Fifteen: Rescue of the Hai Tian

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  Lin Hui rushed back to Shanghai from Tianjin, because the largest cruiser of the Beiyang Navy, "Haitian", ran aground off the coast of Zhoushan Island. As the Admiral of the Northern Fleet in Shanghai had already contacted the Yangtze River Shipping Company and Lin Hui's Hudong Shipyard for assistance, Yuan Shikai ordered Lin Hui to return to Shanghai immediately to assist Admiral Sa Zhenbing in organizing the rescue efforts.

  After arriving in Shanghai, he immediately organized more than 20 technicians to rush to Dingxing Island with the tugboat of the shipyard under the leadership of Chen Changling, the director of the shipbuilding department.

  Originally, due to the Russo-Japanese War, in late April, the imperial court ordered the "Haitian" cruiser anchored at Yantai to transport military supplies to Jiangyin to meet the needs of Liaoxi's "neutrality". The "Haitian" set sail under the command of Captain Liu Guanxiong. After passing around the Shandong Peninsula and entering the Yellow Sea, it encountered thick fog. Perhaps due to the urgency of official business, Liu Guanxiong urged the "Haitian" to navigate at a speed of over 20 knots in the dense fog.

  Due to the dense fog on the sea surface, "Haitian" could not determine the position of the warship by referring to the coastline and the star chart in the sky, but only roughly estimated the direction of the warship based on its speed. Due to the deviation in calculating the direction of the warship, "Haitian" entered the waters of Shengsi after passing through the southern entrance of the Yangtze River. At around 5:30, with a loud crash and a violent shock, the high-speed "Haitian" collided with a reef outside Dingxing Island, located 21.5 nautical miles southeast of the buoy.

  The "Hai Tian" and other protected cruisers had no more protection facilities below the waterline except for double-bottom hulls. Due to its high speed, half of the warship was already riding on the reef, and the violent collision and scraping between the ship's body and the reef, plus the weight of the warship, were obviously unbearable for the double-bottom hull. Seawater quickly poured into the ship from the broken hole, and with poor damage control measures, by nightfall that day, except for the bow which was high on the reef and above water, the rest of the ship had sunk to a depth of about 11 meters.

  After the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government decided to rebuild the Beiyang Fleet. As part of the rebuilding plan, under the auspices of Admiral Ding Ruchang, two steel cruisers were ordered from Armstrong Whitworth in Britain in 1896, named "Hai Tien" and "Hai Chi". After completion, "Hai Chi" was officially renamed to "Hai Yih". "Hai Tien" and "Hai Yih" were sister ships, with a length of 129 meters, beam of 14.2 meters, draft of 6.1 meters, standard displacement of 4300 tons, power of 17000 horsepower, and designed top speed of 24 knots. The warships were equipped with two Armstrong 200mm main guns, ten 143mm secondary guns, twelve 47mm guns, four 37mm guns, six 7mm Maxim machine guns, five torpedo tubes, and a crew of 445 officers and men. Each ship cost ￡328,242 to build.

  "Haitian" warship returned home, coinciding with the Italian forced rental of our country's Sanmen Bay incident.

  In 1897, Britain, France, Germany and Russia launched a wave of partitioning China. Weihai, Jiaozhou Bay and Dalian were successively forced to lease their excellent ports. In 1899, Italy also sent six warships to China, delivering an ultimatum to the Qing government, demanding the forced lease of Sanmen Bay. The Qing government was very nervous and consulted with the Navy. Admiral Ye Zhiyu of the Beiyang Fleet advised: "The Italian fleet came from afar, laboring while we are at leisure, and the situation is favorable for us. Moreover, our current naval force has five cruisers of the 'Hai Tian' and 'Hai Rong' classes, which can fully engage in battle with the Italian ships." The Qing government gained confidence and flatly rejected Italy's ultimatum. Italy was just bluffing, but seeing China's tough stance and willingness to fight, they realized that intimidation was ineffective and gave up.

  This was the only impressive performance of the Qing Navy.

  In 1901, the Eight-Nation Alliance forced the Qing government to sign the Boxer Protocol with the powers. Thereafter, a minister proposed that in order to demonstrate China's "peaceful sincerity" and guarantee that it would never go to war again, the navy should be disbanded, and the two ships "Hai Tian" and "Hai Qi", as well as three 2,950-ton cruisers "Hai Rong", "Hai Yong" and "Hai Chuan" purchased from Germany, should be returned to Britain and Germany respectively, in order to offset part of the Boxer Indemnity. The Qing government intended to agree with this proposal.

