Popular Science Monthly 569 



She Was Torpedoed but Her Cargo , Making a Fortune Out of Dust 



Level of grain in 

 ship before bemq 

 torpedoed — 

 Level of qrain . 

 after torpedoinq 



Plugged the Hole 



ONE of the most unusual salvages yet 

 recorded in these days of submarine 

 warfare is that of the Norwegian steam- j 

 ship Kongsli, whose cargo of grain 

 swelled to such an extent on the in- 

 rush of water through the ragged 

 hole torn in her side by a torpedo, 

 that the hole was clogged 

 up and the water prevented 

 from flowing in and sinking 

 h e r . T h e 

 vessel was 

 torpedoed 

 about fifteen 

 miles off the 

 coast of Hol- 

 land and was 

 later towed 

 into Yumid- 

 en, nearAm- 

 sterdam, 

 where it was 

 put into dry- 

 dock and her 

 hull repaired 

 so that she 

 w as soon 

 able to put 

 to sea again. 



A party of fishermen, approaching the 

 vessel, found her abandoned, for the crew 

 had left her as soon as possible after the 

 torpedo had. struck, because she had 

 listed to a dangerous degree. Even the 

 captain had given her up as lost. 



The fishermen, clambering aboard to dis- 

 cover the trouble, were amazed to find that 

 the ragged hole on one side and hull plates 

 torn loose on the other by the force of the 

 explosion had been very effectively plugged 

 by the swollen grain as shown in the ac- 

 companying cross-sectional view. 



Of course the ship was then merely 

 floating on the ocean as a boy's boat made 

 of a stick on a pond, and the fishermen were 

 afraid to attempt to tow her because the 

 rush of the water along her sides might 

 have washed away the effective grain seal. 

 Accordingly, they improvised bales made 

 out of canvas filled with grain and forced 

 these into the holes. This made the 

 stoppage secure enough to enable the vessel 

 to be towed to a nearby port. 



The inrushing of the water caused the grain to swell, so that 

 it effectually plugged up the hole made by the torpedo 



from a Cement Factory 



THE United States Bureau of 

 Mines has lately issued a 

 statement in regard to a 

 Portland cement plant at 

 Riverside, California, which 

 shows how an apparatus, in- 

 stalled to avoid nuisance and 

 save the health of the work- 

 ers, has become 

 the central fea- 

 ture of the 

 whole establish- 

 ment. 



One of the 

 great trou- 

 bles of a 

 Portland ce- 

 ment mill is 

 the dust. It 

 is likely to 

 disturb veg- 

 etation by 

 settling 

 d o v; n on 

 growing 

 things, and 

 it is very 

 unwhole- 

 some. The 

 factory in question was in trouble 0:1 this 

 account and it availed itself of Prof. 

 Cottrell's invention to precipitate the par- 

 ticles on their way to the stack by means of 

 electric currents. Now this dust contains 

 potash, and so efficient is the installation 

 that ninety per cent, of the content of this 

 precious product is recovered in the form 

 of potash salts. The present demand for 

 potash in this country is something like 

 Coal Oil Johnny's thirst, which, according 

 to the legend, was unquenchable. As is 

 well known, we formerly obtained our en- 

 tire supply from Germany. These salts 

 which they produce in California bring as 

 high as $400 and $450 a ton. 



The Riverside concern finds that its 

 potash salt output pays its entire operating 

 costs plus a reasonable profit, leaving the 

 cement, which it will soon be producing at 

 a rate of 5,000 bbls. per day, as clear 

 profit. It has no immediate market for so 

 much cement, but what is not sold is kept 

 in storage. — Ellwood Hendrick. 



The November issue of Popular Science Monthly will be on sale on all newsstands, 

 Wednesday, October 10th (west of the Rocky Mountains, October 20th). 



