Marine salvage

“ HARDLY SAVED.
he first duty of the crew of the lifeboat is to save life, but it frequently happens that a stranded vessel is not so seriously damaged as to hinder her being got afloat again. Under these circumstances the men are at liberty to assist in saving the vessel if the captain is willing to employ them. This is a very dangerous business, and often after long hours of peril and labour the ship is dashed to pieces by the waves, and the men are with difficulty rescued. A splendid example of the risk attending this salvage service occurred several years ago on the Goodwin Sands. ”

“ As for the pressure of the sea, it can be overcome, as we have seen, either by the use of special submarine mechanisms, or of man-operated manikins or even of unarmored divers. We have reached a very interesting stage in the science of salvage, with the promise of important developments. Fifty fathoms no longer seems a hopeless depth.
Even in times of peace the sea exacts a dreadful toll of lives and property. Before the war the annual loss by shipwreck around the British Isles alone was estimated at forty-five million dollars. ”

“ Casualties that call for their service are rarely located in safe and protected waters; open coast and main channels are the marches of the Salvage Section, where the enemy has a keen and ready eye for a 'potting' shot by which he may prevent succour of a previous victim. The menace of sea-mines is particularly theirs; the run and swirl of Channel tides has strength to weigh a stealthy mooring and carry a power of destruction up stream and down. They have a new and deadly danger to be guarded against in the ammunition and armament of their stricken wards. ”

“ Salvage and Fire Vessels.—Several private companies maintain special vessels which are available for assistance of vessels in distress, salvage, wreck-raising, &c. Many of these vessels are powerful tugs fitted with derricks and winches for hoisting out cargo and ships fittings, and provided with powerful steam or electrically driven pumps and special hoses for pumping out flooded compartments of the vessels in distress. Some have been specially built and fitted up for salvage and wreck-raising; others have been built and fitted for salvage and fire boats. ”

“ Some adverse criticism was directed against the men of the Life Saving corps, for their failure to rescue these sailors, but it was wholly unmerited as the Life Savers did everything in their power or that it was possible to do under the circumstances.
It was one of those terrible marine disasters, of which there are many, where man is a plaything in the grip of the sea when the storm king is abroad in his might. ”

“ According to article 11 of the draft convention concerning salvage produced by the Conference of the Maritime Committee at Brussels in September 1910—see above, note 1—"every master shall be obliged, as far as he can do so without serious danger to his vessel, his crew, or his passengers, to lend assistance to any person, even an enemy, found at sea in danger of perishing. ”

“ A more common salvage method consists in passing cables or chains under the wreck and attaching them to large floats or pontoons. The slack in the chains is taken up when the tide is low, so that on the turn of the tide the wreck will be lifted off the bottom. The partially raised wreck is then towed into shallower water, until it grounds. At the next low tide, the321 slack of the chains is again taken in, and at flood-tide the wreck is towed nearer land. The work proceeds step by step, until the vessel is moved inshore far enough to bring its decks awash ”

“ It is pleasant to know that while science has been doing so much for people who live on dry land, seamen who peril their lives on the great ocean that wraps round the world have not been neglected; and to maritime invention are added civil laws and arrangements distinctly intended to preserve life and property at sea. In touching on this interesting subject, we may first speak of Salvage as a means for stimulating the efforts of humanity. Salvage is the payment due to persons who save a vessel that has been abandoned by its crew, or which is placed in some peculiar jeopardy. ”

“ Also, cranes and sections of the wharves blown into the water have to be removed. Divers examine the debris and determine whether it can be pulled out of the way into deeper water or if it first must be broken up. Since the use of large quantities of explosives may further damage adjacent quays and piers, debris too heavy and bulky to hoist and drag is cut into smaller sections by underwater cutting. Then these sections are raised by the cathead and pulled out of the way by the ship. Small, sunken craft often can be salvaged by sealing up the hulls and pumping out the water with salvage pumps. ”

“ If we search through all the books, from the Rules of Oléron to the present time, we shall find that salvage is only spoken of in relation to ships and vessels and their cargoes, or those things which have been committed to, or lost in, the sea or its branches, or other public navigable waters, and have been found and rescued. ”

“ Her crew had stopped the leak, and cut away and unshipped the broken foremast, and were stepping a new one, when they saw the huge ship bearing down in full sail. Nothing easier than to slip out of her way could they get the foresail to draw; but the time was short, the deadly intention manifest, the coming destruction swift. After that solemn silence came a storm of cries and curses, as their seamen went to work to fit the yard and raise the sail; while their fighting men seized their matchlocks and trained the guns. ”

“ Adm. 117, 120, says: 'Now, salvage is not always a mere compensation for work and labor. Various circumstances, upon public consideration, the interests of commerce, the benefit and security of navigation, the lives of the seamen,-render it proper to estimate a salvage reward upon a more enlarged and liberal scale. The ingredients of a salvage service are-first, enterprise in the salvors in going out in tempestuous weather to assist a vessel in distress, risking their own lives to save their fellow-creatures, and to rescue the property of their fellow-subjects ”

“ If we claim command of the sea we must face the risks of the position. The sinking of a few men-of-war by mines or submarines will not transfer the "trident of Neptune" to a fleet which only plays for safety, any more than the destruction of one or two public buildings by a dynamitard will give him the reins of government. The "silver lining" to the cloud of our losses in men and material is the magnificent bravery and discipline displayed by the crews of the vessels attacked, officers, seamen, and marines alike. ”

