SS Wairarapa
The SS Wairarapa was a New Zealand ship of the late 19th century plying the route between the Auckland, New Zealand and Australia. It came to fame when it hit a reef at the northern edge of Great Barrier Island, about 100 km out from Auckland. The death toll of around 140 people remains one of the largest such losses in the countrys history, the ship was named for the Wairarapa region. The Wairarapa was built in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1882 for the Union Steam Ship Company, soon after launch she sailed to New Zealand to become one of a small number of luxury steamers plying the route across the Tasman Sea to Australia. The Wairarapa sailed from Sydney, Australia on Wednesday 24 October 1894, the ship’s destination was the rapidly growing New Zealand port city of Auckland,2,000 miles away. As the Wairarapa rounded the top of the North Island of New Zealand four days later, however, Captain John S. McIntosh refused to slow the ship from 13 knots, nearly full speed despite the thick fog. Fatally, the ship went off-course, possibly due to a faulty compass bearing, at the subsequent Court of Enquiry into the incident, some even suggested the ship had been steered by dead reckoning rather than using a compass at all.
Whatever the cause, the ship skirted to the west of the Poor Knights Islands, as a consequence she was much closer to the mainland than the ship’s crew believed. At around 8 minutes past midnight on Monday 29 October 1894, the hours after the wreck saw great loss of life. Many passengers could not swim and drowned in the seas in trying to make it to shore. One liferaft was seen floating out to sea and was never sighted again, many men, including a large portion of the crew, took to one of the lifeboats, leaving women and children behind. A number of people took refuge in the ship’s rigging, at about 3 am Captain McIntosh jumped into the sea and was presumed drowned. Several other lifeboats which had been safely launched stayed near the stricken ship, one lifeboat eventually succeeded in reaching a local community of Ngati Wai Māori based at Katherine Bay, on the western coast of the island. They were able to rescue and provide care for a number of the survivors, seaman and farmer Mariano Vella and his new wife belonged to the survivors of the disaster.
Although the Wairarapa was expected in Auckland, there was no way of knowing where she may have come to grief. As the only contact with the island at the time was via weekly trips from a steamer, the Northern Companys steamer Argyle arrived in Port FitzRoy on Wednesday 31 October and took the survivors who had reached Port FitzRoy on board. The steamer proceeded to the site of the shipwreck, and to Katherine Bay, picking up further survivors, a Court of Enquiry was held after the Wairarapa disaster, and found Captain McIntoshs actions were the primary cause of the tragedy. The wreck of the Wairarapa is scheduled for preservation in the Auckland Regional Plan, ancestr. com,29 October 1894 - The Tragedy of the SS Wairarapa The New Zealand documentary series Decent from disaster made an episode about this wreck WRECK OF S. S. WAIRARAPA
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B.
Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical.
In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
E. Lee Spence
Edward Lee Spence is a pioneer in underwater archaeology who studies shipwrecks and sunken treasure. He is an editor and author of non-fiction reference books, a magazine editor, and magazine publisher. Spence was twelve years old when he found his first five shipwrecks, in 1991 and 1992, Spence served as Chief of Underwater Archeology for San Andres y Providencia, a 40,000 square-mile Colombian owned archipelago in the western Caribbean. He has worked on the wrecks of Spanish galleons, pirate ships, Great Lakes freighters, modern luxury liners, Civil War blockade runners, Spence first reported the discovery of the Civil War submarine Hunley in 1970. Spence mapped and reported its location to numerous government agencies, the July 2007 cover story in U. S. News & World Report noted that the Hunley disappeared without a trace until 1970 when it was found by underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence. Both sides still claim that they and not the other discovered the wreck, on September 13,1976, the National Park Service submitted Sea Research Societys location for H. L.
Hunley for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Spences location for Hunley became a matter of record when H. L. Hunleys placement on that list was officially approved on December 29,1978. Spences book Treasures of the Confederate Coast, which had a chapter on his discovery of Hunley, mark M. Newell and funded in part by novelist Clive Cussler. Later the same year, at the official request of Senator Glenn F. McConnell, of the State of South Carolina Hunley Commission, Spence donated all of his rights to the shipwreck to the State. The Hunley discovery was described by Dr. William Dudley, Director of Naval History at the Naval Historical Center as probably the most important find of the century, in addition to the Hunley, Spence has discovered several historically significant shipwrecks, including the SS Georgiana. Spences literary discovery that had its roots in his discoveries of some of Trenholms wrecked blockade runners made international news. In June 2013 Spence announced his discovery of the wreck of the SS Ozama, a steamer with a history of smuggling, Spence is a cartographer and has published a number of popular and archaeological maps and charts dealing with historical events, archaeology and treasure.
