CURIOSITIES OF SALVAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 88

CURIOSITIES OF SALVAGE.

(Copyright.) Extraordinary stories are from time to time revealed in the courts of justice by those seafaring men by whose exertions a ship or the cargo ot a ship is rescued from the perils of the d'?ep. Nob so very long ago, for instance, a ship ran ashore off the south coast. Several small boats came up and endeavoured to float her, but failed. Then a tug had a try, with no better success. ' Lastly a big passenger steamer succeeded in towing her off, when suddenly the hawser broke, and the disabled vessel rapidly drifted ashore again, and broke up completely. But a large amount of valuable cargo was subsequently saved; and then the crews of the small vessels, the tug and the steamer all shared in the amount realised by the sale of the salved goods. On the other hand, on another occasion, when a steamer successfully towed a stranded vessel off the Goodwin Sands, but afterwards, through carelessness, got her ashore again lower down the Channel, it was held that the steamer had forfeited her right to salvage by leading the other vessel into a peril as great as that from which she had been saved. THE ETIQUETTE OE SALVAGE. Tt has sometimes happened that one ship has supplied men to another ship which happened to be short-handed, or even has supplied a master to a vessel whose own had died. This not only entitles the former to a salvage reward, but part of the money is divided among the whole of the crew of the first ship, those remaining on board as well as those lent to the short-handed vessel. Everybody has a share, though sometimes the Admiralty Court has allotted rather mora to the men who actually incurred any special difficulty or peril. And if one of the men loses his life whilst rendering the needful help, his share has to be paid to his heirs. The actual crew of a vessel in distress can hardly ever claim for salvage money, even if by their exertions disaster is averted. They are bound to use every endeavour to safely accomplish the voyage on which they are engaged. But there was once a case where a vessel had been driven ashore on an island, and, to procure the needed assistance, a mate and a few of. the crew crossed in an open boat to the mainland, nearly 200 miles away. By this means the passengers and cargo of the wrecked vessel were ultimately saved. Then it was held that these men had exceeded the duty they owed to their shin, and were consequently entitled to a substantial sum for salvage services. A PASSENGER SALVOR. There seems to be only one case of a passenger being rewarded for the saving of a vessel, and he happened to rescue the Great Eastern! The old giant of the seas was huge in size, but, with all her bulk of 25,000 tons, she was helpless in a gale. Once, crossing from New York, she was within 280 miles of Cape Clear, when a big storm swept down on her. Paddle wheels disabled, boats carried away, and rudder shaft broken, she fell helpless into the trough of the sea. The captain made all sail to get her under control, but the canvas was blown away like so many cobwebs. So, with her crew of 400 people, 400 passengers, and a valuable cargo beside, not to mention a hull worth £IOO,OOO, she lay helplessly disabled, and in mortal danger. It was in her extremity that one of the passengers, an engineer, invented a piece of machinery which would bring the rudder under control. His plans were adopted, the Great Eastern was saved, and he received £2OOO. DIVERS' DISPUTES.

Disputes have arisen—and tliat not seldom—between various sets of salvors, each only too anxious for the lucrative task of rescue. On one occasion three schooners discovered a stranded wreck in the afternoon, and the crew of one schooner actually went on board and decided that she could probably be towed off into harbour, but as it was too late that day to do anything, they returned to their own vessel and remained near by during the night. At daybreak they returned on board the wreck, to find, to their great disgust, the crew of a fourth vessel in possession. After a free fight the new-comers were violently ejected, and then the three schooners between them managed to tow the wreck clear of the rocks, and ultimately into harbour. The dispossessed crew of the fourth vessel took legal proceedings, but lost their case, the judge deciding in favour of the men who had first, found the wreck and then stood by it all night, though not actuallv on board. MARINE COM ED IKS. Again a vessel ashore on the Goodwin Sands, which was being assisted by the crow of a fishing vessel, requested the further help of a passing steamer. When the .steamer accordingly came to the rescue, the lugger's crew strongly objected, not only by words, but by deeds, even to the extent of vigorously resisting the attempts to get the vessel off the nnds. However, in spite of the confusion thus caused, the vessel was saved, and all narties promptly went to law about the salvage, when the lugger's crew were held *■' have lost their claim for salvage, to which they would otherwise have been entitled, owingto their riotous conduct. It necessarily happens that occasionally those engaged in salvage operations r\ui ;i considerable risk. A steamer endeavouring to tow another disabled steamer some time ago, came into collision with the craft she was trying to save, and sank her. Then not only was there no salvage money for the would-be rescuers but they were held liable for the damage they had done. A most amusing case -happened not so very long ago. A steamer had been sunk by collision to the bottom of the river, and attempts were being made to raise