“ An examination of the cases will show that there is no fixed rule with regard to the proportion in the salvage award allotted to the owners of the salving vessel. Most frequently salvage services are rendered upon a voyage, in the absence of the owners, and when the salving vessel is under the charge of, and is controlled by, the master and crew. As salvage is awarded for the encouragement of promptness, energy, efficiency, and heroic endeavor in saving life and property in peril, the claims of the master and crew who exhibited these qualities must meet the most favorable consideration. ”

“ There has sprung up a system of recovery on a great scale. Salvage Companies possessing a large capital have been established in London, Liverpool, and elsewhere. By means of powerful and skilfully managed steam-tugs, they undertake to rescue, if possible, ships that have been thought to be almost beyond human aid. There is something heart-stirring in the idea of a few heroic men sallying forth in the forlorn hope of lifting a ship sunk to the bottom of the sea, floating it safely into harbour, and restoring to the owner that which had been given up as lost. ”

“ But the men-of-war and other vessels which had got safely into the bay soon sent their boats to the rescue, and all the soldiers and crew, excepting about fifteen wretched men, women, and children who were drowned in their hurry to jump on the rocks, were saved, but the ship and nearly all the baggage and cargo were lost. ”

“ In a few minutes a couple of shots may flash out, several shells shatter our conning-tower, the water stream into the ship's body, and in a short while the North Sea close over us.
None of this occurs however. A brief command in the control-room, a few grips of the valves and hand wheels, and we continue our way unhurt, for brutal power may shut us from the surface of the seas, but our enemies in their impotence only cause us to lie a few fathoms deeper. We continue submerged for the sake of safety until daybreak. Towards four o'clock we rise to the surface. ”

“ Naval warfare, viewed in the scattered detail of operations taking place all over the world, is a mightily confusing study; but, if it be analysed and set forth in its essential features, the resultant picture has the clarity and atmosphere of the broad sea horizon itself. There is nothing in naval warfare, as waged by the Royal Navy, of that frightful confusion and grime and clotted horror which has become inseparable from the operations of huge land forces. Sailors live clean lives—except when the poor fellows are coaling ship!—and die clean deaths. ”

“ As an aid in the construction of breakwaters, the blowing-up of submerged wrecks in comparatively speaking shallow waters, in searching for sunken treasures, and as an aid to marine explorations in suitable waters, the peace or working submarine is likely to be of untold value. ”

“ Salvage is my specialty. A vessel on reefs, or disabled, does not try to run away,” he commented dryly. Then he pressed the buzzer and the executive popped in. “Mr. Todd, relieve the master-at-arms. Deliver at once custody of salvage to this gentleman.” He turned to the official. “Salvage—simply salvage, sir. Within two minutes it will be left unguarded, unless you hurry.”
The prohibition man hurried—and Captain Bent peacefully enjoyed his breakfast.
An hour or so later the Arrowsic halted abreast the anchored Harvest Home and Captain Bent was conveyed aboard the schooner in his gig. ”

“ Prior to this, the IMO had concentrated mostly on construction and equipment of ships. This new review, spearheaded by the U.S., was to concentrate on the human element, which in fact is the cause of most marine casualties. ”

“ No vessel once on the neighboring reefs, or on the main island, was ever allowed to depart, while those wrecked in the Elbe or the neighboring rivers were simply plundered by the Heliogoland fishermen and pilots under the plea of salvage. The renumeration for discharging or pilfering a cargo used to be settled in full assembly of the Vorsteherschaft, whose members, being principally pilot officers and wreckers themselves, were naturally interested in the amount of the reward received for salvage. ”

“ It could not be held that the existence of these released the fleet from all duty but that of protecting our ocean commerce, because, if any enemy's navy was able to carry out an operation of such magnitude and difficulty as a serious attack on our home territory, it would assuredly be able to carry out the work of damaging our maritime trade. Power to do the latter has always belonged to the navy which was in a position to extend its activity persistently to the immediate neighbourhood of its opponent's coast-line. ”

“ A year or so ago a crew that rescued four sailors from a stranded vessel under the most trying conditions, before launching their boat, left their slender effects in the charge of a comrade for the benefit of their families—not one of them believing that they would return alive! And when the life-savers went off through the violent sea to rescue those on board the German ship Elizabeth, stranded on the Virginia coast, in January, 1887, all but two of the crew perished, together with the entire ship's company. ”

“ At times the surface of the ocean might be calm; there would not be a ship in sight or a sign of human existence anywhere; yet the air itself would be uninterruptedly filled with these reminders of war.
The duties of our destroyers, in these earliest days, were to hunt for submarines, to escort single ships, to pick up survivors in boats, and to go to the rescue of ships that were being attacked. For the purpose of patrol the sea was divided into areas thirty miles square; and to each of these one destroyer, sloop, or other vessel was assigned. ”

“ Diving and salvage training. The diving and salvage training is given officers and enlisted men35 with particular emphasis on operations performed in and around docks, quays, and other waterfront structures, harbors, inland waterways. Diving and salvage operations are essential to the rehabilitation of ports. The training should include the following:
(1) Diving-team problems with timber and steel construction; underwater concrete construction; underwater demolition of docks, piers, and ships; and actual salvage operations. ”

“ No attempt of any kind must be made to rescue members of ships sunk, and this includes picking up persons in the water and putting them in lifeboats, righting capsized lifeboats, and handing over food and water. ”

“ Seeing a ship in distress, they launched their nutshells and went to the rescue of ship-wrecked sailors, only too often finding a watery grave themselves. Every hamlet along the seashore has its legends of heroism, displayed by woman as well as by man, to save crews in distress.
No doubt the State and men of science have done something to diminish the number of casualties. Lighthouses, signals, charts, meteorological warnings have diminished them greatly, but there remain a thousand ships and several thousand human lives to be saved every year. ”