FLOATING THE MACGREGOR.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1186, 26 June 1874, Page 3

FLOATING THE MACGREGOR.

Tho successful method used by which the Macgregor was floated, was as follows : —Tho Pearl paid out lo'O fathoms of her bowor chain, and from her stern passed on board the Macgregor 115 fathoms of the second bower, which was then hove taut. Tho result was that the weight of tho chain connecting tho sterns of the ships, together with the swell of tho Ocean setting into tho harbor, and acting on the heavy hull of the Pearl, drew the Macgregor off' without the assistance of steam. Once again afloat, sails were passed under the bottom and the pumps set to work, but were unable to overcome the leak until Captain Grainger, with considerable ingenuity,[contrived to manufacture a Californian pump. This had the desired effect in reducing the water in the hold until the canvas took on the outside, and thus the leaks were stopped to a great extent. A cofferdam was then built inside the ship.over the fractured parts and socurely battened down and shored off to the beams of the main deck ; tho fore compartment was then filled with one hundred thousand cocoanuts and the main deck batches put on, and again the whole was shored off 1 to the upper deck ; and in this slate the ship has reached Sydney.