Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE SALVING OF THE “GLADIATOR.” 43 Salvage Gangs at Work. was impossible while she lay on her beam ends. But a scheme was soon formulated for righting her, floating her, and bringing her to Portsmouth dock for repairs. The difficulties to be overcome were indeed formidable. The shore shelved steeply, a circumstance which caused the fear that the strong ebb - tides, running at 9 miles an hour, might carry the vessel into deeper water and make her rescue a very much more arduous task. So the salvage gangs first gave their attention to the task of dragging her nearer the shore. To make this operation easier, all equipment and fittings that could be removed were detached from the wreck. The Ranger, with her powerful steam-winches, came along- side and swung off the 15-ton guns, and then cleared away the funnels, boats, and much miscellaneous top-hamper. This reduced the total weight considerably. But before the vessel could be drawn along the bottom it was neces- sary to blast away with powerful explosives the steel plating which had been turned out- A DIVER ON THE NEARLY SUBMERGED SHIP. Photo, 8. Cribb, Southsea. wards by the bows of the St. Paul like the lid of an opened sardine tin, and now had a firm grip of the hard sand. The next move was to increase the buoyancy of the ship and provide powerful winding tackle on shore. Gunboats carrying powerful steam-pumps were moored on the shore side of and at right angles to the deck of the Gladiator, and divers then in- troduced the suction pipes of the pumps into the internal water-tight compartments. Mean- while there had been constructed at Ports- mouth dockyard two large steel cylinders 50 feet long and 12 feet in diameter, Lifting Camels ” built. PLACING A “ CAMEL ” UNDER THE SHIP. Photo, 8. Cribb, Southsea. Some of these huge floats were 75 feet long and 12 feet in diameter. each having a buoyancy of about 110 tons. Their exterior was pro- tected against damage from colli- sion by wood sheathing and thick matting. These huge floats—or “ camels,” as they are technically named—were for attaching to the vessel under water on the star- board side of the deck by steel cables 9 inches in circumference, passed right under the ship and made fast to strong purchases bolted to the plates of the port side. On shore there had been erected two very powerful steam-capstans,