BLASTING THE 'MARION' HULK.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 2962, 22 January 1867, Page 4

BLASTING THE 'MARION' HULK.

Ths following remarks have been forwarded to us for publication, and we willingly insert them. The matter ia of too great impbrtanoe to be haatily decided i— to th« Editor of ih« Daily Soutbuh Caois. Sir,— lt if evident that no means should be left Untried for raising the hulk ? Marion,' at only raising,, and nothing bat raising, will properly remove the now-exi«ting obstraotion in the harbour. Blasting her, if it suaoeeded, is most likely to do nothing else than to break her up into more or less large pieces, and to scatter them about withia a com* paratively small place, while it certainly cannot be sought to spread the 270 tons of coals now in her, by means of blasting with powder, in anything like a regular shape — flat surface— upon the bottom of thisharbour. If the ' Marion ' be thus broken into pieces by blasting, the larger pieces oould easily be removed towards the shore j but would all the small pieoea «nd the coals be removed also ? If so, it must be borne in mind that all this "would have to be performed under water, which would scarcely be supposed to be a oheap job if .properly executed ; and, indeed, it is most unlikely that it ever will be thoroughly done, even if attempted. However well, within reasonable and practical ' limits, this removing of the small pieces of the ■ scattered hulk and of the coals may be done,^ the re twill always remain a'considerable quantity of it on the bottom of the harbour, and therefore make the harbour leu deep. If, on the other hand, it were only tried to make those remains and coals pretty even on the surface, the depth of water would be much less than in the foimerc&se; and if nothing at all be done to this effect, the filling up of the holes between the two irregular heaps would be sure, and in this way a i small island would be formed underwater, which certainly would be a great obstruction to the harbour, and which would give rise to gradually more and more silting up from the inland side. ' ■ Is that likely to be an improvement? and ought not every other possiblemeans be tried before proceed- ■ ing to the very summary way of blasting ? ' Supposing Messrs. Henderson and Maofarlane were to place at the disposal of the Engineer-in - Chief twoof their vessel*, of about 650 and 250 tons, *and about two or three lighters, . then the necessary rope* and chains (which could be afterwards used again for any other purpose) would be required to ■get sufficient lifting purchase, and other mechanical appliances. But these things would not be found of any great expense,' as they could- be borrowed in * Auckland, and something would have only to be . paid for the loan. ■ 'The necessary heary powerful blocks and the timber for securing and stiffening the vessels oould be used again, as could also the beams for supporting the nulk when afloat, if they were constructed with ' the view of their serving afterwards for bridges or other similar purposes, so that by far not the whole of their coat would be ohargeable to the work in band. If this or anything like it be done, nothing but the expense for actual manual labour in removing first ' of all'the suotion from 'the vessel, and afterwards for lifting her afloat, towing her on to the hard, and then removing the coal, and breaking her up (if this be thought proper), would be the actual cost of the removal ; by whioh way also about £300 worth 1 of eoal'might be^gained, whioh otherwise would be lost entirely. ' " Surely there ought to be some way of raising her, however bad her condition may be, if she keeps only »t' all together, as any outward pressure can be overcome, and it scarcely can be supposed, without proper investigation, 'that her inward resistance would be so little as to cause her being broken up, while, for the greatest part, still under water, in the act of lifting, when outward strain is brought upon her, — I am, &c, A.