VOYAGE ON HALF A LINER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 129, 1 June 1907, Page 2

VOYAGE ON HALF A LINER.

S.B. SUEVIC IX DOCK. The salved poition of the White Star liner Suevio airivcd at her heith in Southampton Dock*, at midday on 4th April (says' tl:c speci-il coricsponduit of the Ktandaid), after a. voyage of about ill) mileb, occupying o-ier fifty hours. A huge crowd h;;d assembled ill the \icimty of her berth, but the publia were vigorously excluded, only a few privileged psn-ons, including Lord Pirrie, the chair- 1 man of Messis. Harland and Wolff, Mr. j P. 13. Cuuie, of the Americnn line, and 1 Mr. Blake, tho assistant engineering superintendent of tho White Star line, being permitted to board the vessel. TIJE WATCHERS. 'Jlie vessel ant! her tbcoit of tugs were expected to arrive in Southampton Water hiiortly after midnight, and anxious witehera who had been on the lookout left the docks to snatch a few nours' ic>t Ijofoie her anival. At 3 o'clock in tho inornjng, however, no Sicsh mews had been received from any of the signalling f^tations, and fears wmo expre^s-cd on all ade& that s'.ine hitch had occurred. Tlie^o fears wcio strengthened when it became known that two additional tugs hud left to lender assistance. It was thought that the unwieldiness of the Suevie and tl'e difficulty of steering her through tliu irUicute" Channel had resulted in her i .inning aground on one of the many ehoai'. By U-ii time heavy rain squalls, i'ccompaniei by a dense mist, had set in, and the dawn looked far from piomising. For hours the watchers paced the docks, vainly attempting to pierce the mist with binoculars, and still no news came to hand. At length the first cross-Channel boat to arrive brought tho welcome news that tho Suevic and her tugs had been sighted off the Nab Light, steaming slowly tow.ircfe Southampton, and that all was well. THE FLOTILLA. Shortly afterwards, with the aid of a pair of powciful binoculars, ,a glimpse of the little flotilla was caught just oh* Calshot C,i«t'e. Coincident with the good news, the weather cleared, and soon the quays were thronged with sailor-folk and dockyard men, all anxious to see tho result of what is regarded by c\ery one here as ono of tho niopt marvellous feats of ealvupo and «£anwnship of leeent years. By halt-past 11 o'clod. she came "within .easy range, nnd then the method of her home coining could be noted. First c me the two Liverpool tuc<-, Blr.zer and Jlcicuhneum, slowly threading their way, with engines throbbing and coughing, their short, squ it funnels emitting den^e clouds of black nnoke as they strained at the massive huwseis :>trct_hing out ' taut between them and tho Kuc\ic. At first sight tliere seemed notliing very ex. traordin.iry in the appearrncc of tho vescel except that she was coniiig fteni first. As vl'e diew nejrcr, however, it w.ib obsurved thaftheio was a slight list to cl"rboar(3, ond tlut f-l>e we* inonlinatelv bhoit with her tlnce mists md one funnel. On cif her tUlc of her. light under her counter, wcro the tvo South 'lnpion tr.rrs, which served as guides; and astern 1 followed H coup'c of ht irdy-look.ng sal- i vage bo.its. It wa* a painfully slow pitf- j ! ccsmou, and yet it formed the climax of ■ I-i magnificent font of i.ilv.igp tkill. On ' neaping t!if quay the I !ao ensign v. .is ' hung out over tLo t>t:rn, and tho Whito ! fitav pennon fluttered from the middle I ma.«-t. UNDER HER OWN STEAM. A fc-.ilisf.'ttoiy cign wua that she wps unile,- her own ftct'in, her prop^lieis • burning up the blue viter an an-v.