CRUISER GLADIATOR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 299, 11 September 1908, Page 7

CRUISER GLADIATOR.

RIGHTED BY SALVORS. (BY TELEGEiPH—rBESS ASSOCIATION—CQPIRIGIIT.) London, September '9. The salvors havo righted the second-class cruiser Gladiator (5750 tons, cost,of construction £287,604), which collided with the American liner St. Paul off Yarmouth last April. A TRANSFORMATION. The "Daily Mail" of August 1 contains tho following graphic account of the refloating of the cruiser Gladiator and her appearance as she emerged from the' wave,s"Tho wreok of H.M.S. Gladiator, sunk as the result of a collision with tho American liner St. Paul Off Yarmouth, Islo of Wight, three months ago, is slowly being salved from tho sea. The vessel is now at an angle of 7Gdeg,, instead of 93deg. originally, and the next move will be to place tho Gladiator on an oven keel, with tho aid of three more largo air oylinders, which will be sunk about amidships, and two more 9in. witos, passed under tho ship and fastened to the port Then the repairing of the 30ft. hole in hor side will be a comparatively easy matter. "On Saturday last (July 25) tho Gladiator was raised by means of air cylinders off tho bottom, partially righted, and towed some distance nearer the shore. Tho wreck presented a remarkable sight; - Tho "suiikeii' -wastsi that for three, months had lain' under tho Solent slowly emerged into full view. The crosstrees abaft showed themselves brown with barnacles and soaweed. Tho rigging that a few minutes beforo fell like a ladder into tho water now stood parallel with the sea,, every ropo decked with lace-like decorations from King Neptune. Half of the fighting-top afore showed ahovo tho surface, its circular front reddish brown from rust. The deck as it came into view was a pitiful sight/ The five great portsido ventilating shafts above tho stokehold and engineroom were now visible. Four of them wero smashod and torn as though giant hands had wrenched them asunder. . • "No contrast could have. been greater than the usual old-maidish neatness of- a • man-of-war and the scene now. , The deck was a saturnalia of green and brown slime. Here abaft was the wireless tolegraph house, its prettiness turned to desolation. Above it the 'monkeys' island,' or- in formal language the after unpor bridge, was knooked almost out of recognition. _ Tho boat deck was shattered, the boat stanchions broken, and tho boats gone. The i Gladiator i was again allowed to sink when towing operations wero suspended."