The Sun.
London, England, 1806-09-08 00:00:00

CURIOUS ..46COUAT7.' OF 111.6'toLo PESC.E,

THE FAMOUS SICILIAI DI
,FElt. ,

I.isr the time of Frederick` king 'of Sicily (says
Kircher), there lived a -celebrated diver, whose
name was Nicholas, and. who, from, his amazing
skill in swimming, and his
~perseverence under
water, was surnamed. the Fish: ThiS man had
from hiS infancy been used to the soii and earned
his scanty subsistance by diving for -corals and oys.
tors, which he sold to
.the village's on shore. His
long acquaintance with the •sea, at last, brought it
to be almost his natural element. He was fre-
. qUently known to spend five days in the midst of
the waters, without 'any other provisions than the
Ash which he caught there and, ate raw. He often
swam over from.: Sicily to Calabria, a tempestous
,and dangerous passage, carrying letters from the
king. He was frequently known to swim among
:the gulphs of the Lipri Islands
.no way apprehensive
•of danaer.
Some mariners, out at sea, one day observed
something at some distance from them which they
regarded as a sea monster; -but, upon its approach,
it was known to he Nicholas, whoth they took into
their ship. When they askekhim whither he was
going: in so stormy and rough a sea, and at such a
distatice from land, he shewed them a packet of
letters-which he.was carrying to,one of the towns
of Italy, exa6tlysione up in a leather bag,, in such a
.manner as they could, not be wetted .by the sea.--
He kept them thus company for some time on their
voyage, conversing, .and asking questiOns; and,
after eating a hearty Meal with them, he took his
leave, and, jumping into the sea, pursued his voyage
alone.

In order to aid these powers of enduring in the
deep, nature seemed Co have assisted him .in,-a very
extraordinary manner, for the spaces between, his
fingers and toes were webbed as'in a goose; and his
chest became so very capacious that he could take
in at one inspiration 'as much breath as would serve
him for a whole day.
The account of so' extraordinary a person did not
fail to reach the king himself, who commanded
Nicholas to be brought before him. It was no easy
`matier to find Nicholas, who generally spent his
time in, the solitudes 'of the deep, but, at hist; after
ninth searching,
,he was found and brought before
his 'Majesty. The curiosity of. this. monarch had.
been long excited by the accounts he had heard of
-the bottom of the gill' h of Charybdis, he now there.
fore conceived that it would be a 'proper opportunity
to have more certain information. He, therefore;
commanded our poor diver to examine the bottom
of this dreadful whirlpool, and, as an incitement to,
his obedience, he ordered a golden cup' to be flung
into it. 'Nicholas Was not insensible of the danger
to which htt *as exposed ; danger best known to
liiMself, acid therefore he presumed -to renionstrate;
but the hopes of_ the reward, the desire of pleasing
`the king, and the pleasure
.of shewing his skill, at '
last prevailed. He instantly jumped into the gulph,
and was as instantly swallowed up in its bosom. He
continued.for three quarters Of an hour below, dur-
ing which time the king- and his attendants remain-
ed on shore 'anxious for his fate;, but he at last ati-
peared, holding the cup in' triumph in one hand,
and making his way good among the waves with the
other. It may be supposed he was received with
applause when he came on shore :
.the cup was made
the reward of his adventure; The king ordered him
to .be taken proper care of, and as he was somewhat
fatigued and debilitated by his labour, after a hearty
meal he was put to bed, and permitted to refresh
himself by sleeping •
When he was thil4 restored, he Was again brought
to satisfy the King's Curiosity with a narrative of the
wonders he had seen ; and his account was to the
folio wing effeel :—He would never, he said, have
obeyed the King's commands had he been apprised
of half the dangers that were before him. There
were four things, he said, which rendered the gulph
dreadful, not only to men, but to fishes themselves.
t . The force of the water bursting up froth the bot-
tom, which required great strength to resist -.2.
The abruptness of the rocks that on every side
;threatened destrUetion. 3. The force of the whirl-
pool dashing against those racks. And, 4,' the
number 'and magnitude of the polypous fish, some
of whiCh appeare- as large a§ a-man ; and which
every where sticking against the rocks, projected
their fibrous arms' to entangle him. Being asked
how he was able so readily to find the cup that had
been thrown in, he replied, that it happened to be
flung by the waves into the cavity of a rock, against
_which he was urged himself in his descent. This
account, hoWeVer, did not. satisfy the King's curio- '
sity. Being requested to venture once more into
the gulph fOr further discol*ries, he at first refused ;
but the King, desirous of having the most exa6 in-
formation possible of all things 'to be found in the
gulph, repeated his solicitations and to give them
still greater weight, produced .a larger cup than- the
former, and added also a purse. of gold. Upon these
considerations the, unfortunate diver once. again •
'plunged into the I,Vhirlpool,; and was neverhear of
more.

The following account of a curious device em-
ployed by the enterprising Norwegians, when they
undertook long voyages before the invention of the
mariner's compass, is recorded in a recent elaborate
work on , commerce ARNGRIth JONAS tells us, -
that when FLOCK, a fsmous Norwegian navigator,
was going to set out from Shetland for Iceland,•then
called Gardartholm, he took on board some crows,
because the mariner's compass was not ?jet in use.
When.he thought that he had made a considerable
part of his, way,: he t brew up one of his crows, Whicli,
seeing land astern, fl,tx to' it ; whence FLociF, con-
cluding that he was nearer to Shetland (perhaps ra-
ther, Faroe) than any other land, kept cri his course"
for some time, and then sent out another crow,
which, seeing no land at all, returned to the vessel.'
At last,' having run the greatest part of his way,
arrothercrow vOis sent out by him, which, seeing
land a-head, immediately flew for it; and FLOCK,
following his guide, fell in with the. east-end of the
island. Snch was the simple mode of steering. their.
course,. pra6tised •by thoSe bold "navig-ators of the
stormy Northern OCean. The ancient natives Of
Taprobahe.(Ceylon) used the same expedient when
skimming along the tranquil surface Of the Indian
Ocean."—See Plinii HiSt. Nat. Lib. VI. c. 22.