Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-26
The American Divers at Sensational

Through the kindness of friend we are ena
bled to give the following graphic extracts from
letter, received from one of the members of col
Gowan's party from Philadelphia, now occupied
in raising the sunken Russian ships In the har
Dor of Sebastopol.
The writer, it seems, finding his powers of en-.
DURANGO. unequal to the underwater operations
declined going down in the diving bell. to which
he had been assigned, previous to the arrival O,
Col. GOwan.
He was, upon the arrival Of Col G. made cap.
tain Of gun-boat, and put in charge of a set OF
divers, and gees on to detail his experiences as
follows:
:" June 23d, 1851 sat still till nv boat was
ready. ;" hen she hauled up, alongside, went
on board, and commenced getting her ready She
as large as shalop, has a good cabin which |
think will tit up, and live on board; then can
De De alone We are still living on board the ship.
ne most OF the men are getting the houses rea-
dy, which are simply one-story frames brought
rom Eng land and France, during the war. and
used for the soldiers. More miserable looking
quarters never before saw four to each room
so you may know how much 1 long to get on
board OF my boat. AS I write, close alongside
Is man lying in his berth, groaning, with a hof
FEVER ana sore throat, no one to care for him |
have handed him drink and bathed his head
all brought on by drinking and exposure A more
healthy place than this could not be Some Of
the men nave come in, and gone out again; while
tHey were mere went out on the beach. WAS he'd
my feet, then my stockings. | wash all nv hand
ke chiefs, stockings, coarse shirts and drawers
l0r II costs dollar dozen. Letter writing and
cream clothes Will keep me poor be that as it
IN ,. you SHALL have your letters.
- JHty lsf.-Af,er a long day, night has come.
my bands are sore with work, and write with
t:1ublei s.ili it is my only comfort. This morn
Ing took charge OF my boat and attemnted 10
Change her from one side of the ship 10 the other
She had an anchor out in front, and lines out
asten. or course, knew little of raising an
cnoIs, SUI at It went, the men had helping me
Were all Russiars; of course, had to make mo-
lions 10 them. got along pretty well until 0ot
the anchor almost out of the water: then tied n
khot wrong, and when the men Stacked up NV
Knot slipped, and away went anchor and chain
by the Iun; some forty fathoms Of chain ran ont
IN about forty seconds; they all laughed and I
felt like fool. However, at II we went and
ace much trouble, got II in, and got her round
10 the place where she now lies. ThenI took INV
sang OF men, and went to carry lumber from tb,
ship Ore OF our divers was down to- day. and
GOT uD long chain and anchor. The arbor is
.nll % them ships Of the largest class lie i'm eve
fyd;rection; some with their masts only sticking
mp, and son with the hull partly exposed I;
our men Impose on the Russians most
oha,n e.uiiv, striking them whenever they get the
cushce. RMS day, told the ships company. il
ttly one OF them struck one of my mea. he would
i se 70 strike ire, and so he will, for they are
nhniie.r fellows and dare not strike back being
Peciice here, ill-treatinp these men i,,,
10 make man hang his head and wish he I'D
Deeh Dorn dos o; hog; in fact, anvtbing bnt \
man. al les such II en- rs we have
49,, Ieli Jptty cave bullet bought of a man
1n No. IA me WI, and he'd it cut out of his
= Tel BOP lave a part of a bavonet 7 sn,nJ
on the battle field Mary and ChsIo,te Ip hn
a book with pretty died flowers, which coIIsc,
s TIen w We out Of GS9ndy by myself
sands lost their lives here. Bars null OF po,nIa
lie hele spoiled from being wet; shell and hall
I've rcurd In any quantity. Once mo. @ open mn r,,
itter TO write, ard tell you how we snrnt IT, a,S
OF July, IL now being the sth Or 60 s s.m
Thought II would be policy to give the Russ,
omeels dinner, so came round and asked ever
one how much he would give toward III yavss
Was dressed out in flags from top to bottom The