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

the vessel to slip into deeper water, 6in. wire ropes were taken from the mastheads to the shore, and there secured to purchases worked from the capstans, so that they could be made taut or let out as required. These preparations having been completed, the cylinders were placed in position and partly sunk, the two salvage vessels with their leverage appliances were in readiness, and the steamers with their centrifugal pumps were brought into position close to the ship. The pumps were started, and for some time pumped about 6,000 tons of water per hour from the forward and aft compartments, No. 1 boiler room, and the engine room. To get the best results out of the pumps, the steamers carrying them were brought right over the pontoons, which were sunk for this purpose ; but when the pumps had gained headway, the vessels were moved back. The water being forced out of them by compressed air at a pressure of about 2olbs. per square inch, the pontoons were floated, and their buoyancy, com- Copyright. Photo No. 62. The Ship righting. The tripods are clearly shown. bined with the salvage vessels’ pull on the cruiser’s mastheads through the tripods, and assisted by the 280 tons of counterpoise weight already described, caused the Gladiator to steadily rise towards the vertical. The simultaneous working of all these devices proved most successful, the ship ultimately righting from 70 deg. to 7 deg. to starboard. Owing to the small fall of the tides and to the limited freeboard, the upper deck was dry only on the port side, the starboard side being several feet under water. It was thus impossible for the pumps to make much headway towards floating the ship, and it was there- fore decided to build cofferdams to enclose the whole of the after upper deck, and to con-