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fault of the elements as of human error had plagued the salvage. An imaginative man, he learned quickly, overcoming the frequently appalling weather to which the area is prone, which when coupled to the fact that no two lifts are ever the same may have dissuaded or broken a lesser man. The rise and fall of the price of scrap frequently ate up the best of his profits during the long salvage operation. The major slump in the price of scrap during 1924 was only really reversed by 1937, in time for his successors Alloa
Shipbreaking to capitalise on their investment (the hull of the SMS
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193:, Cox left school at thirteen but chose to study electrical engineering in his spare time, and through a succession of jobs, earned himself the post of Engineer at a Wolverhampton power station by the age of eighteen. Deciding that anyone who could put electricity into people's homes would become rich, Cox was determined to be just that, and moved to the post of Assistant Engineer at
300:, Ireland in 1929), took some of the drive out of Cox, for he respected his workers and treated them accordingly. In Cox's opinion money could always be replaced, but good men could not. Resultantly, during 1932 he sold the company's marine salvaging business to Alloa Shipbreaking, and retired himself from marine salvage. Cox remained a consultant to the
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in Orkney, off the North-east coast of
Scotland in late June 1919. Though initially written off by the British Admiralty as unsalvageable, the recent rises in the price of scrap metal had changed the value of the wrecks to the extent that they would now be profitable to lift, based on Cox's estimates
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in
Lanarkshire, he took what was to be his last salaried job, laying down plant and network as Chief Engineer, aged just twenty-four. It was here in 1907 that Cox married the daughter of Wishaw Councillor Miller, the owner of Overton Forge, a Lanarkshire steelworks, and joined the firm as a partner.
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He took his reparation ex-German floating dock, once used for U-Boat testing and sectioned it lengthwise to salvage the first of his destroyers, which was then cleaned and converted into a floating workshop. His team was composed of local labour supporting a core of hired divers and skilled salvage
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Cox was frequently assumed to be a poor businessman who did not understand business efficiency, and admitted to being inexperienced in the difficulties of ship raising. But he also suffered from an astonishing amount of bad luck during his eight years at Scapa Flow. Accidents that were as much the
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It was during this stage of the project that his venture suffered a severe blow; the price of scrap metal collapsed, finally stabilising at a quarter of its previous value. Whilst sufficient profit remained to ensure a chance of breaking even, the sunken fleet no longer represented the cash rich
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A plain spoken and often blunt man, Cox was known for his explosive temper; he was respected by his workers as being brilliant, hard working and stubborn to the point of pig-headedness. He did not spare either his workers or himself during the eight years he remained at Scapa Flow. He kept his
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men from all over
Scotland; after some practice they were raising a destroyer every four to six weeks, with the fastest lift being accomplished in just four days. Heartened by this, Cox bought the rights to the remainder of the sunken fleet, and proceeded to lift the battlecruiser
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after it had been successfully lifted early, as he had arranged for the press to be present on the day that it had been scheduled to be raised. Considered a 'showman' by his contemporaries, Cox was happy to allow the recording of some of the works in progress at
377:, who by now owned Alloa Shipbreaking. Though the salvage side of the business never quite broke even, especially during the course of the salvage of the German fleet (he was ten thousand pounds out of pocket at the sale of his interests), the
238:, with his wife's cousin Tommy Danks as a silent partner and financier. Cox's need for capital was met by Danks, who sought a way to increase his inheritance without personal involvement in business.
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and use its twenty-six thousand ton hull as a floating platform from which to enable salvage of the other ships. This was ultimately to prove impractical, as several attempts to lift the
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which was upside down in shallow water with her keel at the surface at low tide. Adapting the advice of
Italian salvage experts who had raised an upside down ship from the bottom of
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for its weight in scrap. This basic technique would be used repeatedly on many ships of the fleet. Divers would descend to each wreck and perform work such as closing and dogging
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ended in failure, due to the hulk's instability and the likelihood of its capsizing whilst being pumped out, as it was sitting on rock and not shingle as had been first supposed.
