Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE SALVING OF THE “ GLADIATOR." 45 Five more camels were constructed and' attached to the Gladiator, three on the star- board and two on the port side. The two last were intended merely to prevent the vessel coming over too far to port when she should be righted, and the cables attaching them to the port side bilge-keel were of such a length as to become taut only when the decks should 6,000 tons an hour. The air-compressors ex- pelled the water from the camels on the star- board side, and soon the masts rose above the water. Our illustrations show the various stages of this part of the operations. When the masts were about 20° from the vertical, further progress demanded that water- tight wooden walls should be built to enclose THE “ GLADIATOR ” HALF RIGHTED. Photo, S. Cribb, Southsea. be level. The three diagrams (page 44) will explain the arrangement of tripods and camels, and their positions at the beginning and end of the operations. To make the cruiser come over more readily, 250 tons of pig-iron were piled on the port bilge-keel. The preparations completed, the steamers began to heave on the cables, and the pumps to draw water from the vessel at the rate of part of the upper deck and the bases of the smoke-stacks. Divers screwed stout beams to the deck and nailed upright planks to them, and caulked all seams. Some pumps were now transferred to the Gladiator, among them two driven by petrol motors. The shock to the Gladiator at the time of the collision had sheared a number of rivets in the bulkheads, and otherwise rendered many