RAISING SHIPS SUNK BY GERMANS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 6688, 13 August 1919, Page 4

RAISING SHIPS SUNK BY GERMANS.

Some m° re 'bluq' news for Germany that willjliicita* their cloud of gloom another gs& bi' two is the story of what lias laben done <by the Allies in the way of salvaging many of tic vessels sunk by mine and submarine. According' to a writer in the Pacific Marine Kcview, 407 of the vessels sunk by the Germans in Britisli waters between January, 1915, and May, 1918, have been salvaged. This work lias been one ui' hardship and personal sacrifice to an extent which fully justifies placing its record beside that of the other heroic achievements of the war. Some instances are given illustrating the ingenuity and daring of vhc men who risked their lives in attempts to retrieve, from the bottom ui the sea, ?hips .vliich it »;,;- thought wouUl never again be sea.w.uli\. 'iiie story ui the Liverpool, a lictitieui, name tor a real s'aip, is typical o.' what soaii (u tlieve men went

m;uu(,ii ice-liele.;. " Fortunately, the bulkhead aft of Xo. 2 held, oven though the Liverpool settled by the nose and took a bad list. How long it would hold, of course, was the problem. The old man dared not steam ahead, as the ice would finish her in short order, and she never could have lasted long enough to back her 300 miles to port, even if her rudder didn't get smashed by the ice. ".Something had to be done, and that quickly, for if she sank and her crew of 500 had taken to the boats it was almost a certainty that not one of them would have lived to tell the tale. Why 1 ! Well, not a boat could have reached open water before the Arctic froze solid, and no rescuing ship could have got to them in less than six months. Six months on the ice, with only lifeboats as shelter, which any moment might be crushed, was an impossible situation, to say nothing albout the question of food. "As no ship could reach him before the ice blocked the sea, the old man backed her 100 miles to the nearest land and shoved her ashore. She would at least be a shelter during the six months, the worst thing happening to her being that the drift of the ice would cause her to grind her bottom to bits. Suddenly the old man developed a brain wave which turned ont to be an inspiration. The Liverpool had a large cargo of munitions—no explosives, just empty shells, etc. This the crew was speedily set to dumping overboard on the side from which, would come the urift of the ice. Being ashore, the water wasn't very deep alongside, and t'je cargo was enough to form a breaknater to protect her, if she could be got t float, from having toe bottom ground out of her. "As the cargo came out She floated, except at the bow. The old man 60011 saw that he couldn't float her there, even if he put a temporary patch over the hole. So there was nothing to do but to part the Liverpool from her bow, and this was done ; by dynamite, as had been done in cases of other ships whose noses got too familiar with some rucks. And during the six months she ...y behind her cargo -breakwater, hi t .en bow also functioned as a part of that ingenious contrivance. '. tell you what, it was some achievement to do in a week's time, with no assistance of any kinct except what marine engineers were able to tell the old man via wireless.

i '' The old man said he nearly got Hervous prostration trying to think up ! schemes to keep his crew fit during those days, when there was no daylight at all. Mind you, lie had just 500 men. He gave 'them military drill on the ice, I cricket games, had ice-boats built and had races, and blessed some genius for devising a way to manufacture home made skates. Then "he made his crew go to school, the textbooks .being novels (from the ship's library. The wireless gave them the news of the world, and even solved problems which stumped the temporary schoolmaster. They found in the library some of Sheridan's plays, and 'had a go at that. When the salvage ship arrived at the end! of six months, as soon as she could pu«m her way through the ice, thanks to the old man's genius, she found the Liverpool's crew in a pretty fit condition." The fitting, of a new bow to the Liverpool.as .she floated in not too calm a sea was a feat in itself. Equipping new bows to ships which' have left' their old ones «n the rocks is a delicate task even in a dry dock, for th& two parts have to I>© toroiigght to a dead line in every particular. Yet the marine engineers who figured oh tfie Liverpool's plight, who advised them via wireless, overcame the difficult job by equipping the Liverpool'a new {bow witk a fockgfc