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Harbour, Cox raised the ship inverted by filling it with air. It was then lightened and towed to Rosyth on the Firth of Forth for scrapping, Cox having sold the hulk to the
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Cox remained a consultant to the
British Admiralty on matters of deep water salvage, and undertook their side of the work in the raising in 1932 of the old battleship
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locomotives were withdrawn late in 1962, with ten allocated to Cox and Danks for disposal. On 1 April 1970 the company, by then part of the Metal
Industries wing of
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After selling his business, Cox spent the remainder of his days supporting charities, and giving lectures on deepwater salvage, including the High Seas Fleet.
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alone was valued at £130,000 following salvage that year). Despite all this, he was considered a fair, if firm, and above all popular employer. His yard at
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were used, similarly being filled with air, and ballast was sunk alongside the sunken ships and then secured to them to counterbalance them for lifting.
157:, in 1919. A tough but caring employer, after a series of fatalities and accidents to his employees, Cox sold his marine salvaging business to the
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harvest that it once had. Indeed, the price of scrap remained depressed until 1937, well after Cox had effectively retired from salvage.
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Lacking work, by 1924 he turned his attention to the wreckage of the High Seas Fleet, scuttled at its moorings in the natural harbour of
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side business offset the loss by turning considerable profit, ensuring that when he retired he and his family no longer needed to work.
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employed 200 workers at the peak of his business, and he was noted for granting holidays with pay during times of financial hardship.
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Foreseeing the possibilities of another war in Europe in the late 1930s, Cox expanded the scrap metals business by opening yards in:
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era in the early 1960s, tendering for contracts to scrap surplus railway locomotives, rolling stock and associated equipment for
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estuary. There the company broke up and sold off an assortment of World War I surplus vessels, including two
British battleships
245:. The end of hostilities opened new and lucrative opportunities in scrap and metal salvage, enabling Cox to open new business in
586:, during 1932 Cox sold the marine salvaging side of his business to Alloa Shipbreaking, and retired from marine salvage. The
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at the age of twenty-three, a change of position that taught him the rudiments of management. Moving yet again, this time to
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130:(1883–1959) was a British engineer, with knowledge in electrical and mechanical engineering, which he notably deployed in
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on matters of deep water salvage, and undertook their side of the work in the raising in 1932 of the old battleship
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and some ex-German naval items including a large floating dock taken as reparation following the scuttling of the
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was often mistaken for a small island as her port flank stuck perhaps six metres out of the water, and
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by reporters and photographers, including film shot for newsreel. Some of these can still be found on
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business afloat by common sense and good judgement, such as the salvage of coal from the wreck of the
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at the surface. In some cases where the hulls themselves could not be made close enough to air-tight,
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hatches and fastening timber backed plate-steel patches over holes. Then air would be pumped in from
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The Man Who Bought a Navy: The Story of the World's
Greatest Salvage Achievement at Scapa Flow
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and much of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow. Ships listed with owners and dates sold.
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throughout his remaining career, and retired in the early 1950s after selling his profitable
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The firm was well positioned to profit from large munitions manufacturing contracts during
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was the last ship that he raised in Orkney, despite having bought the rights to salvage
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Unable to leave his post at the power station, he carried out both jobs simultaneously.
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Portraits of Kings; B Holden & K Leech, Moorland
Publishing Co.Ltd 1979
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of 1926. This was balanced by acts of ego, such as the re-sinking of the
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Marine Salvage: The Unforgiving Business of No Cure, No Pay. Preface by
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he undertook research and development for classified materials for the
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In failing health, Ernest Cox died in 1959 at the age of seventy-six.
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Ignoring expert opinion, his initial investment was to buy from the
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After personally witnessing fatal accidents on the wreck of the
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659:"Metal pair-up by '600' and Thorn", Bids, Deals & Mergers,
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was upright with her decks awash. Cox's idea was to raise the
358:. Cox's last salvage task was during WW2, raising of the ship
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757:(Republished by Peter Rowlands and Stephen Birchall, 1998.)
