task of moving them by buoyancy bit by bit nearer the bank to enable our 70ton crane to lift them clear of the water. Small items were easily lifted with the
use of 45-gallon oil drums. Our means of filling these drums was to push the
mouthpiece into the two-inch aperture in the base of the drum.
One diver managed to get his mouthpiece caught in the drum. During the
anxious moments that followed, he didn’t know whether to cut his hose or his
throat! Alter a struggle, the mouthpiece was released
Feeling embarrassed and rather foolish he decided to turn to his buddy
diver for solace, only to find him in much the same situation. Needless to say,
from that stage on we used a funnel to fill the drums.
Now the three-inch diameter pivot pins securing the jib to the main Navny
must be removed. This was anticipated to be a very difficult task and proved
to be so. Our first attempt was with a 16-ton hydraulic lorry jack, placed on a
horizontal plane between the two pins. (As we now realise, the jack should
work only in a vertical position).
Following this failure, we moved on to more technical machinery - in the
form of a 14lb sledgehammer and drift. We found that with four divers holding
the 16-stone hammer-man in an upright position, he was able to knock the
pins out.
All the larger parts were now free from the Navvy and ready for lifting, and
we took advantage of the generous offer from John Wise, who not only had
offered and given the lifting bags, but also came along in person to participate
in the lifting operations. The bags which were capable of lifting five tons
each were attached one each end of the jib and inflated by means of a road
compressor which was capable of pushing out 120 cu ft of air per minute.
The jib, once buoyant, was brought close inshore in preparation for later
removal. The bucket and boiler were then dealt with in the same manner.
At last we were ready for the climax of the project, the complete lift of the
main body of the Navvy, which we estimated to weigh 28 tons. We started at
seven AM on a very blustery yet sunny day. The whole area was roped off in
low flying over the lagoon
Local man Gordon Clarke had been contacted to fly his light aircraft around
the site and take some still images of the ‘lift’. He had sought permission
from the landowner to land his plane in the field to the west of the Lagoon.
This was to be scarier than he thought – as the weather was dry but very
blustery. Luckily there was a westerly wind which aided landing and takeoff, but flying across the lake he had to set down just after the top of the
bank at the water’s edge and brake like mad’ on the rough ‘runway’ until
coming to a stop before the road and the Fountain pub.
When the time came and he needed to get airborne again, taking off
was just as hair-raising. Starting at the same place he had touched down,
on the edge of the pit and heading toward the pub once more, he imagined
drinkers in the pub ducking as the aircraft came down the hill and lifting off
just as it came towards the road. Gordon made it in Ѽ