SALVAGE OPERATIONS IN PORT SAID [Allocated Title]

Salvage operations in Port Said in the aftermath of the Anglo-French attack.

Cameracraft moves among the blockships and salvage craft in Port Said. MS as it passes the sunken dredger Pollux. The bucket dredger Peluse lies with the lifting craft LC.10 and LC.11 on either side. MS off the starboard quarter of the blockship Paul Solente, with Salveda to port and Sea Salvor to starboard - the cameracraft passes close to the funnel of the sunken dredger as it passes along the starboard side, turning to pass beneath the bows of Sea Salvor. Cameracraft passes the two German lifting vessels Energie and Ausdauer. MS of LCT 525 alongside the wreck of the tug Hercule - in the background is the Suez Canal Co building. LA as the cameracraft approaches the SS Tregenna - alongside the cargo ship is a LCT crowded with lorries. CU of a suited-up salvage diver (named YORKY on his gear) as he dons and checks his equipment. A Lieutenant gives the group of four free divers their instructions. The men enter the water to investigate the forward part of the Paul Solente - they can stand in the shallow water over the wreck. The men return to the diving boat for further discussion with the Lieutenant. CU as a helmet diver struggles into his suit, two men helping him on with the rest of his equipment - he is working without gloves and smears grease on his hands for protection. The diver climbs down a ladder into the water and submerges - cut to him surfacing and regaining the vessel to unsuit. MS onshore as a naval officer walks beside a destroyed building, a burnt-out tangle of girders. View from cameracraft as it passes close to the Suez Canal Co building, then past a Canal ferry alongside near the Police building. Cameracraft sails round a group of three salvage vessels, including Dispenser, and on to a fourth which is working on the submerged wreck of a 150-ton floating crane - in the background is visible the capsized wreck of a second, 80-ton floating crane. MS of the fourth salvor (Uplifter ?) and CU of part of the submerged crane held clear of the water by lifting wires. CU of two men in a skiff near the salvage craft. A group of salvage experts stand on the deck of Dispenser, and others on an Egyptian harbour launch Hagal which has come alongside the salvage craft. The launch makes off with its passengers. CU of LC.10 alongside sunken hopper Neptune - in the background is the Paul Solente and its attendant salvage craft. Sequence showing the group of salvage vessels moving the wreck of the hopper Triton - leading is the tug Hermes, then the two lifting vessels Ausdauer and Energie, with the tug Careful astern. At the end of the sequence, as the salvage craft move the wreck through the outer basin to the 'graveyard', they pass the moored Cunard liner Pasteur and the French La Hague. LA as the cameracraft crosses astern of HMS Tyne. Cut to a sequence onboard Tyne showing a visit by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Hailsham - he is accompanied by the C-in-C Mediterranean Station, Admiral Sir Guy Grantham, and the Naval Task Force Commander, Vice-Admiral Durnford-Slater. As the First Lord comes onboard, the British cruiser HMS Jamaica is visible on the other side of the harbour. Cut to view from craft approaching the minesweepers' headquarters vessel HMS Woodbridge Haven - she has three Ton Class minesweepers alongside to port and two to starboard, HMS Tyne in the background. Hailsham and accompanying admirals are piped aboard Woodbridge Haven. From the bridge of one of the minesweepers secured alongside the HQ ship, Lord Hailsham addresses the crew fallen in on the focsle - in the background, more men stand on the focsle and upper works of Woodbridge Haven. The party leaves in Admiral's barge.

35mm