft submerged and afloat; and Figure 10 is a
plane of the same.
The means to be employed in order to recover sunken vessels, and which
are comprised in my Invention that I desire to secure by Letters Patent,
consist in two operations :-
1. The grappling or getting a firm hold on the submerged wreck; and,
2. The raising of the same to the surface of the water.
The superiority of my Invention lies in being able to seize hold of the
wreck in great depths without the assistance of divers, and in making use of
a single engine of colossal lifting power.
For the first operation I make use of a sort of huge cast net with wide
spreading meshes, which on being thrown on the wreck catches hold of it fore
and aft in its folds, and so determines the grappling of the sunken vessel or
wreck.
For the second operation, that of lifting the vessel when enmeshed, I use
a sheet-iron buoy of a peculiar form, which when filled is lowered on the
wreck, guided in its descent by the cast net, and after mooring the two
together the whole is brought up again on pumping the air out of the sheet-
iron buoy.
The huge cast net A, the diameter of which is one hundred and ten metres
(one hundred yards or thereabouts), is circumscribed by a solid rope C
provided with cast-iron boulets D. This net is kept on the water by means
of a floating tube B in caoutchouc or a like material enveloped in a cloth
covering which is filled with air compressed to two or three atmospheres.
Sixteen wooden or metal tubes E placed at regular intervals from each other
serve to connect the net with the large circular floating tube by means of
small ropes F.
Another tube in caoutchouc H conveys the compressed air
into the floating tube; the air comes from the pumps placed, ad hoc, on the
vessel. G is the summit of the grappling net. The lifting buoy K is pro-
vided with a keel L to enable it to ride. A circular platform M on the top of this
lifting buoy is filled with air, and has no communication whatever with the
interior of the said buoy. At the bottom of this lifting buoy are two apertures
N to admit the water required to sink it. Two tubes O give passage to the
air which is to drive out the water from the lifting buoy K through the

page_text: apertures N, and that by means of a branching tube P made of caoutchouc
and communicating with the vessel which operates the salvage. A chimney Q
passes through the centre of this buoy, exactly rivetted to and forming part of
the said buoy K; the chimney is round from its summit to the top of the buoy
but inside this latter it assumes the form of an oval cone. The greatest diameter of
this oval runs longitudinally with the buoy K, this form being necessary in order
to enable the buoy to descend just above the sunken vessel, notwithstanding the
greater opening of the meshes of the net at the fore part and aft of the enmeshed
vessel. A cylindrical buoy R, which I shall call the floating buoy, to dis-
tinguish it from the lifting buoy, is placed or rests upon the platform M of the
lifting buoy K. This floating buoy R bisects into two equal parts; a space
down the middle of these two parts is spared for the chimney to allow the
junction to take place. This floating buoy carries the windlasses S and a
crane T. A rope U from the crane passes through the chimney Q and comes
back not far from the starting point, whero it is fixed; this rope is intended
to work the net. The cables V serve to submerge the lifting buoy K by means
of the windlasses S. The two rings X are for towing the buoy. The chimney
Qis lengthened by means of sections of chimney Y; each of these sections
is made up of two iron rundles, 3 or 4 yards apart, in which aro rivetted four
iron rods. The rundles are pierced at their centre with a round hole, through
which passes the cable connecting the summit of the net. The raft in Figures
9 and 10 is made up of sheet-iron cylinders c¹ held together by beams of
wood. This raft is connected to an embankment A¹ by means of jointed rods
B' in iron or sheet iron. This apparatus is sunk by being filled with water,
and is brought up again to the surface by pomping in compressed air to drive
out the water. The jointed rods B' which connect the embankment A¹. with
the raft serve also to keep this latter in a horizontal position whenever it sinks
or rises. The position of the wreck at the bottom of the water being correctly
ascertained, the net is then spread out from the yard arm of the vessel operating
the salvage. This operation takes place by means of the floating tube B, tho
circular development of which is effected by the compressed air pumped into
it by means of air pumps placed on board the vessel used in the salvage. This
development may also be effected by means of partial floating apparatus not
circular, made of sheet iron or wood. When this operation is performed by
means of a little inclined mast fixed in a boat, the summit of the net is sustained.
Sixteen boats, each boat having two men on board, placo themselves round
the circular air-tight tube that holds the net, one boat in front of each
cylinder E. These men, at a given signal, cut all the cords F which bind the