.Which would fit into the other section of j her hull and form a "Wow-out" patch over the joint. Of course, above water the two parts could ihave been lield together by stringers if necessary. It was the bent and twisted plates under water which gave the most difficulty. And as we Americans used electric welding for joining together, as they floated, the halves of the boats brought through the Wolland Canal, so was it used on the Liverpool. And under her own steam she came back to civilisation, a monuI ment to what man can do when lie has to. Not the least remarkable part of tho case was the building and launching of the new bow and towing the unwieldy structure 1200 miles over waters infested by mines and U-boats. Another story, just as thrilling, but extending over a briefer period, is told , of a cruiser chasing raiders in the ; South Atlantic, whore it was rumoured ihe Krouprinz Wilhclm had been seen. The night was intensely dark and ■'creepy" as the vessel plunged on, seeing and hearing nothing. Suddenly 1 ;l;e;e was a crash like the crack o' ■ »:n, ;Vlloived by piercing human yells 1- ;i-, :i.l tK:. .1 loud thumping or '■ .;;<ji: A hurried cxanii

i.'.,.s i -,;, L .vLAKJIKD. .l yo.ir hlldreu got whooping oougli. Keep up their strength with nourishing food and give Chamberlain's Cough Remedy in frequent doses. If you do this the attack will be over in fire or six weeks, instead of running through the winter. Wo have never known Chamberlain's Cough Bemcdy to fail to give relief, no matter how sever, the attack of whooping cough has been. — Sold everywhere. TRAGIC EVENTS IN EGYPT. "People who were in Egypt during th» earlier disturbances are now returning to this country, and some of them are bringing the impression that the whole truth has not been told to the British, public," says the London Times. '' Our own information does not confirm this \iew. "So far as we are able to judge, no important episode of the insurrection has been concealed at the instance of the Foreign Oilice. If the contrary idea prevails, it is largely due to the past extraordinary folly of 'the censorship iu Egypt, which ever since 1914 has been the most incompetent, the most inept, and the most savagely ruthless censorship in any country under British control, not excepting Mesopotamia. The consequence is that every statement which passes its scrutiny is suspected !:oth in Cairo and in Great Britain.

ENOEMOUS DAMAGE. "While Egy.pt is once more without a the strike of the public ser- \ ictis has collapsed. Two factors are likely to handicap the restoration of ordinary conditions. One is the great amount of destruction on the railways, which ii far worse than was at first believed, and the other is the release of s'orage water in the Nile, which will i.:t\cly affect the next crops. The rioters Uave everywhere destroyed the telegraph lines and instruments, a clear proof thai the swarin of students who left the El Azhar University oil March ■O, and scattered throughout the counv, heaiing the call to rebellion, had been carefully instructed in the art of paralysing an administration. The replacement of the telegraphs will 'be a long task. The instruments have been smashed, especially in the railway staand poles beyond computation have been destroyed. ' • "All the evidence agrees that the Ministry of tha Interior was singularly weak aid out of touch with the country, but this was partly due to the fact that war demands had destroyed the efficiency of ttre British branch of the Civil Service. The provinces were drained of British officials and left to their own devices. The Egyptian subordinates gradually entered upon an orgy of corruption which recalled) the worst days of Ismail, hut was neither recognised n»r checked. They were actuated partly toy avarice, and partly by a malicious desire to inflame the populace against British control. "They succeeded only too well, and it is to their prolonged and uncontrolled machinations that we owe the transformation of tlhe fellaheen 1 into a sus 1 - picious and virulently hostile peasantry. For eivery recruit required for the Labour Corps the Egyptiani officials called up 20 or 30 men, generally took, baksheesh from all but one, and sent the odd man, often a personal enemy, into the field. They commandeered the food stocks of tJ.e peasantry at Army rates, and then forced t'hem to 'buy grain and other food) at very high prieea from profiteers with) whom they were dn> league. - The collections for and othw purposes connected with toe war were used to extort : big sums from the ignorant people, very little of which ever reached Cairo."