Current President and Chairman of the Board of the Sea Research Society and he is a lifetime member of Mensa International and a former member of Intertel. Spence has a discharge from the United States Army Reserves and has served as Commander. His doctorate is a Doctor of Marine Histories from Sea Research Societys College of Marine Arts, searches for Hunley, Spence Sea Research Society links to Hunley The Hunley. com website dedicated to Hunley Find Spences books & maps in a library with WorldCat
Florvil Hyppolite
Louis Mondestin Florvil Hyppolite was the President of Haiti from 17 October 1889 to 24 March 1896. He was a soldier, a general. He was installed as president by a constitutional council and he was reportedly under the influence of Victoire Jean-Baptiste, mistress of his successor Tirésias Simon Sam. Hyppolite died of an attack while in office, on a trip to address a civilian revolt in the city of Jacmel. A tale of Haitian folklore describes how Hyppolites hat fell off his head before arriving to Jacmel that day, the incident is remembered in the Haitian children song Panama M Tombé, which is still sung to this day
USS Kearsarge (1861)
USS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama during the American Civil War. The Kearsarge was the ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire. Subsequent ships were named Kearsarge in honor of the ship, Kearsarge was built at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, under the 1861 American Civil War emergency shipbuilding program. Soon after, she was hunting for Confederate raiders in European waters, Kearsarge departed Portsmouth on 5 February 1862 for the coast of Spain. She sailed to Gibraltar to join the blockade of Confederate raider CSS Sumter, from there, Alabama went on to become the most successful commerce raider in naval history. Kearsarge took up station at the entrance to await Semmes next move. On 19 June, Alabama stood out of Cherbourg Harbor for her last action, mindful of French neutrality, Kearsarges new commanding officer, Capt. John A. Winslow, took the sloop-of-war clear of territorial waters, the battle quickly turned against Alabama due to her poor gunnery and the quality of her long-stored and deteriorated powder and shells.
This hull armor had been installed in just three days, more than a year before, while Kearsarge was in port at the Azores. It was made using 720 ft of 1.7 in single-link iron chain and it was stopped up and down in three layers to eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. This was concealed behind 1 in deal-boards painted black to match the upper hulls color, one hour after she fired her first salvo, Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck by Kearsarges more accurate gunnery and its powerful 11 in Dahlgren smoothbore pivot cannons. Kearsarge finally sent ships boats for the majority of Alabamas survivors, the battle between Kearsarge and Alabama is honored by the United States Navy by a battle star on the Civil War campaign streamer. Read George E. Read James Saunders William Smith Robert Strahan The medals were awarded on 31 December 1864, after cruising the Mediterranean Sea and the English Channel south to Monrovia, Kearsarge was decommissioned on 14 August 1866 in the Boston Navy Yard.
Kearsarge was recommissioned on 16 January 1868 and sailed on 12 February to serve in the South Pacific operating out of Valparaíso, on 22 August, she landed provisions for destitute earthquake victims in Peru. She continued to watch over American commercial interests along the coast of South America until 17 April 1869, she sailed to watch over American interests among the Marquesas, Society Islands, Navigators Islands, and Fiji Islands. She called at ports in New South Wales and New Zealand before returning to Callao and she resumed duties on the South Pacific Station until 21 July 1870, cruised to the Hawaiian Islands before being decommissioned in the Mare Island Navy Yard on 11 October 1870. Kearsarge was recommissioned on 8 December 1873 and departed on 4 March 1874 for Yokohama and she cruised on Asiatic Station for three years, protecting American citizens and commerce in China and the Philippines. From 4 September to 13 December, she carried Professor Asaph Halls scientific party from Nagasaki, Japan, to Vladivostok and she departed Nagasaki on 3 September 1877, and via the Suez Canal, she visited Mediterranean ports before returning to Boston on 30 December
SS Prince of Wales (1887)
Prince of Wales was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, in 1887, and was launched on Thursday,14 April 1887. Fairfields supplied her engines and boilers, the cost of her construction is not recorded. However, she was purchased by the Steam Packet Company together with PS Queen Victoria for the sum of £155,000 Length 330, beam 391, depth 152. Prince of Wales had a tonnage of 2,568 GRT, was certified to carry 1546 passengers and had a crew complement of 69. Both sisters were fitted with compound engines developing 6,500 shp at 40.5 r. p. m. with a steam pressure of 110 pounds per square inch. Both the Prince of Wales and Queen Victorias engines were referred to as a coupled two crankshaft engine. The crankshaft was connected at the crank by a drag link, the high-pressure cylinder was horizontal to, and the low-pressure cylinder diagonal to, the centre of the shaft. The two cylinders were 61 and 112 inches in diameter with a 78-inch stroke, so successful were these two ships that a number of other companies adopted the engine design for cross-channel work.
