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‘ Part of the wooden fleet on the James river which is being steadily reduced by wreckers Wrecked Wood Ships Yield Big Salvage NE of the many cross currents set in motion by the great war is now in full flood within the shadow of the nation’s capital. Just across the historic Potomac river at Alexandria, Va., and in plain view of the city of Washington, workmen are tearing asunder hundreds of the wood- en ships built under war time pres- sure, This wooden fleet cost the people of this country $300,000,000, but when the war ended and this government found itself burdened with ships that never could be used in commerce there was only one of two things to do: Either let these ships rot at their moorings or sell them to a company that would dismantle them and place the salvaged material in the ordinary channels’ of trade. The latter course was pursued. Ever since the end of hostilities, the wooden vessels have been anchored at Claremont, Va.,. far enough up the James river so that they would not be ravaged by marine borers. These eS RE] Sees ravagers can not live in fresh water, so the safety of the wooden fleet was sought by mooring it outside the ranging area of. these salt-sea free- .booters. Six or seven years ago, the quiet old city of Alexandria awoke to the fact that once again she was a center of active war time preparations. Ships were being buIt by the Virginia Ship- building Corp. Today, these same shipyards, after an interim of~ idle- ness and neglect, are again harnessed for active service. But the equipment is used to tear apart rather than put together. The Western Marine & Salvage Co., San Francisco, purchased nearly 300 ships from the shipping board for $750,000, and now is busily engaged in tearing the vessels to pieces and sell- ing hundreds of thousands of items of all kinds, nautical equipment, ma- riners’ supplies and ship fittings that are salvaged from the big boats. Every mechanical device known to the sea- faring and ship-wrecking industries that is efficient in demolition, is being em- ployed to expedite the work for it is just about as complicated and difh- cult a proposition to destroy one of these wooden vessels as it was to build. The terms of sale were that the ships were to be accepted “as is, where is.’ They were to be dismantled as rap:dly as possible and they were not to be used for transportation pur- poses. The wrecking activities have now been in progress for many months and about 80 of the vessels have al- ready been dismantled. The manager of the demolition operations estimates that it will take about 14 to 16 months longer to complete the salvage en- terprises and to sell all the stocks of ‘redeemed equipment, Operating at peak capacity, his shipwrecking crews are are able to dismantle one of the boats in two days. The wrecking of two ‘to three vessels a week represents a good six day’s work. Two of the GENERAL VIEW OF YARD -AT ALEXANDRIA, | 418 VA. AN AVERAGE OF TWO TO THREE SHIPS