Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/409

 Popular Science Monthly

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��pressed air. To each com- partment was led a flexible connection of hosepipe, and through these hoses the exact amount of air desired was fed. When the tanker became too buoyant and threatened to keel over on the other side, the air pressure was released so that the water could re- enter. In this way the ship was nicely controlled.

All of the pipes centered at a pivoted platform, arranged £0 as to maintain a horizontal position during the righting of the vessel. On the same plat- form was set a standing frame holding a double system of gages with the usual dials. One of these indicated the amount of compressed air available in the several reserve flasks, while the other one, consisting of tubular mercury indicators, showed the air or buoyancy in the different compartments of the craft. The wrecking master had a visible guide of the steamer's internal state and a complete index of the forces he was calling to his service both to move the Gut Heil vertically and to check or regulate her motion laterally. It was as easy as reading the time on a clock. Literally, by a hand's turn, he could juggle the air and water within the tanker so that the rising and swinging of her dead

����She lay on her side in mud, making salvage difficult. The water was blown out of her by compressed air

��How the raising was done. Air supplanted water in the various chambers of the ship, gradually floating her

��weight of many thousands of tons could

be managed to a nicety.

Two months of careful preparation

were required to get everything ready. The ship was then soon raised and righted. Indeed, turning her vertically and bringing her to the surface was but a matter of minutes. Her present owners, after allow- ing for all expenses, have netted a gain of more than $800,000, and the ship is in such excellent condition, in spite of her long submer- gence, that her engines will be able to drive her after they have been cleaned.

It is such exploits as the above that are making history in the annals of salvage.

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