GREAT EASTERN. 



505 



in length, and varying from a mere crack to 2 

 inches in width had been discovered by the 

 divers on. the first survey, and had been covered 

 by a mat of rope ; but on examination this mat 

 was found sagged off, and the rent was now 

 calked with a canvas sausage, stuffed with sea- 

 weed. The bilge pumps were now set to work 

 to take the water out of the side where this rent 

 was, and manhole plates were put in the fore 

 land aft webs to cut off the passage of water 

 from this rent to the adjacent sides. Meanwhile 

 the Andrew's pump still continued at work, but 

 the water did not lower in the caisson. Accord- 

 ingly it became necessary to make a resurvey 

 of the ship's bottom, keeping the pumps at 

 work to cause a current to set in at every frac- 

 ture, so that it might readily be found by the 

 divers. The first examination had been made 

 from a platform of ladders and spars ballasted, 

 and suspended from the ship's sides, and be- 

 neath her bottom, and moved as required, by 

 the crew on deck. In the reexamination the 

 shifting of the scaffold was left to the diver. A 

 plank about 40 feet long was used for a scaf- 

 fold. This plank had 2 eye bolts inserted in 

 its under side, at a distance of 10 feet from its 

 ends. Through these eye bolts ropes wore 

 passed, which undergirded the ship. This plank 

 could thus be shifted laterally on the ropes at 

 the pleasure of the diver, and fastened by small 

 ropes to the undergirders. Commencing for- 

 ward, as soon as one section of the ship's bot- 

 tom had been examined, the undergirders were 

 shifted aft half the length of the planks, and so 

 aft till the whole bottom was thoroughly ex- 

 amined. This examination took from October 

 20 to November 3, and discovered six other 

 fractures in addition to the forward one and 

 that beneath the caisson. These fractures va- 

 ried in length from 3 to 24 feet, and from mere 

 cracks to a separation of about 3 inches. All 

 these cracks were stopped temporarily before 

 the caisson could be pumped out, by a con- 

 trivance suggested by the diver, Peter Fallon, 

 consisting of a frame of light wood, a little larger 

 than the hole to be stopped, and lashing to this 

 frame like the sacking of a bed a sheet of India 

 rubber belting; this belting was 12 inches 

 wide, and to cover the biggest hole, it was ne- 

 cessary to use two strips lapped and riveted. 

 As the rubber was placed over the fracture, 

 the draft through the caisson when the pump 

 was running drew the rubber close to the 

 ship, and any joints or wrinkles in the rubber 

 admitting water were chinked "with sea weed. 

 To secure the patches when the pumps stop- 

 ped, flock mattresses, attached to light spars, 

 were brought up against the patches by ropes 

 undergirding the ship. By November 3d all 

 the cracks were temporarily stopped, and the 

 water began to sink rapidly in the shafts. As 

 soon as it was down 6 feet below the outside 

 level, the pump was run only fast enough to 

 keep the water at this level, and the divers 

 were sent down into the caisson and wedges 

 were taken down in a bag, and driven between 



the cross beams and the ship's bottom to dis- 

 tribute the pressure as uniformly as possible. 

 Some delay and trouble were caused by the 

 want of fresh water for the boilers driving the 

 pump, which were placed on the deck of tho 

 chip ; but at 5 P. M. the caisson was sufficiently 

 freed from water to enable Capt. Paton and 

 one of the divers to enter at one shaft and pass 

 through the caisson, and out at the other. 

 Next morning the engine driving the pump 

 broke down, repairs were made, and the engine 

 started again ; but the gale of Nov. Vth now 

 came on ; the ship dragged her anchors, and 

 had to be pnt under full steam. A large rope, 

 which had been used as a guy, either by acci- 

 dent or design, got foul of the pump shaft, was 

 wound up by it, and the shaft broken and the 

 pump so disarranged, that it had to bo re- 

 moved and repaired ; and as it could not be 

 replaced by the divers, some new arrange- 

 ment was necessary, and that shown in fig. 3, 

 in which the pump is secured in the bottom 

 of an upright box bolted to the ship's side, 

 and driven by a belt, was adopted. The con- 

 struction of this box and placing it in position 

 occupied a week. Everything was ready to 

 start on Saturday, the 15th, but no work was 

 done till Monday, when the pump was started. 

 The work of wedging the cross frames, arrang- 

 ing the patches and chinking with sea grass 

 wherever a leak showed itself, had to be gone 

 over by the divers. On Tuesday the captain and 

 the chief engineer of the ship, Mr. Rorison, went 

 through the caisson, and a man was set to drill- 

 ing the first rivet hole. The engineers of the 

 ship were sent into the cells between the skins, 

 where they found the water running in a stream 

 about 3 inches deep through one of the man- 

 holes in one of the longitudinal webs between 

 the cells. This manhole was closed by a plank 

 with a rubber facing, and secured by a shore. 

 The carpenters were now set at work to make 

 a scaffold for the drillers in the caisson, and 

 the men at work to drill the rivet holes, under 

 the direction of the engineers of the ship, and 

 the dimensions of the necessary plates were 

 taken, and the iron ordered. On November 

 23d all the holes were drilled, and the plates 

 were arriving; but now the Andrew's pump 

 began to show sign* of weakness, and gave 

 out, and the caisson began to fill. The ship's 

 pnmps were set at work in the compartment of 

 the skin over the caisson, and kept the water 

 from rising over ten feet in the caisson. The 

 centrifugal pump was taken out, sent to the city 

 for repairs, and returned the same P. M. ; put 

 in place and set at work by the next A. M.; then 

 the engineers of the ship commenced to ap- 

 ply the plates and the riveters set to work, the 

 hot rivets being dropped into the caisson 

 through tubes arranged for the purpose. To 

 guard against another accident, another pump, 

 a Worthington, which had been previously rec- 

 ommended by the engineers, but. on account 

 of economy, not adopted, was placed in one 

 of the stoke holes, over the fracture. Steam 