  Ye Zupei and Sa Zhenbing, among other naval leaders, upon learning of this news, reasoned and argued, the Qing government finally agreed to retain the "Haitian" and four other ships.

  After the incident, Viceroy of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang Yuan Shikai ordered Admiral Sa Zhenbing in Shanghai to rush to the scene overnight to direct rescue efforts and investigate the cause of the accident. Upon arrival, Sa organized the rescue while quickly reporting details of the accident to Yuan.

  After the "Haitian" warship ran aground, apart from 3 sailors who fell into the water and went missing, more than 400 officers and men on board were rescued. Among them, 348 people were sent to Wusong by a China Merchants Steam Navigation Company ship, leaving 60 people on board under the command of Liu Guanxiong to guard the machinery and dismantle the gun emplacements. Sa Zhenbing borrowed six large horsepower pumps from Yexiang Shipyard and Houdong Shipyard to pump out water, hoping to reduce the weight of the warship so that it could float again. However, the breach in the "Haitian" was too large, and the seawater poured in as fast as it was pumped out, with no effect at all.

  When Lin Xiang led his men to the scene, Sa Zhenbing was already on board the "Haitian". The "Haitian" had run aground on a reef, with its bow raised high into the air and pointing towards the blue sky, while the stern was submerged in water. The sailors who had been left behind had used ropes and iron chains to secure the ship to the island of Dingxing, but this had little effect.

  A group of people landed on Dingxing Island and then climbed up to the "Haitian" via a rope ladder.

  After seeing the ice in front of him, Chen Changling, the chief engineer of the shipyard, led the technicians of the shipyard to inspect the damage to the hull with Chen Zhaoqiang, the deputy captain of the "Haitian" ship. Lin Xuan, an outsider, went up to the command tower to comfort Liu Guanxiong, who was depressed and disheartened, saying some comforting words from time to time.

  He was really a bit afraid that Liu Guanxiong would suddenly think of nothing and jump into the sea to commit suicide.

  Sa Zhenbing then inquired about the detailed situation of the accident from the personnel who stayed on board in the captain's cabin.

  After a while, Chen Changling and others returned from the cabin to the deck, Lin Chong and Liu Guanxiong walked over.

  "How is it?" Lin Xiao asked.

  "The hull damage is very severe, and if we don't use external forces, it's basically impossible to salvage the whole thing. We just discussed it, and as much as possible, we'll first dismantle and rescue the weapons, machinery, and boilers, etc. The hull damage is so severe that even if we can salvage it from the water, the cost of repairing it in a dock will be enormous, and it's not very worthwhile." Chen Changling said, he had been ordered to participate in the construction supervision of two "Haitian"-class ships in Britain, and was very familiar with the structure of this ship.

  Lin Xiang nodded, after all, how to rescue, ultimately still have to be decided by the imperial court, then went with several people to find Sa Zhenbing, and then he formulated a detailed plan to report to Yuan Shikai.

  As soon as he reached the door of the captain's room, he heard a loud "slap" inside, followed by Sa Zhenbing shouting loudly: "Don't you have any responsibility? Liu Guanxiong is a fool and you're following him. In such thick fog, where did you learn to navigate at over 10 knots? As the first mate, don't you have the responsibility to remind Liu Guanxiong? Get out! I won't speak well of you to excuse your behavior!" It was clear that Sa Zhenbing was furious. Then, he saw "Haitian" number two, Liu Chuanshu, exit from inside with his head hung low, a bright red palm print on his face.

  Several people looked at each other in dismay, never expecting the normally gentle and elegant Sa Zhenbing to lose his temper so badly. After waiting for a while longer, they finally all went inside together.

  Lin Xuan led the way, reporting to Sa Zhenbing on the damage to the warship. He listened for a long time without speaking, finally letting out a deep sigh: "A mighty warship, it's a pity to abandon it, let's think of a solution." Then he glared fiercely at Liu Guanxiong who was standing aside with his head lowered and silent.