-ci--rd to tho n!.inoeu\res nf tl'D tugs to g3t her in portion nlongiiflr ti.e qu..y. Her ilecks voro i icuded w ith m-n, nml on f'e etcin biiilijo stood Captiin Muinvy, the . iiuhiiifc -ap-iintenlopt of the Wliit" .St:>r j line, cc v>v--iv >v--i ting opsrations. Gr-'dusllv j :.he moved tp the quay tide, and i.t fii-t it nppeirei as if tho ves,st'l had be^n out c.'em tln'ou^'li by- some imm;i>Ms giil'otine only a. couple of twi-trd pU,tes standing oat fio.n ths eitio. As she pas&erl, hoy. e\cr, and one was cabled to obtain j a full view of tho fe.tion, the immenrily of tho work became apparent. The place whcie sho had been bisected w.is j j" - iKiiialiy one of the meat holds, and a j litter of twisted, contorted, refrigeiat- ! inpj pipaa littaiecl the bpace, while the | iron deck, with its gining li?t^hway, sloped over as if it wci'c .bout to elide into the sea. A couple of jroii pillars, however, supported it, and after the first impic.vion of wreckage hnd pissed, ono could only wonder at tho immense "■trongth of tho Avholo vcjkcl to withstand (ho repeated cxplorions of dynamite, 'llieio was even a touch of beauty about this litter of bent and riven iion, for one cf tho m.iin water pipes which supplied the .ship had been cut, and the rays pf the Mm glistening on tho eprny caused a beautiful rainl'ow to spread over the de«o. lolioii Jiko a halo. 'J'lio watertight bulkhead had been buttressed, nnd so. strengthened to witliFt-ind the pressure of tho water from without. THE VOYAGE. Contain Murray gave thi following particulars of tho voyage from tho Lizard to Southampton: — ''We left iixo Lizard," ho taid, "i.bout 0 o'clock on Tuesday morning. It was blowing pretty hard from tho south-west then, and there was a iie.ivv se.i on ; but we decided to go as coon a c j the ship was parted, and set off in tow of three tugs — tho Ulazer, Horrulancum, and Ranger. During that night it continued to blow haid fiom tho south, but later in tho cvoning we managed to pu^sj the Start Light. Wo were going dead slow tno whole time, md by yesterday morning hud arrived off tho lale of Wight. Tho weather improved somewhat, but wo thought it advisable not to conic in with darkness, and timed ourselves accordingly. Wo also had the two extra tugs cent out to us to help in guiding the Suevic up tho waterway. And hero we ore all safe. There was not a hitch the whole way up. Wo came on fclowly tho whole time, never stopping, and were under our own steam. No words of mine can express fully tho excellent conduct of all concerned — and you alieady knoiv what the divers and balVuge men accomplished. The voyage from the Lizaid was quite uneventful, except that there was n heavy ecu practically the whole way." In reply to n qucrv. Cnptain Murray said that there were some 1700 tons of gcncial cargo in the waived portion of the vessel, and that it was in perfect condition. WORK OF THE DIVERS. The vessel is practically a complete liner, with the exception of her bows. Tho men who accompanied her lound from the aceno of the disashr livocl on board tho whole time, catfiig and sleeping just aa they would do on an ordinaiy trip, and the woik done merely consists in Pliongtlicniiig the bunker bulkhead with huge pieces of timber. Captain M'Clellund, of the Livcipool Salvage Association, remarked that the salving of the Suevic was the biggest picco of work he hail ever undertaken. All the work had to bo dono fioin tho outside, owing to the vessel being loaded. A curiouscoincidence ef the calving is that the Milwaukee, which w4is salved seven years ago by the Mime men, in precisely similar circumstances, being eventually fitted with a new bow, passed the Lizard while work was proceeding on tlio Suovio. The skipper of tho tug Rangcj^Htated that tho Suevic was lying on the top of a couple of previous wiecks — what they weio he could not say. Describing the woik of the divers, which was exceedingly dangeiouh, ho said that all round the wreck was a. forest of icawced called "kelp." The

long waving streamers of weed twined round the flooling carcases of labbits, ducks and sheep from the dismantled refrigerating chambers. "The whole thing was just like a Christinas tree," he added, "but it hindered the work a lot." Asked what was the reason for bringing the vesi-el to Southampton instead ot putting into Plymouth, as was originally stated to be tho intention of tho salvage people, the captain stated that everything went so well, and the vessel floated on such en even keel, that it was decided at once to come on to Southampton, where the cargo will be discharged.