THE MOLTKE RAISED

Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1927, Page 4

THE MOLTKE RAISED

BRITISH SAIiWU; 1C TIM L A!PH

S THOMN Kss (Orkneys) , June JO. 1 lH ' 23.H00 tons ex-(ierin;tn battlecruiser Moltko is nlloat. Alter jcar.s immersion in #()it ol water tin* j vessel, which was upside down, finally left her bed on the floor of Kcapn ] blow at low tide to-day. One of the greatest- salvage feats in the world uas thereby completed. -Many months ol tense, and often | disappointing eflorts, have brought ’ tin’s success to the Salvors:. Messrs Cox (and Banks. Before the Melike could j bo lilted her list had to be corrected, I| a. task completed only last Wednesday. Alll day yesterday and throughout this morning the air compressors chattered rythmically as they pumped fiOO cubic loci ol air a minute into the miglilv hull of the vessel. The 1 stein rose yesterday with a smoothness and speed that amazed ns. When this occurred most of the 129 salvage officers and men had left the j boating docks tor their midday meal, j Seawards only the two airlocks camj mnnieating with the interior showed, and (wo men in boats watched the list 1 and pressure gauges inside the locks. ■ Then canto, hardly noticed, a gentle slackening of the Din hawser which had strained for days between the docks to the ship with an aggregate pull of 2000 tons. Without warning all 20 hawsers became slack and fho tackle fell with a clang on ihe docks. As we wheeled in surprise, the Moltko’s giant keel broke the surface sternI wards. In 10 seconds the whole stern was up. High in the air dangled Ihe watchers’ two boats, now hanging vertically from the mooring ropes at their hows. Their occupants, taken by surprise, climbed Frantically up the seats to the airlock ladders. We saw the mighty mass oT the vessel’s stern j rise till her rudders and four propel- | lors stood 30R above the surface festooned in streaming seaweed. KEEL IN THE ATR. Shouts of glad surprise came from I those who saw this spectacle. Men . tumbled out of doors high up in tho j towers of the docks and from the ent>- ! ins of the tugs and their shouts, to., j went, echoing: “She’s up! She’s up!” .Soon there were scores of men walking about on the great flat bottom of i the cruiser filling, with wooden wedges I any weak spots they found. I joined them. All last night the air compressors worked, and this morning the vessel levelled herself out. Slowly, but more surely the hows rose and the stern settled to its proper floating level. 1 have walked along her from stem to stern. She floats, for the only time in her existence, with her keel in the air and her crushed upper structure and or great guns trailing beneath. The great cruiser is now ready, save for cutting away entanglements, and anchors, for her last voyage, to Cava Island, a quarter of a mile away, where she will he beached. Air Cox. of the salvage firm, said to-day: “It is the proudest thing in our career to salve the biggest ship that has ever ■ been salved in this way.” * )