EXCITING QUEST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 23 February 1942, Page 4

EXCITING QUEST

SKILL AND KNOWLEDGE OF SEARCHERS LIGHT ON NIAGARA’S FATE Whangarei, This Day. Not only did the salvage operatibns ! in the recovery of the Niagara’s gold i call for skill and knowledge, but divers e themselves who were often in peril 1 required the coolest of nerves. On one s occasion the bell fouled a cable on the i bed of the ocean. Being unable to ' extricate the bell. Diver J. Johnstone *. gave the signal to be hauled to the s surface. Then came a revelation which i tested the courage of the whole eigh 5 teen men aboard, for it war: seen that a 1 mine with protruding horns had become t entangled with the bell wires. Extreme t care had to be taken lest the mine cl should explode, and for some time ten e sion was high. At last ‘he fouling wire f was cut. This, however, threatened to r destroy the ship for the mine, released t from its cable, scraped the side of the h ship fortunately without exploding. Going down in his diver’s suit. J. >. Johnstone cut through the shackles of n the mine, which was destroyed by rifle e fire from a minesweeper whose services I y had been requisitioned in the meanJ] FORTY MINES DISCOVERED r The discovery of this mine was fol- j c lowed by an intensified search by mine- ‘ • sweepers, and in eight days over 401 h mines were discovered and destroyed. >' But for her light draught the Claymore, it was stated, would probably have e been blown to smithereens, for in her journeying to and from the scene of s the wreck she passed through what was , a veritable minefield. , CAUSE OF NIAGARA’S SINKING The cause of the Niagara’s sinking, it is stated, was definitely e traced to at least two mines, which 'f disposes of any suspicion that the 1 wreck may have been caused by an '' internal explosion. e it is considered that the Niagara [. after striking one mine contacted another during her final plunge to the bottom. From the observation chamber [s it was seen that the main fracture was , below No. 2 hold, the bottom plate of ,f the ship in that area being blown away r completely. In addition to this a huge 1 cavity extended aft from the lines of ,1 the funnels lor about 240 feet. Had this lt ;damcge been sustained while the ship was still afloat everybody in the enginei room would have been killed instantly, I whereas actually no casualties occurred. p It was also apparent ti.ct the Niagara / had broken her back, probably as a j] ! result of her tremendous impact with [. the sea bed. coupled with the explosion f j of a second mine. Members of the United Salvage Comt pany. Limited, and the personnel of n ' the Claymore consisted solely of New e Zealanders and Australians. The Clayr more was transformed from a useless , j hulk to a useful salvage ship while grab Jerricks and hauling apparatus was fashioned on the job or made in Whangarei. UNIQUE FEATURES e Though the’ prir pie of the obsei vae tion bell had been adopted by the Itald ians in the salvage of the Egypt's gold s that used in the Niagara undertaking 0 contained a number of unique features. )f It was fortunate that tb bell had been i_ almost completed by the company for a use in another sphere at the time of the .. Niagara wreck, for this enabled Captain e Williams and his men to begin work without delay. No other observation chamber of this nature was available in the southern hemisphere. Neither } of the Johnstone Brothers, who acted as divers, had previously operated an observation bell. Despite the dangers and e difficulties they worked uninterruptedly a save when the weather was so bad that the Claymore had to leave her moorings. • The system of moorings adopted was a marked improvement on that used by the Italians employed on the Egypt, the Italians having to cut the mooring cables when rough weather n approached. The Claymore, however, was able to tie up almost as easily as if she mooring at a wharf, three j’ hawsers astern and three hawsers over the bows holding her securely to six ton concrete blocks which had been placed on the ocean bed. * When Claymore returned to the scene of the wreck it was never \ necessary to move her more than a few y feet in order to place her in the right ' ’ position for submergence of the bell 2 and grab. This it is claimed was large- ] a ly responsible for the efficiency with which salvage operations were carried , out, and it is a tribute to the ability of U ' the joint navigators. Captain Williams and Captain James Herd, e SEARCH FOR WRECK , e The search for the wreck itself was, ]t all the company admit, the most disheartening part of the whole underA taking. There was very little authentic information available by which to mark even approximately the position of the e wreck, the only indication being a bearing obtained by the third officer e of the Niagara 9 minutes before the vessel hit the mine. Thereafter she w’as ,f at the mercy of the wind and a strong . tide for an hour and forty minutes. As o she had travelled nearly two miles 0 after the third officer had taken the d bearing and had gone ahead and astern e at different times after the explosion f i the salvagers had to depend upon den ductions which eventually proved to be s correct. ECHO SOUNDER USED An echo sounder evolved by the Brit- [ ish Admiralty was used to good purpose, as was sweeping with a form of s trawl acting in the water much as kites " do in the air. This involved the hanL ~ dling of two miles of wire every two 1 hours, which one of the leaders remarked “was apt to get on our nerves and 1 cramp our tortured hands.” . The searchers were overjoyed when on 2nd February Diver J. Johnstone de- . finitely located the wreck. It was late 1 in the afternoon and visibility was poor. s but through the windows of the bell Johnstone espied dark objects. At first an oil drum took shape then he saw a boat davit with a ship’s rail close handy d j Below this on the mudline was a porte I hole out of which could be seen a venu j tilator lying downward, j “This," said the diver, "completed the

picture. We had found the Niagara.’* An announcement over the phone moved the Claymore’s company to wild delight. Darkness having set nothing ; more was done till next day. when the bell was again lowered and to the joy of everybody it landed on the hull. LONG AND ARDUOUS TASK Then began the long and arduous task of blasting into the bullion room. The [llth November was the salvagers’ most [successful day. The sea was beautifully calm. The diver was over the I.side at 8 a.m. and boxes came to the surface at a rate which would have smaller fry. Boxes came up singly, in twos and threes at roughly every quarter of an hour, the day’s total being 46 boxes valued at £389,160. On five occasions the jaw's of the grab brought up lour boxes of gold in one lift. This also happened twice on 7th November and the 19th November. It is noteworthy that the diver in the observation bell directed movements of the grab by telephonic messages to the Claymore's men operating the derricks and winches. Incidentally one of the aft winchmen was ex-chief cashier of the Commonwealth Bank. Mr V. E. Neilley, who for the latter six months of the expedition was the bank's representative on board the Claymore. In the final stages the grab’s visits to the bul- - room were frequent, but the returns became progressively smaller. During the last five days only eight boxes were recovered. The lint single the deck of_ the Claymore on 7th December twTsled and torn as though tlie grab bad captured a most unwilling I victim.—P.A.