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The Vessel Was Pulled Up on an Even Keel by Means of Cables--Success Was Due to Careful Planning NE of the most interesting chap- @) ters in the romantic career of the American. liner St. PAvuL came to a close recently, when the vessel, after resisting the efforts of leading marine engineers for almost five months, was lifted from the bottom of North river, New York harbor, and refloated. That the liner should come out of this experience sound after more than 20 years' continual service, speaks well not only of the work of the salvors, but of the construction of the vessel. The St. Paut, with her sister ship the PHILADELPHIA, was built in 1895 at Cramps yards, Philadelphia, in con- formity with an act of congress, and is owned by the International Mercantile Marine Co. The chapter opened on the morning of April 25, when the St. Paut turned over on her side while being warped into her pier. She had been towed from the Erie basin in Brooklyn, where she had been converted into a transport, and had proceeded in normal fashion until almost parallel to the dock when she heeled suddenly and sank. As the vessel rolled over, her smokestacks and masts were jammed against the side of the wharf and a mass of rigging and other materials on deck were carried overboard. The ship, which is 535 feet long and 63 feet beam, sank in a way to block to a large extent the slip be- tween piers 60 and 61. The slip is 240 feet wide and the Sr. Pauw laying on her side took up 80: feet of this space. At one point, there was but 50 feet between her upper structure and the nearby dock. ; When representatives of the Merritt & Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Co., New York, the salvor, came upon the scene, they found the vessel engulfed in about 32 feet of mud and 54 feet of water, resting at a list of 73 degrees. Due to the size of the Sr. Paut and the restricted area of the slip, the task of raising the vessel presented a diffi- cult problem, a problem, which in fact had two phases, for the vessel not only had to be refloated, but first had to be righted on a relatively even keel. The vessel, as a mass to be moved, repre- 'sented more than 13,000 tons, fully double the weight of any other craft ever refloated from a similar position. _ One of the first steps taken in right- ing the vessel, was to clear away the smokestacks and masts by use of dyna- mite, and to remove all possible top weight. This included the removal of a number of rapid fire guns, which had been installed to repel U-boat attacks, life boats, fittings and other detachable ship material down as far as the third deck. Action was also taken at this time in closing portholes, through which mud and water was continually stream- ing, thus hampering the progress of the work. To add to the buoyancy of the vessel, it was decided at this time to seal up the forward and after holds. To this end it was necessary to install under water a number of massive _ and refloating her. cement barriers and patches. For ex- pelling the water, 22 pumps with dis- charges from 4 to 12 inches were em- ployed, including three centrifugal 12- inch pumps. These pumps were sup- plied with steam by a 4-inch line, run- ning along the edge of the upper deck. Compressed air was also resorted to in expelling the water, but the use of this method was confined to the forepeak. Bulkheads Are Dynamited In facilitating the drainage of water, it was found necessary to break through the bulkheads in some places in order that water could be reached by water intakes. To this end, dynamite was used at first, but owing to the struc- tural damage incurred and the resulting cost for repairs, another method was employed, and for. the first time. An oxy-acetylene cutting torch had been perfected by two of the members of the wrecking crew for work under water and was employed in this work with complete success. Holes were made in the steel barriers up to 14 inches in diameter, the actual cutting time being a matter of a few minutes. Openings were made in this way down as far as 50 feet under the surface of the water. To aid in the rolling movement, 21 tripods, or A-frames, were erected on the starboard, or exposed side of the vessel. Each frame was 30 feet' high and consisted of two angle iron, vertical posts, supported by two back legs, each 10 inches square. Attached to these various A-frames were steel hawsers leading to 21 cement anchoring blocks, of 10 tons eéach, sunk: in a. trench dredged down 68 feet below the water between. piers 60 and 59. Twenty-one hoisting engines furnished the pulling power, which amounted to about 40 tons to each cable: Further to assist in this work, four pontoons were installed along the port side of the vessel. Chain cables were made fast to the vessel and led up through wells in the pontoons and there made fast to hydraulic lifting gear. The four pontoons with their lifting gear created a lifting effect of 1200 tons, which in addition to the 840 tons of the A-frame apparatus, made a total righting effect of 2000 tons. While this various equipment was being placed, dredging operations were going on around the wreck with the double purpose of clearing the way for the divers and providing deeper water into which the liner might be shifted during 'the concluding work of righting All this took several weeks to accomplish, and it was not until July 22 that all preparations had been completed and the rolling move- ment begun. Within less' than a week, the vessel had been righted from a list @t 73 to' 27 degrees, which was as far as_the pontoons could be used effectively. It was at this juncture, that the sec- ond stage of the work was begun. The Pontoons were taken away and the work of sealing the entire vessel was com- menced. Perhaps one of the most note- 538 By B. K. Price worthy of all the minor operations was accomplished at this time. In the inky darkness of one of the inner recesses of the ship, an open ash port was dis- covered, buried under several feet of mud, and there was no way to seal the opening except from within the ship. A pattern had to be made of the opening and the existing bolt holes, and a patch plate fashioned and then carried down and fitted into place. The divers, working without light and many feet under the surface of the water, placed and tightened the 30 bolts and made the opening watertight, the complete operation taking less than two days. Altogether, more than 500 openings had to be closed throughout the ship. With a view to making the vessel absolutely watertight, cofferdams were constructed, running about 360 feet on the port side and 290 feet on the starboard side, and high enough to keep out the water at high tide. In rolling the vessel during the sec- ond stage, the derricks _Monarcu and COMMANDER were brought into action. The chains previously attached to the pontoons were gripped forward and aft by the two craft, which exercised a lifting and heeling force. This in con- junction with the combined righting effect of the pumps and _ the pulling apparatus resulted in reducing the list from 27 to 16 degrees. From. this point on, the A-frames along the star- board side were no longer needed, and were consequently removed. The salvors then entered upon the third and last stage of the work. This consisted principally of pumping the entire ship and steadying her by means of the derricks Monarcn and ComMONWEALTH on the port side and the derricks Com- es and Cuter on the. starboard side. Work under this arrangement was ' started on Sept. 11, and within five hours after starting the pumps the St. PavL cleared the bottom fore and aft, standing at a list of 4 degrees. This list was more or less in evidence throughout the remaining two weeks, the time required for completing the pumping operations. Finally, it was seen that despite the fact that the . cofferdams had been removed as well as mud and wréckage on the port side, there would still be a slight list,. S02 compensating ballast of more than 300 tons was placed on the starboard side. After the vessel was fully afloat it was found that there remained 1000 or more tons of silt throughout the ship on the port side. The removal of this, how- ever, required only a few days and on Sept. 27 the St. Paut was turned over to the American line. The -- successful completion of this -- work reflected great credit upon the efforts of Capt. I. M. Tooker, in charge as superintendent and Ralph E. Chap- man, the salvage engineer. 'The job unquestionably stands as one of. the most remarkable in the annals of ma- rine salvaging.