Of the many remarkable salvage feats performed during the war, that concerning the s.s. _Araby_ is of more than passing interest. Driven ashore on the French coast on December 21, 1916, owing to an accident to her steering gear, she was towed off two days later and by Christmas Eve arrived at Boulogne. The tugs were shepherding the cripple into harbour when trouble overtook her once more. The towing hawsers parted, and she was swept by the strong tide broadside across the harbour mouth, her bow being jammed against the end of one quay and her stern against the end of the other quay. The excitement was intense, for she was blocking our most important port of entry into France. To make matters worse, the tide was almost at the full, and unless she were got off at once it was obvious that her days were numbered. As the tide fell she was sure to ground at the bow and stern, and a deep channel between the quays left nothing to support her amidships, so she would be lucky not to break her back. [Illustration: HOW THE ARABY BLOCKED THE ENTRANCE TO BOULOGNE HARBOUR] [Illustration: AS THE TIDE FELL, THE ARABY BROKE HER BACK. THIS PHOTOGRAPH CLEARLY SHOWS THE FRACTURE BETWEEN THE BOW AND THE STERN WHICH LED TO HER FALLING COMPLETELY IN HALVES] Despite the utmost efforts, the _Araby_ remained wedged between the two quays, and as the tide ebbed, her huge cargo of oats began to make its weight felt. Slowly she sagged in the middle until her keel was unable longer to support the strain. She broke her back and settled down right across the fairway, doing very effectively to Boulogne what the British Navy so gloriously succeeded in doing to Ostend and Zeebrugge. It was a desperate case, calling for prompt measures, for somehow, anyhow, Boulogne harbour had to be cleared, and that quickly. Its urgency led to the happy co-operation of army and navy, so while the divers were jettisoning the cargo, in order to lighten the ship, Lieutenant-Colonel R. V. Jellicoe, D.S.O., of the Royal Engineers, was planning to make history by salving the first ship with the aid of ferro-concrete. Never before had anything like this been suggested. It seemed an impossible sort of dream. The engineer was determined to prove that the seemingly impossible was possible. So on each side of the fracture, which was amidships, wooden moulds were deftly built up in the form of bulkheads stretching right across the inside of the ship. Cement and gravel were carefully mixed in certain proportions laid down by the engineer, and into these moulds the concrete was thrown. It set as hard as rock, forming two watertight walls shutting off the bow and stern of the ship, and leaving the fracture between them open to the sea.