The Manx Line, as the Isle of Man and Manchester Steamship Company was called commenced service with the Prince of Wales, to counter these rivals, the Steam Packet Company reduced fares, and The Manx Line retailiated. As in the days of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. On 19 May 1888, Monas Isle and Queen Victoria had an exciting race, the Prince of Wales was considered a very fast ship in her time. During her sea trials she was recorded over a mile at a speed of 24.5 knots. Prince of Wales once steamed from Rock Light, New Brighton to Douglas Head,59 min. an average speed of 23.25 knots. In August 1894, she collided with and sank the steamer Hibernia, two of the crew of the Hibernia were lost, and a third man was picked up by the Steam Packet ship. Some months the Manx vessel was held to blame, Prince of Wales was sold to the Admiralty in 1915. Her name was changed to Prince Edward and she was fitted out as a net-laying anti-submarine ship, the two ships were soon in the Eastern Mediterranean theatre, in support of troopships and even warships in the submarine-infested seas.
At one time during the Gallipoli Campaign they found themselves accompanying their Steam Packet sister Snaefell, after the Great War, she was sold under the name Prince Edward to T. C. Pas for £5,600, and was broken up at Scheveningen, island Lifeline T. Stephenson & Sons Ltd ISBN 0-901314-20-X
Reef
A reef is a bar of rock, coral or similar material, lying beneath the surface of water. Reefs may be up to 261 feet below the surface, artificial reefs such as shipwrecks are sometimes created to enhance physical complexity on generally featureless sand bottoms in order to attract a diverse assemblage of organisms, especially fish. There is a variety of reef types, including oyster reefs. These biotic reef types take on additional names depending upon how the reef lies in relation to the land, Reef types include fringing reef, barrier reefs, as well as atolls. A fringing reef is a reef that is attached to an island, a barrier reef forms a calcareous barrier around an island resulting in a lagoon between the shore and the reef. An atoll is a reef with no land present. The reef front is a high energy locale whereas the internal lagoon will be at an energy with fine grained sediments. One useful definition distinguishes reefs from mounds as follows, reefs are held up by a macroscopic skeletal framework.
Coral reefs are an excellent example of this kind and calcareous algae grow on top of one another and form a three-dimensional framework that is modified in various ways by other organisms and inorganic processes. By contrast, mounds lack a macroscopic skeletal framework, mounds are built by microorganisms or by organisms that dont grow a skeletal framework. A microbial mound might be built exclusively or primarily by cyanobacteria, excellent examples of biostromes formed by cyanobacteria occur in the Great Salt Lake of Utah, and in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Cyanobacteria do not have skeletons and individuals are microscopic, cyanobacteria encourage the precipitation or accumulation of calcium carbonate and can produce distinct sediment bodies in composition that have relief on the seafloor. Cyanobacterial mounds were most abundant before the evolution of shelly macroscopic organisms and crinoids, common contributors to marine sediments during the Mississippian, produced a very different kind of mound.
