SALVAGE MONEY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue XXIII, 27 November 1897, Page 718

SALVAGE MONEY.

Owing to the high salvage money obtained by rendering assistance to a disabled ship at sea, many steamers and sailing vessels carry on an irregular sort of ‘ wrecking business ’ by always being on the alert for stranded ships. A tramp steamer that conld bring a great transatlantic liner into port in a disabled condition would realise more money than its owner would make in a trip across the sea with a full cargo. As an illustration of what salvage money is paid for towing steamers into port, mention can be made of a few conspicuous eases. In 1882 the City of Richmond was towed into Halifax Harbour, and cost her owners 35,000 dollars (£7,000) in salvage money. In the same winter the City of Boston broke her shaft at sea, and her owners were compelled to pay a bill, for towing and other aid, of 46,500 dollars (£9,300.) When the Atlantic Liner Paris broke down off the Irish coast in 1890, she was towed into port at an expense of 30,000 dollars (£6,000). So rich are these prizes that the coast wrecking companies frequently send powerful tugs to sea just after a storm in search of disabled vessels. If a steamer is several days overdue, the tugs may go hundreds of nines ott’ the coast and in this sense the companies extend their labours into new fields, practising wrecking upon the high seas. When the fast Atlantic liner New York made her first voyage from the port of New York, she ran aground off Sandy Hook, ami the owners had to pay nearly 100,000dol (£20,000) to float her again. One of the Red D Line steamers stuck on the Brigantine shoals off New Jersey, in 1889, and the wrecking company 'ihat pulled her off received 40,000d0l (£8,000) for their services. The more recent work of floating the American line-steamer St. Paul from the sand off Long Branch recalls the difficulty of hauling one of the great transatlantic liners oft'a sand bar or mud flat. Both the Chapman and Merritt Wrecking Companies, of New York, combined to float her, and the salvage money, amounting to about 100,000dol (£20,000), was divided among them.