OUT OF THE DEPTHS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1920, Page 1

OUT OF THE DEPTHS

SALVAGING A COAL HULK

Many years have passed over the head of the vessel known as “the hulk” Selwyn Craig (says the Auckland ‘Star’). Slie now lies in the mud off Chelsea wharf, but her time for dismemberment has not yet come. She sank to the bottom during a heavy storm, in October of ‘last year, while in the act of coaling the steamer Paloona. The 850 tons of coal j that slie has on board are especially j valuable at. the present time, and there j is still use in the old craft; and so the . Union Company’s steamer Kaituna went to Chelsea last Saturday, and on Sunday { morning the salvage operations began. There is still a career of usefulness be- j fore the old vessel (which, by the way, i now bears her third name, having scintillated under the title of “Prince John” and “Advancement” in her earlier days). She was built in Glasgow in the year 1808, and has been in commission in local waters since the year 1905.

Early this week little or nothing was to be seen to suggest thef possibility of there being a vessel at some 60 or 72 feet below the surfacq of the water. Captain Stott, in charge of the salvage operations, stated that some three or four tides must come and go before anything could be seen of the resurrected vessel. “Weather has a great deal to do in such! an undertaking,” he said, ‘and so far, the weather has been unfavourable.” The actual process of raising the vessel to the surface of the water again consists of dragging it into shallow water by the means of who cables,.attached, to huge kauri logs placed on clear spaces both f° ro and aft, on the salvaging vessel. The cables in turn pass under the keel of the hulk, the sunken vessel thus being held in two slings. At the rising of the tide, the salvaging vessel steams forward islowly and strives to drag

tlio submerged craft after lier into shallow water. Only a slight movement is to be expected at first, and the labour of attaching the ropes beneath the keel of the boat is not in itself light. Hand in glove with these operations is the work of the diver, who has been engaged making periodical descents since the commencements of the work. His reports are invaluable to the officer in charge and his is the arduous duty of fixing the cables beneath the keel of the bulk.

At the termination of the salvage the hulk will be grounded in order to have the water pumped from her and to enable the repairs that will again render her useful to be made. It is thought that the coal will be none the worse for its five-month sojourn beneath the surface of the sea, and it will be of undoubted value at present.