  Back in Shanghai, Sa Zhenbing sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai about the damage to the warship. Yuan Shikai quickly replied: "The survival of the warship is of great importance to all countries, but we must find a way to salvage it, even if it's not convenient to do so. Just like when our troops are trapped, we must exert all our efforts to rescue them. Now, salvaging the ship is not only our hope for gaining something, but also to let all countries know that we do not regard military vessels as insignificant objects, and that we cherish them deeply. This has a bearing on China's reputation." Yuan Shikai was more concerned with the political implications, demanding that every effort be made to salvage and repair the "Haitian" warship, without considering whether the cost was justified or not.

  The technical personnel of the shipyard had no experience in salvage, but Lin Xiu, an outsider who was a student of underwater archaeology in his previous life, had rich knowledge of salvaging sunken ships. However, the technological level 100 years ago could not be applied to the present, and he could only think hard in his mind for simple and feasible methods.

  Finally, Lin Xiang decided to adopt the simplest and most convenient floating bucket dredging method.

  But where can this float tube be produced now?

  Just then, outside the window, an American freighter was unloading coal oil from above. Lin Xue's eyes lit up and he immediately found Chen Changling to express his idea.

  Chen Changling bowed his head and calculated for half a day. Lin Chong's proposed method was to fill empty oil drums with seawater, sink them to the bottom of the sea, then use steel cables and iron chains to fix these drums to the hull of the ship underwater, and finally use an air compressor to drain the water from the drums. In this way, the buoyancy of the empty drums could be used to float the warship on the surface of the water.

  The method is feasible, but the question is how much buoyancy the warship needs now, and how many oil barrels are needed?

  Chen Changling estimated that the water intake of the warship was over 700 tons, and to make it float on the surface, an additional buoyancy of around 1,200 tons would be needed. Each oil drum had a buoyancy of about 150 kilograms, so more than 8,000 empty oil drums were required. He picked up his pen and carefully calculated the arrangement of these oil drums, if they were too large, they would lose their practical value.

  After more than half an hour, he raised his head and said, "It can be tried, although it is a bit difficult to operate."

  Lin Xiao smiled and said, "No need to be so serious, anyway, dead horses are used as live horse doctors, it's best to make a profit, if not, it's just a matter of spending more effort, or think of ways to sell the collected old barrels, who knows, maybe the collected old oil drums will appreciate in value later."

  Chen Changling's expression suddenly became a bit more relaxed, and then he organized personnel to start designing the salvage plan. In the end, it was decided to weld some brackets to fix the oil drums first, and then connect these brackets with iron chains.

  Sa Zhenbing agreed to implement the salvage plan proposed by Lin Xiu, and of course, the warship has already dismantled as much as possible in advance to reduce the weight of the hull.

  The production and preparation in the early stage took about a month, after which the underwater construction began. Due to the lack of diving equipment, the construction progress was not very smooth, and it wasn't until mid-July that all the more than 8,000 simple floats were installed and fixed.

  Lin Xiao assembled more than a dozen air compressors to start pumping out water at the same time, but for the first two days, the warship didn't show any reaction. On the third day in the afternoon, when everyone was feeling somewhat discouraged, a sailor suddenly pointed at the rear of the warship and said: "Look, look, the warship is moving!"

  Everyone immediately became excited, looking in the direction that the sailor was pointing to. Indeed, the old water stain had left a distance of about two or three centimeters from the surface of the water. Everyone's confidence surged again.

  Sa Zhen was gazing at the ship and the water's surface with a telescope from a distance, and gradually, a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

  On the fifth day, the stern of the "Haitian" finally emerged from the water, and the hull began to be slowly towed away from the reef by a tugboat. Seven days later, the "Haitian" was refloated with the support of nearly 10,000 simple floats.

  Under the tow of four tugboats, "Haitian" was slowly towed to Shanghai. After more than a dozen hours, this battered warship was finally pulled into the 8,000-ton No. 2 dock at Hudong Shipyard, and under the traction of the dock's own winches and bridge cranes, it was finally pulled into the dock.

  Two days later, the water in dock No. 2 was drained and preparations began for the overhaul of "Haitian".

  Sa Zhen's face had just a hint of a smile, but Chen Changling came out from the bottom of the boat and said seriously to him: "The main keel of the warship has been deformed, even if it is repaired, it can only be used in coastal waters, not for combat!" Sa Zhen's face immediately turned as gloomy as a landlord who had just collected rent.

  Lin Xiao's mood was also like being poured a basin of cold water, suddenly becoming "chilly", and unexpectedly after messing around for half a day, he ended up with a pile of scrap iron.