AROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 15, 18 January 1930, Page 4

AROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP OF THE PORTS.

SALVAGE AND SEAMANSHIP.

(By LEE FORE BRACE).

The latest mail from Home brings news of the tremendous havoc among shipping around the English coast caused by the terrific gales of November. Never in the history of Lloyds has such a < J ire * been taken by the sea in such a ehort toe. Shipping, and cargoes to SkTandunffi thTnK that splendid organisation, the National Lifeboat Institute, the loss of life was eX wrecked on the coast of England has to be pretty far gone before she is declared a total lose. The salvage companies operating m Home waters will tackle almost anything, and the wonderfu success they have made in some ot their salvage jobs make most interesting readand seamanship are not far apart, and yet, strictly _ speaking, where seamanship and navigation ends salvage begins. The tools of seamanship could be contained in a handbag. Not so those of the wreck doctor; several tugs, enumerable submarine pumps, a barge tull or cement, and powerful dynamos are the stock-in-trade of the up-to-date buffer between "afloat fore and aft and constructive total loss.' Such classm - amples of salvage as those of the Suevic and the Bardic are unequalled in the history of shipping. The Suevic was a White Star passenger liner that ran ashore on the Scilly Islands at the entrance to the English Channel. The company that was entrusted witb Her salvage decided to cut her in two portions. The forward end, approximately one-third of the ship, was left on the rocks. Ihe other portion was towed stern hret to the original builder's yard at Belfast, and a complete new bow was built on to, the salvaged part. This gave the Suevic a new. lease of life. The salvaging of the Bardic is quite recent history, t the problems in her case were probaL more difficult than that of the Suevic. At almost any moment of the several week s work, a false move and the Bardic would hav-e become a constructive total loss. Many details have been published about these wonderful feats of salvage, and when one reads of the successful made by the salvage men against the tides and the weather, it is found that they almost did the impossible.

i Many successful salvage feats have been accomplished by seamen without the aid of special appliances. Take the case of the steamer Africans. Engaged in passenger and freight service on the largest of the East African lakes, she was driven ashore in unusual circumstances. To begin witn it was war time. The commencement ot the trouble was that she ripped a large hole in her bilge when attempting to land arms and munitions under the cover of darkness. She was run ashore, and smashed her bowe in when she hit the beach. Unfortunately the beach that sne rested on was enemy territory actually hi possession of the Germans. All enemy craft had been driven off the lake and in order to prevent the Germans from making use of her it was decided to shell her as she lay on the beach. This was done in a very effective manner. To complicate matters still further the Germans did what they could to make salvage impossible. They stripped everything movable, soaked her in oil and set fire to her. In this condition she lay for four months with her holds full of ©and and wood fuel. Under cover of the British guns our engineers examining.the wreck, tried their pumps and gave up the job. As can be imagined the pumps were well nigh ruined from the sand getting through the rose boxes. At the conclusion of hostilities, when shipping was priceless, the young chief officer of the ship asked for permission to try his hand at salvage. He was given carte blanche. Time waß the important consideration. He (hurriedly engaged several hundred native labourers, and proceeded to plug all the shot holes that he could reach, ihose under waterhe covered with canvas mats. The bows were packed with cement and wooden frames, and then he set all his labourers to bail the vessel out with tin buckets. The steamer was over 200 feet long, and yet she was bailed out in two days. Four days after work commenced she was in dry-dock undergoing The remarkable part of this salvage job was that crude ideas, backed up by sheer grit, prevailed where expensive salvage.gear failed. Another remarkable salvage job performed by a seaman was the saving of the 6teamer North Star some fifteen yeai's ago in the Black Sea. The vessel, an ordinary grain tramp ran ashore on a mudbank when coming down stream. She was loaded with six thousand tons of

whe§t. The current of the river helped her up on the bank and there she stuck. All night long her engines were kept going full astern to their fullest extent, but by morning it wa6 found that ehe was further up than before. Soundings were made all around the ship, and it was found that from midships to the bow there was less than ten feet of water. The vessel's master hailed a passing tug and gave him a message to deliver to the commander of the Government's ice-breaker, Vermak, then lying at Batoum. The following morning the Vermak arrived, and the North Star's master requested the Vermak to come alongside his vessel, stern first. At a give moment she went full ahead, and the tramp full astern. The North Star came off with a rush as many tons of the slimy mud was stirred up and washed away by the icebreaker's backwash. Perhaps the best bit of salvage work performed by a master mariner was the case of Captain Clark of the River Boyne. Bound from Liverpool to Valparaiso in 1879, he found when battling with a gale off Cape Horn, that his vessel was on fire. Pumps were rigged, and despite a continuous flooding of water the fire gained. This went on for several days, and it was found that there was over nine feet of water in the holds. The only hope was to run for the land. It took the

ship two days to reach a sandy bay to the south of the Magellan Straits. Getting into the bay the captain anchored his ship to wait for low tide. She was beached, and her timber ports in the bowe were knocked out. The rising tide soon filled her, thereby extinguishing the fire. At high tide the decks were awash and the galley flooded over the top of the stove. The next work wae the awful grind of pumping the ship dry. This took the best part of ten days, and then the ship was hauled off the sand to an anchorage. To make matters worse for the crew, it was winter time and we are told that there was a continuation of snow and sleet with strong gales from the west all the time the vessel was ashore. The vessel made Valparaiso and the repairs required to make her seaworthy, again only cost £300. The whole job had to be done by manpower in a bitter climate under anything but ideal conditions of living accommodation and food. In these days of wireless and mechanical power in plenty, such another job might never be the lot of the modern seaman, but should the need arise, it will be found that the versatility of. the sailor will be found ready to do the required work.