Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1856-05-16
OLD SERIES. VOL. %, NO. 25.
MIS- c l. Ill A n Y
OCEAN DEPTHS.

courage required rs is needed hcre3 II is
nothing to be a soldier diver, however
but forbcar. will tell my story, and
leave others to judge concerning IT,
An appalling sliPwrcck occurred, not
long asn, upon the widest part ofthc coast
of Newfoundland. The tiling, Of this ca
lamiiy reached the ears Of thousands but,
amid the crowd Of accidents which followed
in quick succession, It was soon forgotten.
Not by us, however. We found that tho
vessel had sunk upon a spot whore tho wa.
ter's depth was by no means great, and that
a daring man might easily reach her.
She was steamer called the Marmion,
and hal been seen going suddenly down,
without an in',ant's warning, by some fish
crmcn near by. She had, undoubtedly,
struck a hidden rock, and had thus been, in
one moment, destroyed.
. Isp1ko to my associates Of the plan, and
they approved it. No time was to be lost in
making the preparations, AMI a shor, time
hchcll Us embarked in our small schooner
for the sunkcn ship. There wcr, six VI us,
and we anticipated extraordinary success.
Two persons were needed, in order % cz-
plorc the Marmion. | hal selected as my
companion a young fellow, whose s,calincs,
anl dauni!ass courage had several times be-
iosa brca far'ully t,s,cI.
Il wasa calm AMI pleasant LAY, hut the
southern AMI eastern horizon looked deceit
fl Small. suspicious clouds wcro gather.
"a ,hc-c. IN Of aspect, anl "snc1kiue rcl.
lows, regular hnns.ios fellows" - my
c5mralc, Rimmer, remarked {, me. Never.
,hc'o,s, We wgrr not 10 BE- put or By little
clouliur" in tho SKY, but boldly rrcrri
to venture.
So icnp was n, water. that no yrs.i-' of
o. mast remained above thc surface, % point
out 90, rr,'ins.plac, Of the Mlrmion. W.
wrrc compelled, therefore, tos,lcct the scene
or operations according 20 the best Of our
ability Down went the sail, of our ,ch11u.
cr, anil Rimmnr and put on our diving ar.
NOR. We Gzed on our hcmlrt, tightly, and
screwed on our hose. ono by one, each
clumsy ariiel, wa. adjusted The weight,
were hung, and vc were ready.
1T looks ;arri1l, blacki,h, Ber.5u," said
Eimmor 90 me.
"Oh," replied snily, "iis onlya little
mi.,-a'l right"
"Ah" lIc uttered low exclamation,
winch sounded hollow, from bis clycrnous
lcmlst.
IN ready" cried, in loud voice,
which they, however, could no, easily dis.
tiusui.h. Then. making proper sign, |
wa, swung over the side.
Down We went, first, and Rimmcr c'g'o
behind m'. It dil not take long time for
%. to roach thcb,t,om. wc3uuI ourselves
upon what seemed a broad plain, slopins
downward towards the south. Looking f,r.
warl then, a dim black object arose, which
our experienced eyes knew to be a lofty rock.
cluno, tell the s,rangonc's Of the .cnS,-
ton rrlt by one who first walks 10 the bot
tom or the 50.
There ar q thousand objects, ittol to cy.
cite astoui.imcut, even in thc mind Of Linn
who h. dtrc,l the dc,l q hundred times
Al around Us lay the plain, covered by wa
ter: but here the eve could not pierce Ear
away into misty darkness. There was no
sound, except the incs..nnt rurSic which
was produced by the escape of the air
fr1m the breast valve. and the splash
caused hy our passage through the waters.
We walked on at a good pace Tor this ar
NOR. which seems - clumsy mp above, i
excellent, below. anil offers little inconyc-
nlcncc to the prariiccl wcarrr.
Fishes in crowds were around us. Fishc,
Of every shape and sizc me, our eyes, no
matter where we turned. They swan swift
" hyus; they sportcl in the watcr above
us: they racrl and chased one another in
every direction. Sometimes three or four
placed themselves directly before ~, staring
at us. and solcmnly working their gils.
There they would remain, till We came clos
up % them, and then, with start, they
would dart away.
All this time We were walking onward,
along the bottom Of the s,a, while above US,
like a black cloud in tho ky, we could see
our boat slowly moving onward. And now
not more than hundred yards before Us,
we could .,c the towering form Of an ebony
rock which had at Gr'; greeted our eyes
from afar. rs yet, we could not be certain
that this was the place whore the Marmion
had struck. But soon a round black object
became disccrnibc, as We glanced at the
rocky base.
Rimmcr struck my arm, and pointed. |
signed assent, and we moved onward more
quickly. \ few moments elapsed we had
come nearer the rock The black object
now looked like the stern Ola vessel whose
hull lay there.
Suddenly, Rimmcr struck me again, and
pointed upward Following the direction
Of his hand, I looked mp, and saw the upper
surface Of the water all foamy AMI in mo-
ton. There was momcntary thrill through
my heart, but it passed over. We were in
danrcrou. condition. \ storm was coming
on.
But should we turn back now, when we
were 20 near the object Of our search? Al