The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

196 to insure the sufe return of the bar- ney car to the pit. Importance of the Hoist. It will be seen from the above that every effort has been made to insure the safe and uninterrupted operation of this hoist, which is the most im- portant piece o% apparatus in the pier equipment. In service, the hoist can deliver 45 loaded cars per hour, each car averaging 185,000 lbs. The cars "are moved up the incline at the rate of 480 ft. per minute and the barney car tfeturhs to the ipit at a "speed = of 555 ft. per minute, the main haul rope unwinding from the drum as the tail rope is wound on. The incline has a 25% grade, and the vertical distance to which the car is elevated is 77 ft. The main haul rope of the hoist. is 134 in. in diameter, 6 strand, 19 wires. ihe tail trope is also 6 strand, 19 wires, 134 in. in diameter, both ropes being made of plow steel. The hoist, which was especially de- "receiving yard of the TRE Marine REVIEW signed to meet the requirements of this coal pier, was supplied by the Lidgerwood Mfg. Co., of New York, the saotors and electric control ap- paratus being manufactured by the General Electric Co. : Power is secured from the generat- ing sta.ion of the Norfolk and Ports- mouth Traction Co., located in Nor- folk, Va., and current is transmitted a distance of ten miles to a rotary converter sub-station located in the railway ter- minal, from which direct current is supplied to the motors on the pier. The plans of the Virginian Railway for the Sewell's Point terminal in- clude the construction of three addi- tional piers similar in capacity and equipment to the one described above. When the entire development is com- pleted, the terminal will have a nor- mal annual capacity of 18,000,000 tons, and will constitute tke largest coal handling plant of this type in the world. Salving a Stern -Wheeler By Linur, R. M. Reynormps, Ro Ne ER: AVIGATION on a West African river is by no means easy or de- void of danger, and although very few lives are lost through accidents to ves- sels, it is by no means uncommon for disaster to overtake one of these frail 'river craft, The delta of the Niger presents few difficulties to the pilot, and the dan- gerous rocks in the river between Etobe and Lokoja, a distance of 29 miles, are so well known to the major- ity of pilots that few ships strike them; but between Etobe and the delta is a dangerous zone where sunken trees are prevalent. These ttecs, or as they are called, snags, are washed away from the banks of every high river, and as they often ibring up in places which were previ- ously clear they become a source of great danger, and many ships have come to grief through striking them. It is, of course, possible during low river to remove a number of these obstructions, and many of the more dangerous are blown up, but there are always others unknown on which ves- sels occasionally strike. Rather more than a year ago the Sultan, a new _ stern-wheeler belong- ing to the government of Northern Nigeria, struck one of these snags and would have sunk had she not been held up by it, and it is to de- scribe the method by which she was salved that this article is written. Struck a Submerged Snag. The Sultan was a small stern-wheel steamer 75 ft. long, and divided into five watertight compartments, the forepeak, bunker, fore hold, after hold and engine room. On her second: trip down river, when about 125 miles from Lokoja, she struck a submerged snag, and as at the time she was traveling over the ground at 10: to 12 knots: an hour' 'the impact. was enormous. A hole was torn in the port side from the fore side of the bulkhead dividing the fore peak and bunkers, and extending along the for- ward bulkhead of the fore hold, where the snag brought up, but not before it had started the latter bulkhead. The engine room was also. slightly holed, probably by another snag. The only compartment intact was the after hold; but as a manhole door on the bulkhead between it and the engine room was open at the time the ves- sel struck, this hold filled as well. Fortunately for all on board (and there were probably between 40 and 50 persons, including some European passengers), she remained impaled on the snag, her upper deck above water, and all on board made their way safely on shore. Only one life was lost and that through the foolhardi- May, 1910 ness of a man who was drowned in the hold while diving to recover some effects. As soon as news of the wreck was received in Lokoja, two stern-wheel- ers and a lighter were dispatched to render assistance. By the time they arrived the Sultan had slewed round with her head pointing up stream, and had heeled over to such an extent that the after part of the sun deck on the port side was submerged. First Work of Salvage. 'The first efforts of the salvage party were directed to raising the ship suf- ficiently to clear the lower deck of water so that the various compart- ments could, if possible, be pumped out. To this end a sling was placed round the port sponson, and one of the stern-wheelers, the Valiant, took up her 'position on that side with two large spars, to which the pur- chases were made fast, projecting over her bows. The purchases were then shackled to the sling and hove away on until the Sultan assumed an up- right 'position, when a sling was passed round both sponsons so: that it led up right aft in the fore and aft line of the ship. Another sling was passed under the hull in the wake of the engine room, and a further sling forward in the wake of the boil- -er. This forward sling was brought up on one side to the lighter, to which it was securely lashed, and a purchase from the second stern-wheeler, the Sarota, shackled on to the other end of it. The after and. forward pur- chases were then hove away on, but the Sultan was so firmly wedged on the snag that it was impossible to lift her sufficiently to free the lower deck from water, and everything had to remain as it. was until the arrival of a passing steamer. This latter vessel made fast to the sling under the engine room, but when all was in readiness for heaving away the forward purchase was accidently surged, and the sudden strain thrown on the Sarota's windlass broke one of the wheels so that the work had again to be suspended until a new wheel could be obtained. The third vessel then proceeded to Lokoja. A new wheel was made for the Sarota's windlass and: sent down, to- gether with another lighter, as at that time no other ship could be spared. It was, however, found impossible to do any good without the help of a third ship, so the forward and after purchases were hove as. taut as possible, and the sling under the en- gine room lashed to the second light- up