Bryozoans are small and the skeletons of crinoids disintegrate, however and crinoid meadows can persist over time and produce compositionally distinct bodies of sediment with depositional relief. The Proterozoic Belt Supergroup contains evidence of microbial mat and dome structures similar to stromatolite reef complexes. Ancient reefs buried within stratigraphic sections are of considerable interest to geologists because they provide information about the location in Earths history. Corals, including some major extinct groups Rugosa and Tabulata, have been important reef builders through much of the Phanerozoic since the Ordovician Period. However, other groups, such as calcifying algae, especially members of the red algae Rhodophyta
Dynamite gun
A dynamite gun is any of a class of artillery pieces that use compressed air to propel an explosive projectile. Dynamite guns were in use for a period from the 1880s to the beginning of the twentieth century. Because of the instability of early high explosives, it was impractical to fire a shell from a conventional gun. The violent deflagration of the propellant charge and the acceleration of the shell would set off the explosive in the barrel of the weapon. By using compressed air, the gun was able to accelerate the projectile more gradually through the length of the barrel. Guns for naval use were supplied with air from shipboard compressors, a small model for field use by land forces employed a powder charge to drive a piston down a cylinder, compressing air that was fed into the gun barrel. This field model was used by Theodore Roosevelts Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War. The guns fired a relatively lightweight shell, necessarily the guns had a low muzzle velocity and this increased the flight time of the shell, resulting in a loss of accuracy.
By 1900, the availability of high explosives, the longer range of conventional artillery, the guns mechanical complexity. The original invention of a gun to fire an explosive charge with compressed air was the work of D. M. Medford of Chicago and his prototype was demonstrated in 1883 at Fort Hamilton, New York. Edmund Zalinski, an American artillery officer, saw the demonstration, some of his work took place at Fort Lafayette, New York. The Navy was impressed, and commissioned the construction of a dynamite gun cruiser. The USS Vesuvius, launched in 1888, was armed with three fifteen-inch pneumatic guns capable of firing an explosive projectile 1.5 miles, and eventually bombarded Cuba in the Spanish–American War, the projectiles were sometimes called aerial torpedoes. In 1897, an 8. 4-inch Zalinski dynamite gun was fitted to the first commissioned US submarine USS Holland and it was removed in 1900. From 1894 to 1901, the Army purchased and installed several coastal batteries of 15 inch dynamite guns as part of the coast defense modernization program initiated by the Endicott Board.
These could throw a projectile from 2,000 to 5,000 yards depending on the weight of the projectile. Compressed air at 2,500 psi was supplied by a steam-driven compressor, in addition to the guns and their ammunition, the steam boiler and other equipment necessary to operate the guns weighed over 200 tons. Among other locations, three guns were installed as Battery Dynamite at Fort Winfield Scott, near the Presidio of San Francisco, in 1904 the batteries were decommissioned, and the guns dismounted and scrapped
Blackpool shipwrecks
Blackpool and the Fylde coast has become a ship graveyard to a number of vessels over the years. Most of the shipwrecks occurred at or near Blackpool, whilst a few happened a little further afield but have strong connections with the Blackpool area, for the purposes of this article, Blackpool means the stretch of coast from Fleetwood to Lytham St Annes. The Travers was wrecked in 1755 with a cargo of lace, in the autumn of 1779 a ship laden with peas was wrecked at Blackpool. In December 1797, the Happy foundered off Lytham St. Annes and she was on a voyage from Oporto, Portugal to Liverpool, Lancashire. The Fanny was wrecked off the coast of Blackpool in 1821, laden with red, a ship was wrecked at the Gynn in 1833. The Crusader was wrecked at South Shore in 1839, laden with silk, some looters from Marton were jailed after being caught stealing the cargo. The Brig Aristocrat was wrecked opposite the Imperial Hydro in 1840, two of the passengers were drowned. The schooner William Henry was wrecked at South Shore, laden with flour, the St.
Michael was wrecked at Blackpool on 18 September 1864. The new lifeboat rescued the crew of fourteen, the brig Favourite, of Liverpool was wrecked off Blackpool on 22 November 1865 with the loss of ten crew. She was carrying a cargo of oil and seed. The barque Lexington was wrecked, the crew of fourteen were saved by the lifeboat, the Fleetwood schooner Bessie Jones was lost on Salthouse Bank on 26 February 1880. One man was lost, but four were saved and it was this shipwreck that led to a campaign for a lifeboat at St. Annes. The Arethusa was wrecked off Blackpool in 1882, ten people were saved, the Norwegian ship Sirene was sailing from Fleetwood to Florida in the United States on 9 October 1892 when it was caught up in a hurricane and smashed into North pier, destroying part of the pier. The eleven crew members jumped onto the pier to safety, the ships wheel is housed in Blackpool lifeboat house. The tramp steamer SS Huntcliff had been anchored off Llandudno on 12 February 1894 when the chain snapped.
