The Salvage Ship That Came to Raise Puget Sound’s Sunken Wrecks

The wrecking schooner White Law arrived in this port last Saturday evening, and on Sunday she was visited by something like 300 of our people. The boat is fitted out and is now run by Mr. T. P. H. Whitelaw. She was launched last November, and every particular of machinery necessary for her occupation has been secured. Capt. Kay and the diver, Mr. Wallace, are the only noted ones of the crew; the others are known by the general term of wreckers.

The diver's suit is of the latest style, and is constructed something as follows: The dress is made of material resembling oil-canvas, but is lined with rubber. This is complete, covering the body from the neck to the feet. A tight-fitting wristband obviates the necessity of wearing gloves. There is a pair of shoes with leaden soles, weighing 20 pounds each. A belt of shot weighing 60 pounds is worn. The brass helmet is constructed with an air pump, and there is a little valve where the surplus air escapes. Ten fathoms is the greatest depth in which divers can work comfortably. In greater depths much care is necessary lest the pressure may cause the diver's death.

The hull of the boat is divided as follows: aft, the cabin; next the engine room; then the hold and the coal bunkers, holding 26 tons of coal. Then in the bow are the great pumps, and in the extreme bow is the cabin and sleeping apartments of the men. The only house consists of sheet-iron frames around the boilers and engines.

The machinery and lighting apparatus are something wonderful. They have the twenty hydraulic 'jacks' used to raise those large buildings in San Francisco at the time of the widening of Dupont street. There is aboard about 20 fathoms of very heavy anchor chains. There are three hydraulic pumps—one weighing about five tons—which sends a stream about one foot in diameter. A great many other machines, as heavy rigging and tackling blocks, are aboard, besides the machinery left at Port Discovery.

Mr. Whitelaw has purchased the scuttled Warhawk at Port Discovery, and they will raise her by sinking pontoons, lashing them to the ship, and then pumping the water out, when the vacuum thus formed will raise the boat bodily, and enable the workmen to board her. The Mississippi will probably be the first one raised, and the method of proceeding is about as follows: Her bow will be raised by the hydraulics; then with the heavy tackle on the shore she will be hauled up into shallow water, where the diver can work. The diver will then pass under with a hose, forcing a passage through the sand. Then he will pass a small line through, and increase the size of the line until they can pass the large chain under. They will probably pass about ten of these chains through, and with piling and hydraulicking will raise her bodily. The Warhawk is the more difficult boat to raise, but the raising of the sunken Mississippi will be a spectacle not often witnessed in the Sound waters.