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Metal Industries: shipbreaking at Rosyth and Charlestown
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alone, before taking into account non-ferrous salvage.
525:By May 1932, Cox had raised the battlecruisers SMS
55:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
770:Scapa Flow Scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet
189:Born in 1883, the eleventh son of a Wolverhampton
762:The Scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet, 1919
792:Describes the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet.
578:, and additional accidents whilst raising the
501:to provide fuel for his machinery during the
384:Cox & Danks Ltd did well during the post-
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428:the rights to salvage two battlecruisers –
366:, had then sunk in and thereby blocked the
161:in 1932. He remained a consultant to the
115:Learn how and when to remove this message
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16:For other people named Ernest Cox, see
780:. Edinburgh: Paul Harris Publishing.
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7:
286:Fatal accidents on the wreck of the
138:successfully raised 35 ships of the
53:adding citations to reliable sources
725:. World Ship Society. p. 104.
701:. Garden City, NY, USA: Doubleday.
362:, which, having been bombed by the
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417:of the quantity of high quality
136:Cox & Danks Shipbreaking Co.
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597:, sunk at Scapa in 20 fathoms.
40:needs additional citations for
831:20th-century British engineers
373:In 1949, Cox sold the firm to
234:In 1913 he set up the firm of
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134:. Between 1924 and 1931 his
398:Thorn Electrical Industries
18:Ernest Cox (disambiguation)
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735:Ships scrapped, including
475:Alloa Shipbreaking Company
159:Alloa Shipbreaking Company
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806:People from Wolverhampton
694:Gores, Joseph N (1971).
619:on the Orkney Island of
558:, and the light cruiser
743:Bowman, Gerald (1964).
721:Buxton, Ian L. (1992).
128:Ernest Frank Guelph Cox
776:George, S. C. (1981).
582:and fatalities on the
408:German High Seas Fleet
392:. The majority of the
375:Metal Industries Group
277:German High Seas Fleet
213:From Ryde he moved to
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368:Manchester Ship Canal
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613:Friedrich der Grosse
588:Prinzregent Luitpold
584:Prinzregent Luitpold
555:Prinzregent Luitpold
197:, and from there to
140:German Imperial Navy
49:improve this article
778:Jutland to Junkyard
201:Corporation on the
747:. London: Harrap.
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419:Krupp steel armour
356:Ministry of Supply
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764:(from BBC's h2g2)
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64:"Ernest Cox"
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47:Please help
42:verification
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826:1959 deaths
821:1883 births
402:"600" Group
379:scrap metal
348:South Wales
243:World War I
185:Blue plaque
167:scrap metal
800:Categories
737:Mauretania
678:Gores 1971
638:References
627:Later life
570:White Star
542:Hindenburg
540:, and SMS
456:Hindenburg
452:Hindenburg
448:Hindenburg
432:Hindenburg
414:Scapa Flow
350:). During
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320:Birmingham
288:White Star
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177:Early life
155:Scapa Flow
75:newspapers
661:The Times
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560:SMS
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364:Luftwaffe
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263:HMS
257:, on the
247:Sheffield
731:28508051
531:Seydlitz
507:Seydlitz
499:Seydlitz
487:pontoons
479:bulkhead
444:Seydlitz
439:Seydlitz
219:Scotland
215:Hamilton
147:scuttled
105:May 2011
753:2219189
520:YouTube
471:Taranto
332:Feltham
316:Bedford
253:on the
89:scholar
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707:136301
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617:Lyness
594:Bayern
575:Celtic
572:liner
562:Bremse
548:Kaiser
529:, SMS
527:Moltke
512:Lyness
466:Moltke
360:Stella
342:; and
324:London
293:Celtic
290:liner
223:Wishaw
191:draper
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344:Neath
272:Orion
96:JSTOR
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551:and
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268:and
265:Erin
199:Ryde
68:news
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