RECOVERED FROM THE SEA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 8 November 1919, Page 5

RECOVERED FROM THE SEA.

BRITISH SALVAGE WORK. . In four years |be British Admiralty , department which, under Rear-Ad-miral E. M. PhUlpotts, conducted f rsafcU vage operations in -home and-foreign waters,- salved 440 vessels and recdn* ered property valued-, at £sQ,oQp,wy Isom the sea. The department, ’whijjh concluded its last contract , receptly* :ame into existence in the fautumn o! -.91.5. and under the supervision! of Rear-Admiral Greatorex the record-of its achievements '!»; ■> a triumph jjofrenf gineering, associated - with seamanship -■ due, in, a large measure to Commodore F. W. Young, -• R.N.R. Commodore Young is. already -famous, fof-jkjif successful efforts to - clear the harbours of 0? ter d and Zeebnigge. ' X**su>bing the department a work,

a correspondent writes: — y. f . Hidden in the mist of silence that is a traditiop in the little is isnown of the- labours of, th© fleet. There is a touch of'romance surrounding a wreck; the Work of a diver stirs . the, ■ imagination' \-Yi v : J>n|S apart from wreck©, andl diversj this small fleet—vital as; Were tidhs when -; .Anrestricted warfare strewed the seas with derelicts —had ' nothing spectacular to recommend; it. • -•- Yet it has Iff ted cargo steamers off rocky ledges ;and has dragged them, badly holed, from the depths rof ' th® sea. It has brought up from submerged holds kegs of butter *and ibsre of;gold. It has applied its" “patch" to many a craft hit by,enferhy torpedo and mine, and.' has made'tbertf capable' of reaching the repairing yards. ' ~, „.V r - '.*■* . In the five years covered 'by " the v war 440 ships wer© salved in home and' foreignj waters hy operations of. fh© and tc?tai wdrth of the ships and property salved, was about £50,000,000 ( : “■ Th the- intervals of Work'-XU ydridtri waters it has acted -as a>, Vmnable/Th- . lelligence agent to th© ’.fightingrfdjcbe'sl and has compelled enemy, submarines to yield up tbeir secrets from the sea bottom. Now that this splendidly efficient ganisation has concluded' yits wdrby-.v.the members are, in many* cases,, pursuing their calling with- private-, firms—th® last contract under its supervision, the rescue of an American steamer at Penarth, was completed » few days ago.' * , \ .. *, Some of its divers are ing up gold from the strongrooms ,:of the Laurentic; but its bi, salvage steamers —Melita, Racer, Reindeer, Mariner ’ Wrangler-;—may* , ; b® . ■ purchased with all the latest equip* meat. !' ■ Suggestions appeared now, and again that wemf secret appliance® were ber ing ergployed in ,• the the principles already r Axistiug;.;» a|* tho-ugh vastly improved by Conunodor©; Young, have been used.,./* * There was an inventor, with ‘fait® in the gradual blritewl to. expel water ;lrom- flriqgstyl * bdt his application of the -system to a wreck ‘allotted to 1 hipfa A ure. •phe -Admiralty; wbsly upon the ordinary pumps, and a- seoes; of-six lifting lighters, converted',, fporn -hopper which: oan I»URP®£t a strain of 2000 .tone within* In one indeed;^-wheie 'th . collier was sunk in the anchorage at Rosyth, they lifted.- her and the weight wag Then 2700 tons—a figure which, before the -Salvage Departments^as created, would have been impossible. Within -three .months: collier was in - comnllesioa »ga*U net*' withstanding that she had-, be©#;.submerged devenv-'tooptbaiej . ' I .Once the cohvention&btffethods(Wdre slightly diverged 1 from—this* wad • at Folkestone; A’r ‘trooper,- * risdght fir© and was' Scuttledth© absepce*. of: tlapsiebsr on,;tbejja»ay arrangements 1 were', made t railway engines t o < haul, the wfcedk mprighfe.® . Four engines were 'dtraimug* the Onward simultaneously/; - but- aßw> all this- expenditure :-of. v effdrt t nuity when she Was; toWdd-i round- to the Thames she was reported upon a# not woi'fb reconditioning l '*fJ- . . ■ During one of ’the '“pushed" bn the western fronty-wheh harbpur was a vital link in the?t linw* of cmn-? nmiiication —for ■ receiving 'J men (rid , munitions—a> grain ship;” 1 Gib -Araby, grounded in the fairway ‘ abd brdkb her back., . ; The j&lvage fl^p^p%fbut t her in «halyds and’bbddmbiti ' • '-uc^osb. ♦o England, thus dfearing what 'tnight have proved a disastrous obstruction. in the way of the projected attack.' The , opinion tW’-WjM? th&t the Gerinans baver- pduxea .-out colossal wealth to introduce .tbie Wocki - ’ In 'tiie/bat® of , Whidi ff&lioft valued f ? bt' . was'recovered by ’divers working a depth of 23, fathoms, -the itong; . fooW in which /the hairs of locked had to be forced wiUi explosives and the ensuing/ It has happened that after weeks of arduous, labour a •refloated •' with':' the - “not unlike the lid of a roll-top desk” is the description, v ß—appjM4s. th© Raping 1 w<Aihd 'inflicted -by ’ torpedo or rainCj, ..and has been lowed to within a fow J miles of the repair yard® ~ when disaster has again her. . \ j v ’ '.V-. :, On© such ship, duly patched, " after salvage on this side,. was .- sent .to America" i D relieve the j)reMure'; oh our own dockyards, . and. wheb' aercss the Atlantic, sh© was- tor Moped again, .Another -'Ship salved and ched oh_ tHfe Eisl Coast, .was' eerit round to. the West for, repair, Andwhen nearing harbour received" a" !»¥- “ ped© oh the side opposite thb patch*, —the latter, however, remaining in position. '