Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/433

 Floating a Sunken War- ship with a Bubble of Air

���Two great dangers faced the divers on the wrecked gunboat. The surf constantly beat over

the ship and made it almost impossible for the divers to work, and numberless man-eating

fish were attracted to the scene. The men had to work in large cages for protection

��SAL\'IX( j the }ilexican gitnboat Pro- greso, sunk by one of the factions opposed to Carranza at Progreso, Yucatan, was interesting because the ves- sel suffered an injury identical with that which would have l^een caused had she been torpedoed. \\ hat is more, she was converted by compressed air into a huge bubble, so that she was al)le to make a long voyage under her own steam. The repair, while provisional, was almost per- manent. It was a steel patch applied while the ship was still submerged. The plates were of course bolted and not ri\ - eted. but the finished job compared fa- vorably with one done in dry dock. The story of how the gimboat was

��simk lias some of the amusing elements associated with Latin-American revolu- tions. When the Prof/rcso was sent to Progreso by ( leneral Carranza to block- ade that port, the wily N'ucatecans hatched a plot. I'or several days the Progreso rolled about in big swells. Word was sent out to her captain that the Carranza sympathizers were going to communicate with him and try to send him fresh provisions. In the jail, a real Carranza sym[)athizer languished. He was made the unwilling tool of the plotters. Deceived into believing that he would be aided to escape, he was taken from jail, put in a boat with provisions, and sent out to the Progreso. As he

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