Righting The ShipGetty
Before the ship could be floated and towed away, it needed to be rolled into an upright position. Parbuckling ships that are close to the shore has historically relied on attaching winches on land to the ship and then essentially pulling it upright, like this:
Getty
That's the USS Oklahoma, which capsized after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Concordia, however, rolled the wrong way for winches to be easily attached to the shore. That meant that the operation would rely on a system of pulleys and sponsons either floating on barges, or attached directly to the ship.
First, massive jacks were used to get the process going, and once the ship was freed off the rocks it was dug into, the cables, attached to cranes and pulleys on barges, took over. The most fascinating part happened when enormous gray boxes, known as sponsons, that were attached to the dry side of the ship began to touch the water.
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