Treasure Hunt on Sea Floor

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 November 1930, Page 16

Treasure Hunt on Sea Floor

Millions May be Saved from Sunken Wrecks

JNew German Deep-Sea Diving Gear

T, HE location by clivers of the liner Egypt, which was sunk off Lshant eight years ago, has prompted the conclusion that the “major portion of the problem of deepwater salvage has been solved. ” True, live tons of gold and 45 tons of silver have yet to be recovered, and this will necessitate the removal of machinery by hooks and electro magnets, and blasting through several decks. But the heaviest part of the task in front of the Italian salvage boat was to line! the ship, and then to examine where she lay, 4UO feet under water, a depth at which,divers have not worked hitherto, except experimentally. And this has been done. 1 asked Mr Gorman Davis, a director of Siebe, Gorman and Co., submarine engineers, of London, who have played a large part in salvage work for 111 years, whether he agreed with the conclusion quoted (writes a correspondent of the London “Observer”). He replied: “it ali depends on what you mean by ‘deep sea.’ The sea is a couple of miles or more deep in some places. But, undoubtedly, the success of the Egypt has proved that you can locate and examine a wreck, and recover valuables, at a depth which would have been impossible a few

years ago

“The picture of a diver the public is familiar with is of a man in a helmet and waterproof flexible clothing lowering himself from the side of a boat or walking about the bottom of the sea. You can reckon that this diver could operate at a maximum depth of 300 to 340 feet. But a new outfit has been evolved by a Kiel firm, who tried it out first on a mountain lake in Upper Bavaria. Only a dozen or so have been made as yet, and there is only one in this country; we have it here. This is the outfit that has been used on the Egypt, and it was used also to get down to the Elizabethville, which was sunk off Belle He in 1917 with, it was believed, precious stones worth a million in her. As a matter of fact, a curious thing happened in the case of the Elizabethville. When the divers got to the safe which contained the precious stones all they found was £SO in Belgian francs!”

I was show’ll the outfit, and it reminded me at once of the conning tower of a submarine. The trunk is of steel, the top portion comprising windows of hard glass, and containing respiration and measuring apparatus, and a telephone, w’hile in the lower part are buoyant

tanks —and a seat. By means of these tanks the diver has complete control of hts cquilibruini * ‘ The great merit of this outfit is that the enormous pressure of the sea water 1S Bot municated to the diver. At a depth of 300 feet the pressure is ordinarily over 1301 b per sqaiue inch of the body, which means that nitrogen forces itself into his blood stream. But this outlit can sustain the pressure. . “ Even when this latest outfit is not employed. a second invention has relieved diving ot much of its unpleasantness and monotony, ancl has 'o-reat.lv lengthened the diver’s working time which is important owing to the short season, and the few hours in each day when diving is practicable. It used to be necessary for a diver, in order to release gradually the pressure to which he had been subjected, to stop at various stages on his way up the shot rope. That was very disagreeable, as well as a great waste of: lime. But the necessity of doing this has been obviated by the submersible decompression chamber (which happens to have been invented by Mr Davis’ father). It. is lowered to the diver at his first stop, he climbs in through a door at the bottom, the. chamber is shut, and he is hauled up to be decompressed in comfort on deck. To ascertain the correct rates of decompression for various depths and periods undei water, Professor J. S. Haldane went'through an exhaustive series of self-experiments. “The result of these improvements is reflected in the unprecedented depths at which diving is being done. The salvage of about £5.000.000 worth of bullion from the Laurentic was, of course, a magnificent feat, but the Laurentic was in only 130 feet of water, which jtodav seems inconsiderable. The Elizabethville was in 240 feet, the Egypt in 400 feet. “Work will certainly be possible at 500 feet.” said Mr Davis. “It will be quite dark at that depth, but 5000 candle-power lamps will remove that difficulty.. This means that scores of wrecks which hitherto have been out of reach will come within the scope of diving, or at any rate it will be possible to examine those which are believed to offer a reasonable chance of an economic return. Our coast is littered with ’wrecks, particularly in the stretch between Land’s End and the Lizard. There are many considerations to be borne in mind, of course, but the scope of the seeker after sunken treasure has certainly been definitely extended.