Submarine Appliances And Their Uses
Deep Sea Diving, &c., &c.

THE SALVAGE OF H.M.S. “GLADIATOR.” By the Liverpool Salvage Association. “ Gladia- This cruiser, 320ft. long, 575ft. broad, displacement 5,750 tons, collided with the tor.” American liner St. Paul in the Solent, off Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, during a blizzard on the 25th April, 1908. The Gladiator was struck on the broadside at an acute angle a little forward of the after gun sponserns, ripping the shell plating from top to bottom of the moulded struc- ture. The bow of the St. Paul was ultimately wedged in behind the sponson and the gun pedestal, and when she got clear again she carried paît of the Gladiator's armour deck plating embedded in her bow. After the cruiser had been beached, the clivers found that about 50ft, in length of her side plating, including the framing and part of the deck beams and bunker division walls, had been stripped off, and that the interior was open to the sea from the top of the gunwale down to within jin. of the bilge keel, two of the three boiler rooms being in communication with the sea. Copyright Photo No. 58. ONE OF THE DIVERS ABOUT TO DESCEND When the Liverpool Salvage Association’s staff and plant reached the scene of the disaster, the Gladiator was lying with a list to starboard (the damaged side) of 93 deg., and with her deck towards the shore, only the port side of the vessel being visible at high water. The bed of sand and small stones on which she rested was smooth and very hard. The beach shelved quickly, and the first operation was to bring the vessel nearer inshore to prevent her from slipping into deeper water. In addition to occasional bad weather, the salvors had to contend with a strong ebb tide, the current across the bow being often 8 knots at the ebb of spring tide, heavy eddies being formed ; therefore the time for diving was limited. The guns with their shields, weighing nearly 15 tons apiece, were first removed. Then the funnels, ventilators, boats, davits and other fittings were salved, 132