her by attaching large inflated cylinders. This proved most unexpectedly successful, for the wreck ail of a sudden' rose to the surface underneath the bow of the salvage steamer from which the operations were being conducted. By this unlooked-for occurrence the salvage steamer was firmed up ou end, so that the water came over her stern, a nd she had to back hurriedly away to a safe distance to escape disaster. A PROFITABLE SPECULATION. Curious devices are sometimes resorted to m the attempt to save something from a wreck, and, in fact, many a vessel which once lay an apparently hopeless wreck upon an iron-bound coast is today carrying great cargoes across the 2?? n j , at . man - v ' knote iUI houi - T&* Philadelphia, for instance, which once, as the steamship Paris, held the speed record of the Atlantic. All will remember now one dark night she ran upon the dreaded Manacles, and lay there in an apparently S position, with great rocks pier/i g her steel bottom. A German firm, undertook the task of salving her on the •« no cure no pav" principle. If floated thev were, we believe, to have half the value of the vessel It was a most successful gamble for the salving firm; but gteat credit must be given to them for the .skill which thev' displayed. In a few weeks divers had "blown away the rocks and patched every hole, and then the water was pumped out, bn* rugs aid hold of her. and presently-she was hauled but of her rocky bed' and towed safely into Falmouth Harbour It is said that the cost of the salving operations wa.s less than £4500. As the, value n^n'nJ, 1 " 61 ; Was certaiul y not less than ±,150,000, the profits from the operation are easily reckoned. REPAIRED UNDER WATER. The chairman of the Liverpool Salvage Association recently made reterence to a feat which, he said made a record in salvage work. It was the ease of the steamer Veronese, which, with a valuably cargo, .sank with a hole in her bow. The question was whether the old method of discharging the cargo and patching the vessel from the inside would have to be adopted or whether it could be avoided. It was decided t'o repair the damage under water, utilising pneumatic tools, which have recently come into use. Divers took the measure of the damage, and a steel patch was made on board the salvage steamer. Working on a platform 28ft below water, divers drilled the necessary holes in the ship. The plate was then sent down and fixed at once by patent bolts invented by the association's .surveyor. The cargo was not disturbed, and the ship was brought back to Liverpool through the Bay of Biscay, in variable weather, without starting' a leak. INGENIOUS SALVING DEVICES.

Great ingenuity was also displayed in salving the Walter Bibby, an immense dredger which a few years ago sank in Leithe Harbour. Settling on a large rock, she broke her back. The salvors fastened around her heavy rubber bands containing dynamite cartridges, and firing these electiically, broke her clean in two. The open ends w»re then closed in with bulkheads, the water pumped out, and at once the forepart rose like a cork. But the stern end, being full of heavy machinery, refused to rise. When it did rise, it was no sooner up than it capsized and sank again. But the salvage men stuck to the work, and though it sank five more times, yet eventually they got it up and towed it to shore. The cost of this kind of salvage is naturally pretty heavy. The bill for raising the Walter Bibby was about £SOOO. The rescue of .11..M.5. Victorious was quite a different tvpe of work from the foregoing; but it i.> worth recording for the skill displayed by the salvage people. On February 14, 1889, the. Victorious, a vessel of 15,000 tons, went aground off Port Said in a heavy gale. She ran on to a bank of sticky mud and sand, and every effort to get her off with her own engines and by powerful tugs proved unavailing. It was the engineer-in-chief of the Suez Canal who solved the problem. lie suggested placing a dredger on each side of the vessel to dig the sand awav from under her keel, ;.t the same time employing two tank-boats to force heavy jets of water under the bottom of the stranded ship, and SO keep the sand from settling back. This device proved completely successful, and within 48 bonis the Victorious was safe in 35ft of water. How dangerous lier position was may be judged .from the fact that another ve.sst-1 which ran upon the same sand-bed a few years previously sank- in it up to the masthead, and lies there buried till the end of tlie world. A PLUCKY FEAT. A diver named Smetion onoe earned £BOOO by a plucky piece of work. Ho was the man chosen to explore the wreck of tlie Esmeralda, which sank, with £105,000 aboard her, off Gibraltar, in 126 ft of water. Eight divers had tried the job; but the depth was too great. Smetton was promised 10 per cent, of what he could recover. He found the vessel lying aeross a sandbank, and was obliged to use a blasting charge to get .<t the hold, which was choked by wreckage. Going down again after the explosion, he reached the hold, when the vessel suddenly bioke in two, and the diver sank to the' bottom of 140 ft. cf water, a depth at which a diver can ordinarily work for only six minutes at a time, owing to the pressure. As he fell a pieee of timber fell upon him, broke his lifeline, and rendered him unconscious. Hi lay for over an hour at the bottom before his comrades managed to rescue him. Yet, not in the least daunted by this .awful experience, he went down again the very next day. and even tually recovered £BO,OOO. When paid his share he abandoned his work.