WEALTH UNDER SEA

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1932, Page 2

WEALTH UNDER SEA

ON FLOOR OF TABLE BAY. OLD WRECKS’ CARGOES. Sunken wealth which hat? long lain beneath the waters of Table Bay, Cape Town, will soon, it i,? expected, be reclaimed, for work has leen begun by a salvage syndicate. The syndic. te already has a list of about 15 foundered ships whose cargoes and positions are approximately known and, when the weather has been calm, divers walking on the floor of the bay have seen blackened timbers, iron work . and chains. There are dozens of wrecks scattered along the shores of the bay. When the northeast gales .scour the sand from them and expose their ribs the divers hope that the sea may give up its secrets and its treasure. Meanwhile salving operations are being carried out on the. wreck of the Norwegian sailing ship Ryvengen .

There are between 1000 and 1500 'tons of coal in the wreck. Most of this coal will probably be recovered, although some difficulty is anticipated when working near the bottom of the ship. . Giant fronds of ceaweed cover the upper decks and the ’tween decks, but the lower holds are free from these eiitaiigleineiits. The engineer in charge of the operations has made a patent scythe Ivith which the divers cut the 'immense stalks which , form a network , everywhere and hinder.the work. In the lower hold a number of iron beams have been blasted away to enable ’the grab bucket to have free play. The diver has a dangerous ’task in moving along the forest of seaweed and the macs of twisted irqhwork and rigging in these old wrecks, for, should the airpipe become entangled or cut, lie would be in the gravest danger of losing his life, even though the most ekilful attendants above were looking after the signalling lines. There is also danger from octopocls in Table Bay. One day men saw a wriggling form in the clear water above the wreck of the America. Then a, dithering mass of green and light yellow emerged from a black .hole in the side of the wreck and disappeared into the depths. The monster measured seven feie-t across the tentacles.

The Ryvengen is on thd top of another wreck which is thought to contain copper, and this will be investigated in due course. About a quarter of a mile away there is another ship which' is said to contain‘copper in small boxes, and at least four wrecks are known to contain a quantify of Chinese porcelain.