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

Salvage of the s.s. “ FLESW1CK ” by Compressed Air. (See page 151.) I o show the great advantage which, under favourable circumstances, attends the use of compressed air for salvage work, we publish three views of the s.s. Fleszvick. 1 his steamer, 180ft. long by 28ft. beam, and laden with coals, was sunk by collision in Cork Harbour, going- right over on her side as she sank. She lay nearly right across a strong- tide, with her bow in about 26ft. of water, her stern being in about 40ft. L.W. spring tides. Photo 74 shows the ship before lifting on a very low tide. 1 he contract for raising- this ship was given to Messrs. Thos. Ensor and Son, salvage contractors, Queenstown. I he nett underwater weight to be handled was just on 600 tons, and as the contractors judged that to sling the ship with wires and lift with hulks would simply wreck the entire upper works of the ship, they decided to try air for lifting her, and also to assist in turning her over. Having- covered the two hatchways about 28ft. by 15ft. each down to the middle line with plates, and stopped up ventilators, etc., on the starboard side, it was possible to get some 400 tons of air lift in the holds. The engine and boiler space down to the casing (which was not good enough to hold air) gave another 60 tons, while the after-peak and cabins gave about 40 tons. Owing to the small amount of air space aft, it was found necessary to put a hulk right aft to assist, and the wire from this hulk crushing the main rail and bulwarks, caused the only damage clone to the ship in lifting. Heaving-in plant having been rig’ged on shore, a good strain was kept on the ship as the air went into her, and when nearly full of air, to middle line forward, she started to slide in over the mud. Photo 75 shows the ship at about half-flood. It may be noticed that the excess of air over weight forward has lifted her bow some 3ft. more out of water than it was at low water. 1 he ship having been brought into sufficiently shallow water, her stern was hauled in to bring her parallel to the shore for uprighting and into the position shown by Photo 76. With the exception of the 20 tons or so of lilt given by the hulk right aft, the air gave all the lifting power required to shift the 600 tons actual weight from the position shown in Photo 74 to that shown in Photo 76, while Photo 75 shows all the plant used. Two small air compressors intended lor driving pneumatic tools, and having a united capacity of about 200 cub. feet free air per minute, sufficed for the job, the large compressor specially rigged for this job never being used at all. 1 he use of air in this case not only reduced the risk of breaking- the ship in two where the collision had cut into her funnel, but entirely avoided the de- struction of bulwarks and deck structures which must have followed had wires been used to handle the weight. Compressors delivering about 210 cubic feet of air per minute were found suffi- cient for the job. 1 he entire work was carried out in accordance with the plans and under the per- sonal supervision of Mr. H. T. Ensor. o