Salvaging the Kandula:

A historic salvage mission of SL Navy

By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

It was a fateful day on which the ship Kandula belonging to the SL Navy was to be salvaged. Small but a dedicated team of SL Navy led by Retired Cdr. Tissa Goonatilleke was putting the final touches to a historic salvage mission to rescue the Kandula with underwater balloons fixed in, underwater tanks filled up with air, buoyancy boxes were arranged and in fact , the mission was on the verge of launching when a terrible cyclone sprang up, followed by the bad news that Sri Lankan Navy Commander Admiral Clancy Fernando was killed in a bomb explosion before the Galle Face esplanade on his way to witness the salvage operation of Kandula.

As Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke just emerged out of water, he heard the bad news of Admiral Clancy Fernando’s death. The former Navy Commander Clancy Fernando wanted to see the Kandula being salvaged. Owing to the cyclone the entire team of divers had to return to the harbour. Since the ship Kandula had sunk offshore, 85 nautical miles off Colombo, the team took a day to return to harbour.

It was only after a month that the team resumed work on recuing the Kandula. According to Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke , the marine condition in the area where the Kandul sunk had completely been changed, compelling the team to map out new strategies and re-draw the marine salvage plan. The scene was similar to marine debris; the balloons connected to the ship were torn and tanks were cracked. The entire plan that Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke put in place was, in fact, in disarray.

The Commander and the team had to look for new tanks to trap air and since the balloons were torn, Commander Goonetilleke decided to confine to metal tanks to restore buoyancy.

Divine intervention

Although divine intervention was not the part of the marine salvage mission, Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke invoked the blessings of God and made a vow before the parish priest of the church, Rev. Fr Tissera that he would first rescue the name-board of the vessel Kandula. But , Cdr Goonetilleke was thoroughly frustrated to find as he was about to launch the salvage operation, that the name-board of the vessel Kandula was nowhere to be found and it was unthinkable under such a chaotic marine condition in which the vessel found that the name-board was ever to be found.

It was like finding a needle in the muddy bottom of the deep blue sea. It may be a stroke of luck or a pure coincidence that exactly a day before the salvage, a diver came up with letters ‘Ka’ ,‘N’, ‘Du’ and only the Sinhala letter ‘La’ was missing. A diver came in the middle of the night with the missing letter ‘La’. Though one may argue that it was a pure coincidence, it was a miracle given the chaotic and muddy bottom of the rough sea.

Before the salvage, he realised that the buoyancy force was insufficient to lift up the vessel. It was primarily due to the broken tanks. He requested Admiral Wasantha Karanagoda who was the commanding officer of the vessel Wickrama for 150 empty barrels.

Admiral Wasantha Karanagoda readily responded to the request and brought down the barrels to the site. Subsequently, the barrels played a major role in restoring required buoyancy (upward pressure generate to life up a sunken ship) to successfully salvage the ship.

Great marine salvage

Even at the time of the salvage, none would have thought that the salvage mission would go down in the nation’s naval history as one of the defining moments that SL Navy would really be proud of. Salvage of the vessel Kandula was not an ordinary salvage mission particularly given the marine condition at the time of rescues.

Some of the barrels were connected and filled with water to make them neutral buoyancy (neutral buoyancy is condition where the objects would neither sink nor float on the surface) and placed them where the buoyancy was needed to lift the vessel up. Thereafter, diving scuba bottles were used to fill the barrels with air to restore buoyancy.

According to Commander Goonetilleke, it is a highly complicated operation which if not executed properly would either topple the vessel or would cause uncontrollable ascent. Such a situation would compel the vessel to sink again causing considerable damage to the vessel as the vessel would sink with speed and force.

In fact, well before the salvage, Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke had lifted Kandula but had to sink it again as it’s ascent was asymmetrical. Sinking the vessel was a really dangerous mission as it might cause damages to the vessel and as no one could calculate the speed and force with which the vessel would sink.

Danger

So, he took great care to sink the vessel by removing the air gradually if the vessel jerked, the lives of the divers were in danger. It was the second attempt to rescue the Kandula. In the third attempt the team led by Commander Goonetilleke was able to salvage the vessel successfully. Following the salvage, the marine salvage became a model which attracted the attention of the marine salvos.

For instance, diving teams from diverse countries visited Sri Lanka to study the salvage. The focus of the study was on the fact how a small navy such as SL Navy successfully salvaged the vessel and what were the equipment and techniques deployed in the salvage mission. Given the resource constrains of the SL Navy, it was a proud moment in the naval legacy of the nation in general and a hard-earned credit for the SL Navy.

A ship would sink when the weight factor becomes more than the buoyancy force. The vessel Kandula sank in an upside down position. According to Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke, it was for the first time that a vessel in such a position was ever salvaged in the naval history of the world. He was the first non-American to score the highest marks in an international diving course with the highest aggregate. Therefore, he was the natural choice to set up a salvage unit in SL Navy. A significant factor of Retired Cdr.Tissa Goonatilleke’s career in SL Navy was that never failed any salvage mission he undertook over the years. The principal technique used in the salvage was to study ways and means of restoring the lost buoyancy force and to lift up the vessel to the surface. One of the techniques used in the salvage was to fill the barrels with air, dispelling the water and restoring positive buoyancy or up-thrust.

The process involves complex mathematical calculations to measure the exact buoyancy force or up-thrust if not the vessel would topple by the buoyancy force. Air trapping in the barrels, using lifting bags and even the intact oil tank of the vessel were also used by air-trapping in them. Some of the lifting methods such as network of iron tanks were used to trap air and to create a positive buoyancy condition. The complicated process, among other things, involved knowledge of applied mathematics, applied physics and even common sense.

Admiral Karannagoda’s pivotal role

A prominent personality behind the success of the salvage mission was Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda who was the then Commanding Officer of the vessel Wickrema. Apart from providing equipment for the mission, the then Captain Wasantha Karannagoda encouraged the team and helped keep the moral of the team high throughout the mission. In fact, he served as the morale figure behind the salvage. Ariyasieela Wickremanayake, the CEO of the Master Diverse was also closely associated with the rescue mission. At the initial stage of the salvage, he provided the puffing boat with boat crew and some salvage equipment.

He also made a contribution by discussing the mission and also dived with the team of SL Navy diving team.

However, the salvage operation was carried out by the team of SL Navy divers. The vessel Kandula was salvaged on December 12, 1992.