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THE SALVAGE OF SHIPS.* BY FRED W. YOUNG, M. I. MECH. E. There is something about marine salvage work that has always appealed to the adventurous spirit of the Briton, par- ticularly those who go down to the sea in ships, and general- ly to the whole of the shipping community. The people of our nation are admittedly good sportsmen, and the specula- tive nature of the work in which great risks are sometimes FIG. I.--STEAMER ASHORE ON WEST COAST OF. AFRICA. run in order to save something that looks as if it were lost, appeals strongly to those sporting instincts. By risks, the author does not mean the actual personal risks to the people employed at the work, but the risk of expending large sums of money with the chance of losing it, as well as the object it is intended to try to save. There is a good deal of the same spirit of adventure about the work which induced our forefathers to equip expeditions, and make voyages to un- known seas in their search for hidden treasure. One particular feature of salvage work which, although sometimes very disappointing, is always interesting, is the FIG, 2.:--STEAMER WALTER BIBBY,; COMMENCEMENT OF THE TURNING OPERATIONS, difficulty of mapping out a plan of operations and carrying it through as originally intended. There are so many factors working against the salvage engineer, such as weather and other contingencies, that however well he plans and thinks out a certain course of procedure, something will surely hap- pen in most cases that will upset his calculations to a more or less extent. It is nearly always a fight against the weather, and it has become an axiom with the salvage engineer that he should be able to quickly determine what to leave alone. * Paper read before the Liverpool Engineering Society, THE Marine REVIEW The commercial aspect must always enter into any calcula- tions he may make, and the method adopted must necessarily be regulated by the value of the article to be saved. The modern 'salvor is thus faced with two important considera- FIG. 3:--WALTER BIBBY TURNING OVER. tions: he must regulate his expenditure within these bounds, and decide on the spot whether the cost of his plan of opera- tions will be repaid by the results he can reasonably hope to achieve. There is still always the risk remaining that the wrecked vessel may receive more damage after the opera- tions are commenced, on account of inclement weather com- ing on, or other untoward circumstances intervening, and in some instances, although the ship may be still salvable, the "damage may be so extensive that the repairs will cost more than she is worth. The principle of constructive total loss must be the dominating factor in his calculations and guide FIG, 4.--WALTER BIBBY TURNING OVER. all his operations; which principle, as you are aware, means that the cost of salvage, plus re-instatement, must always be less than the market value of the recovered ship when re- paired. Taken as a most important branch of the science of en- gineering, marine salvage work has not received the attention it really deserves. Until of late years very little improvement had been made in the necessary plant and appliances over what had been in existence for many years previous, and it may safely be asserted that twenty years ago no thoroughly equipped salvage steamer existed in Great Britain. At that time, Liverpool possessed in the Hyzna, one small, but very useful vessel, and there were a few 'others in the coun- try, but certainly nothing worthy of the greatest maritime nation of the world. It is true that considerable progress has been made during that period, but it is a regrettable fact that that progress has not been in any way commensurate