She was beached between Squires Gate and St. Annes, being refloated 11 days later, the beach became a temporary fairground. On 22 December 1894, the Norwegian ship, Abana was sailing from Liverpool to Florida but was caught up in a storm, the ships bell still hangs in St Andrews Church in Cleveleys. The remains of the Abana are still visible at low tide on the beach at Little Bispham
RMS Dunottar Castle
RMS Dunottar Castle was a Royal Mail Ship that went into service with the Castle Line in 1890 on the passenger and mail service between Britain and South Africa. In 1913 the ship was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company as the Caribbean, the Dunottar Castle was built at Govan Shipyards in 1889 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company for the Castle Line, passing to the Union Castle Line in 1900. She became famous in the 1890s for reducing the voyage from Southampton, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 1894 she grounded for two tides near the Eddystone Lighthouse. She was refitted in 1897 when the funnels were heightened, her yards were removed, in November 1899 Dunottar Castle was requisitioned as a troop ship in the Second Boer War. She carried General Redvers Buller and 1,500 troops to Cape Town for Boer War duties and on the following voyage carried Lord Roberts, Robert Baden-Powell, as well as a young war correspondent for the Morning Post by the name of Winston Churchill.
In 1904 Dunottar Castle was laid up at Netley in Southampton Water, in 1914 she was requisitioned as HMS Caribbean for World War I, initially as a troop ship to bring soldiers from Canada to Europe and as an Armed Merchant Cruiser. But after it was found that she was unsuitable to carry gun mountings, Caribbean sailed for Scapa Flow on 24 September 1915, but foundered at noon on 26 September, about 35 miles south of Cape Wrath, Scotland. Several ships were despatched to assist when her SOS message was received, some trawlers from Stornoway and the light cruiser HMS Birkenhead managed to reach the scene. An attempt by the Birkenhead to place the Caribbean under tow failed, the Caribbean sank early on 27 September, and the 15 crewmen still aboard lost their lives. The ensuing Court of Enquiry blamed the ships carpenter for being familiar with the ship. Like most of the crew, he had joined the ship just 10 days earlier, the wreck was found in 2004, undisturbed except for fishing nets. 3 July 1899, at a few days notice from Lord Wolseley, Col.
Robert Baden-Powell left Southampton on Dunottar Castle and arrived in Cape Town on 25 July. November 1899, General Redvers Buller and 1,500 troops were carried by Dunottar Castle to Cape Town to reinforce British Army forces at the start of the Second Boer War. 23 December 1899, Lord Roberts quickly departed Southampton on his way to South Africa on the Dunottar Castle where he took command of the British forces in the Second Boer War. En route, Lord Kitchener joined Lord Roberts on Dunottar Castle in Gibraltar to become the second in command, July 1900, Winston Churchill and Frederick Russell Burnham, left South Africa and returned to England on 20 July as war heroes. I lunched and dined with Frankie at Groote Schuur and much admired your beautiful house, I am sorry not to have seen you in South Africa, but the Boers interfered with most peoples arrangements. 12 July 1900 In December 1900, her propeller shaft snapped, galician went into service and in the same month went to Dakar to pick up passengers and mail from the disabled Dunottar Castle.
On 25 November 1901 the Dunottar Castle was disabled and towed into Dakar by the Runic
Chinese cruiser Zhiyuan
Zhiyuan was a cruiser built for the Imperial Chinese Navy. She was built by Armstrong Whitworth in Elswick and she was one of two Zhiyuen-class protected cruisers built, alongside her sister ship Jingyuen. Zhiyuan was one of the first protected cruisers built with a number of smaller sized naval guns. Both ships were assigned to the Beiyang Fleet, and she was captained by Deng Shichang throughout her life and she was part of a flotilla which toured ports during the summer of 1889. Zhiyuans sole action was at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894 during the First Sino-Japanese War, during the battle, she came under heavy fire from the Japanese forces. Having been holed, Deng ordered for the ship to ram an opposing vessel and she was destroyed as she closed, either by a hit on one of her torpedo tubes, or from a Japanese torpedo. This attack, and the subsequent story of her captain and his dog have become embedded in culture in the Peoples Republic of China. A replica of the Zhiyuan was constructed in 2014 at the Port of Dandong, at the time that Zhiyuan was ordered in October 1885, there was a debate in naval circles over the differences between armored cruisers and protected cruisers.
