Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/435

 Popular Science Monthly

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��peculiar fish with a cod-like head, called tinteraro by the natives. Finally the en- gineer hit upon the plan of caging his men. Uprights were placed on the four corners of the weighted scaffolds upon which the divers stood, and wire netting was run around the three sides. The tintcraros would make a rush for the men, but stubbed their noses against the netting. Men were always on duty with pikes to assist if the cage should give way. After nightfall the fish were at- tracted by hundreds, and it was feared that the combined weight of many of them would break the netting. Fortu- nately, it held until the operations were

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�� ��was an eighteen by eighteen-foot canvas used inside the hull to close the wound. A\ hen all the hatches and deck were thoroughly sealed compressed air was turned into the hold, and the water re- ceded as the canvas was put in place. After only four days of work the craft was towed toward the shore and beached. There the' job was completed.

The steel patches were put on when the rent was still below the surface of the water, but where the surf could not harm her. A template was made to lay out the plating, i. e., a full-size pattern to show the exact size and shape of the hole and the location of any existing rivet-holes in the plating which might still serve to attach the new plates. The ])lating required was then laid out and drilled on deck.

Meanwhile the sand hogs, working in- the compressed air, had driven out the ri\ets in the plating of the ship, where the holes would serve for the new plates. At certain points they drilled new holes, putting a wooden plug in each. The steel patch was then lowered section by section, by a derrick. Starting at the top, these sections were bolted in place over the rent. One by one the bolts were

��Before the wreckers could start to raise the sunken steamer it was necessary to seal every opening

��completed, cofferdam was erected on deck to bring the space to the same height and to facilitate drain- ing the sunken body of the ship. T h e cof- ferdam is the above-mentioned "l)oard fence," and the motion- picture screen

���Lowering the plate into position so as to cover the vent in the side of the ship, made by the explosion. This was done under the direction of the divers by the derrick on the ship's deck. The divers placed it in position and set the bolts, which were fastened on the inside

with nuts

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