it and pushing
chains under it,--we may dismiss at once, as being suitable only for
small vessels; but the second method is worth considering, namely, that
of fixing air-bags of india-rubber in the hold, attaching them to the
sides, and then inflating them all at the same time by means of a
powerful air-pump. We could get your divers to pass chains under her,
and, when she began to rise could haul on these chains by means of
lighters moored above, and so move the wreck inshore till she grounded.
What say you to that?"

Baldwin shook his head. "She's too big, I fear, for such treatment."

"Good-sized vessels have been raised by these air-bags of late," said
Edgar. "Let me see: there were the brig _Ridesdale_, of 170 tons
burthen, sunk off Calshot Castle, and Her Majesty's gun-brig
_Partridge_, 180 tons, and the brig _Dauntless_, 179 tons, and last, but
not least, the _Prince Consort_, at Aberdeen, an iron paddle-steamer of
607 tons, and the dead weight lifted was 560 tons, including engines and
boilers."

Still Baldwin shook his head, remarking that the _Seagull_ was full 900
tons.

"Well, then," resumed the young engineer, "here is still another method.
We might send down your men to make all the openings,--ports, windows,
etcetera--water-tight, fix a shield over the hole she knocked in her
bottom on the cliffs, and then, by means of several water-pumps reaching
from above the surface to the hold, clear her of water. When
sufficiently floated by such means a steam-tug could haul her into port.
The iron steamship _London_ was, not long ago, raised and saved at
Dundee in that way. She rose four feet after the pumps had been worked
only two hours, and while she was being towed into dock the pumps were
still kept going. It was a great success--and so may it be in this
case. Then, you know, we might construct a pontoon by making a raft to
float on a multitude of empty barrels, pass chains under the _Seagull_
and fix them to this pontoon at low water, so that when the tide rose
she would rise perforce along with the pontoon and tide, and could be
moved inshore till she grounded; then, waiting for low tide, we could
taughten the chains again, and repeat the process till we got her
ashore. Or, better still, we could hire Siebe and Gorman's patent
pontoon, which, if I mistake not, is much the same thing that I now
suggest carried out to perfection."

"I'm not sure that the pontoon you speak of has been launched yet