Viceroy of Zhili province, Li Hongzhang, was in Europe to order ships from builders in Western nations and he was unable to decide between the two types, so in an experiment, he placed orders for two vessels of each type. The order for the two Zhiyuen-class cruiser protected cruisers was given to Armstrong Whitworth in Elswick, known as the builder of this type of vessels during this period. Zhiyuen was 268 feet long overall and she had a beam of 38 ft and a draught of 15 ft. Zhiyuen displaced 2,300 long tons, and carried a crew of 204–260 officers and enlisted men. She was equipped with an armored protected deck, which was 4 inches thick on the slopes and 3 in on the flat, the superstructure was divided into waterproof compartments, and had a low forecastle, a single smokestack, and two masts. She was powered by a steam engine with four boilers. This provided 6,850 indicated horsepower for a top speed of 18.5 knots, the ship was equipped with electrics and hydraulics throughout, which included the movement of the shot from the ammunition lockers to the guns.
Earlier protected cruisers had been equipped with a small number 10 in guns, both mounts were protected by 2 inches thick gun shields. The secondary armament consisted of two 6 in Armstrong guns mounted on sponsons on either side of the deck, the ship had eight QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns on Vavasseur mountings, two QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, and eight 1-pounder guns. Zhiyuen was equipped with other than naval artillery, which included six gatling guns as well as four above water mounted torpedo tubes. One pair of the tubes was mounted forward, and another pair mounted aft where they were activated using electricity from the captains cabin
Marine salvage
Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, re-floating a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship, protecting the coastal environment from spillage of oil or other contaminants is a high priority. The legal significance of salvage is that a successful salvor is entitled to a reward, the amount of the award is determined subsequently at a hearing on the merits by a maritime court in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the International Salvage Convention of 1989. Originally, a successful salvage was one where at least some of the ship or cargo was saved, otherwise the principle of No Cure, in the 1970s, a number of marine casualties of single-skin-hull tankers led to serious oil spills. Such casualties were unattractive to salvors, so the Lloyds Open Form made provision that a salvor who acts to try to prevent environmental damage will be paid and this Lloyds initiative proved so advantageous that it was incorporated into the 1989 Convention.
All vessels have a duty to give reasonable assistance to other ships in distress in order to save life. Any offer of salvage assistance may be refused, but if it is accepted a contract automatically arises to give the successful salvor the right to a reward under the 1989 Convention. Typically, the ship and the salvor will sign up to an LOF agreement so that the terms of salvage are clear, in the Early Modern Period, diving bells were often used for salvage work. In 1658, Albrecht von Treileben was contracted by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to salvage the warship Vasa, between 1663-1665 von Treilebens divers were successful in raising most of the cannon, working from a diving bell. In 1687, Sir William Phipps used a container to recover £200. The era of modern salvage operations was inaugurated with the development of the first surface supplied diving helmets by the inventors and John Deane and Augustus Siebe, in the 1830s. Royal George, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, sank undergoing routine maintenance work in 1782, using their new air-pumped diving helmets, they managed to recover about two dozen cannons.
Following on from success, Colonel of the Royal Engineers Charles Pasley commenced the first large scale salvage operation in 1839. His plan was to break up the wreck of Royal George with gunpowder charges, pasleys diving salvage operation set many diving milestones, including the first recorded use of the buddy system in diving, when he ordered that his divers operate in pairs. In addition, the first emergency swimming ascent was made by a diver after his air line became tangled, Pasley recovered 12 more guns in 1839,11 more in 1840, and 6 in 1841. In 1842 he recovered only one iron 12-pounder because he ordered the divers to concentrate on removing the hull rather than search for guns. Other items recovered, in 1840, included the brass instruments, silk garments of satin weave of which the silk was perfect, and pieces of leather. By 1843 the whole of the keel and the timbers had been raised
United States
