SALTING SUNKEN SHIPS

Southland Times, Issue 18852, 18 June 1920, Page 2

SALTING SUNKEN SHIPS

DIVERS’ RISKS. New chapters in the romance of the life of the diver will be written when the submarine salvage firms are able to report results achieved in attempts to raise the hundreds of ships sent to the bottom round the shores of the British Isles during the war or to recover the valuable cargoes many contain. The Admiralty has charted the positions of the 2479 British merchant ships sunk by the enemy. It appears that out of that number over 1000—many of which are practically new vessels—with a total tonnage of over 2,000,000, lie within workable depth. Salvage has been reorganised as a result of the war, and the majority of the vessels are considered by experts as capable of being raised and restored to service. Vessels can be salved down to a depth of 20 fathoms (120 feet), and cargoes at a still greater depth. The position of these wrecks is shown on the now Admiralty chart, D 21, the groups and lines of dots suggesting a big harvest , for the salvage firms—if it can but be reaped (says R. H. Davis, a well-known submarine engineer in Lloyds’ Weekly News i. bo Little is known of the sea-bed. Few people have seen it, the few kincma films that have been taken of it are not in demand. Its scenery—and some of it, particularly in the tropics, is wonderfully beautiful— its vegetation, and, in deeper parts, its finny denizens, hardly are known. Salvage operations were rendered possible only by the invention of the diving helmet in 1819, and the improved and reliable diving dress in 1837. Attempts were made in recent ages, with more or less success, to work under water with the help of air tubes. Divers played a useful part in the operations against Tyre and Syracuse (333 B.C. and 215 B.C. respectively!, though it is not clear what apparatus was used, if any. Since the advent of the modern diving equipment there have been many romantic discoveries on the sea bed, and divers engaged in salvage work have met with not a few startling adventures. Treasure from modem ships has been recovered to the extent of vast sums. From the Alpbonso XII. alone, which sank in 162 feet of water off Point Gando, Grand Canary, £90,000 in gold coin was recovered. The s.s. Skyro surrendered £12,000 worth of silver bars; and from the Hammilla Mitchell, which struck on the Leucanna Rock, near Shanghai, £50,000 was salved, in circumstances that provided quite enough excitement for the few people engaged in the Deration. Two Liverpool divers were employed; and, one complaining of thirst, the other climbed the rocky island to get some water from a spring. Happening to look seawards he observed a whole fleet of junks making for the island. Instantly he gave the warning, and by rowing until the breeze caught their little craft, the party Just succeeded in escaping into Shanghai from a horde of pirates—about 100 vessels in all. Four-fifths of the bullion had been salved when the interruption came, and the remainder was secured soon after. One of the most extraordinary operations in which a diver ever has been engaged was the “salving” of Winchester Cathedral. The original foundations, resting on a layer of peat, began to give way sonic years ago, and the structure was in danger of collapsing. After a good deal of discussion it was decided to undermine the wails in small sections, digging clear down to the solid gravel-on-chalk stratum that was below the peat. This entailed working under water, and a diver tv as employed, who, labouring in total darkness, established a bed of concrete, from which masonry was built up to the old foundations that were laid nearly a thousand years before. Another unusual task for the diver arose through the flooding of the Severn Tunnel during its construction. A door in the fourfoot drainage tunnel had been left open by inadvertence, and the pumps could not. cope with the water. Lambert, a well-known diver of the time, made bin way 1200 feet into the workings, despite many obstructions, and closed the door, thus permitting work to be continued. In his work the diver has occasionally to face perils that seem like nightmares to th« ordinary person. His greatest danger—though not, fortunately, in our seas —is from the octopus, a creature with affectionate tendencies and twining tentacles. The shark, ton, provide* his thrills, but he is by no means so dreadful to meet as the foregoing. An eight-foot conger-eel, weighing about a hundredweight, must he. treated with respect. One became wedged in the worn masonry of an old harbour wall some years back, and a diver engaged in repairs had a narrow escape from its bite.