page_text: net to the floating air-tight tube B at each cylinder E. Thereupon the cast
net sinks instantaneously, dragged down as it is by the weight of the boulets,
and falls, closing a little in its descent on the sunken ship, whilst the men in
the boat, whose business it is to take charge of the summit G of the net, pay
out the cable of this summit G as fast as needs be, without however under
any circumstances parting with the utmost extremity of the said cable.
The whole apparatus, as seen in Figure 4, then takes the place of the boat,
which was in the middle of the floating net. The extremity a of the cable U
is next made fast to the extreme end G of the net, and then the cable U is
stretched by pulling on its other extremity b. The object of this manoeuvring
is to pass the upper end of the net through the chimney of the lifting buoy K
and to stretch the net forcibly when its meshes have taken hold of the vessel
fore and aft. The immersion of the lifting buoy K next takes place, and in
the following manner :-The tap setting the pipe P in communication with
the open air being opened, the water flows into the buoy by the apertures N,
and sinks it. Its floating line is soon on a level with the platform M; the
buoy is then full of water and cannot float, so that it has. to be sustained by
the floating water-tight buoy R. The lifting buoy K being thus immersed
the pipe P is adjusted to the body of the air pump, and all is made ready on
board to pay out by degrees the pipe P. The cables V and V are then
slackened by means of windlasses S, S. The summit of the chimney is soon
on a level with the floating buoy; the net is just then completely stretched
by means of the crane T, and by slackening the windlasses S, S, by means of
breaks the submersion of the buoy K is easily effected, guided as it is in its
descent by the net in a state of tension and passing through its chimney.
Figure 3 fully shows this operation, and it is understood that the buoy sliding
down the net necessarily tightens its meshes the lower it goes. The buoy R
remains afloat on the surface of the water, its mission being to determine a
fulcrum for the traction of the net and the sinking of the buoy K. The net
must now be united with the buoy K, so that this latter may be able to lift
the wreck. To effect this I make use of a series of cages that adapt them-
selves one upon another; one of these cages may be seen in Figure 8 larger
than shown in the other Figures. By passing these cages, each 3 or 4 yards
in height on to the net one after the other in its whole length a kind of
temporary chimney Q' is obtained, the base of which would rest on chimney Q
and the summit of which would be out of the water, as seen in Figure 2.
The cables V which have served to sink the buoy K are then spliced to a
strong cross piece laid on the upper rundle of the chimney Q', and maintains
this chimney in a vertical and rigid position. The floating buoy R is then

page_text: separated into two parts and removed from the centre of operations. The air.
is then introduced into the lifting buoy R through the apertures O by means.
of air pumps, which arrives through the pipe P. The water contained in the
buoy K is then driven out by the compressed air through the apertures N, N.
At a certain moment, by reason of its lightness in the watery medium, this
buoy gradually ascends the chimney Q, pushes the temporary chimney Q', the
summit of which presses upwards the cross piece, and as nothing can give way
the buoy lifts in its ascension the vessel enmeshed in the folds of the net. The
platform M of the buoy K then arrives on a level with the surface of the
water; the high chimney Q', which just now was substantially indispensable,
becomes useless when the ascension is effected; it is therefore got rid of by
inclining it slightly on one side and severing the retention shrouds V on the
side opposite to its inclination; this is only done when the net has been made
fast to the buoy K by means of the opening at m at the lower extremity of
the chimney Q (Figure 2). This portion of the chimney Q being now out
of the water this is easily performed. The cages on falling into the water are
moored to a rope, by means of which they are hauled on board. The lifting
buoy, although immersed with its prize, is towed by the vessel operating the
salvage to its place of destination, either on a convenient shore or on a raft, as
shown in Figures 9 and 10.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the said of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details above given, but claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent,―
1°. The gigantic cast net A, or analagous apparatus, by means of which the
wreck or sunken vessel may be seized or grappled, in combination with the
circular tube B covered with cloth, in caoutchouc, or any other kind of supple
or waterproof material sustaining the net, and allowing of its extension on the
surface of the water, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein
set forth.
2°. Partial non-circular floating tubes in sheet iron or wood, in combination
with the cast net A, to sustain and spread it out on the surface of the water,
substantially and in the manner herein-before described.
3°. The lifting buoy K traversed by a chimney, so as to guide its immersion
in a vertical manner, substantially as herein-above described.
4°. The floating buoy R, in combination with the lifting buoy K, the former
serving to sink and lower this latter on to the sunken vessel, substantially as
herein-before set forth and described.
5°. The cages Y serving to build up the temporary chimney Q' in order to

page_text: facilitate the moorings above water, so as to connect the cast net with the
lifting buoy K, substantially as herein-before set forth and described.
6°. The raft serving to emerge the wreck, substantially as herein-before
described and represented in Figures 9 and 10.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)