Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-12-10
.OMisre1taae
oASTLEsiN THE SEA. AN ADVENTURE
SD aiIaafa IN A DIVING BELL. lHT

D1
The desire to see a real diver, strengthened wi,
yesrs. 10 give place, at last, TO a desire TO 70 dow
IN a diving-Sell.
have a theory, founded on experience, tina
what q man has Sc, his mind on doing he 10 sur
to Do! lie may have to wait some years befor
ths opportunity arrives, but IL his mind renal
hxsd in the sane direction, that opportunity wi
Assuredly come.
The theatre Of my diving.bell experiment gre
upon me by degrees: it was tho Admiralty pie
works OF Dover. 1t must have been ten or twelv
Jesrs ago, when | saw the Grs, signs Of that wor
on tho south coast. which has now resulted ia
EroJectiag pier'arm Of firm masonry stretchin
hall q mile towards France into the stormy Char
mel sea, and which in twenty years more, perbap:
will be finished rs a break water and a harbor q
refuge. Sometimes the workmen leave thei
chains. their scafolding, and their blocks of ston,
on a calm summers evening. to come back an(
End that a storm in the night has swept away ma
ny costly months Of hard, patient labor.
IL was at the farthess end Of this halfmile road
way into the Channel (thanks to the kind e~xertion.
Of my friend, Mr.. Smiles, Of the South Eastern
Railway. Mr.. Wey the station master at Dove-, an6
Mr.. Lee the contractor) that l was allowed to make
my first acquaintance with the bottom of the
sea.
arrived ut the works on the sultry afternoon oil
the second of June. aud was conducted, at once,
down a wet muddy lane Of iron tramway, between
what appeared to be solid blocks Of masonry, rails.
cd on each side, like the walls of some fo-tifca.
ion. These we're square granite boxes, made to
q certain thickness of stone, and filed with q con-
generate mixtura Of saosa,d n.IIla. - IL
This composition, which takes several months to
ripen or harden, is used from motives ofeconomy,
and when the boxes are FL for use, they are piled
one upon another, and form the roadway into the
sea. They are marked with a number, a date, and
5 price-ihe latter being three pounds sterling
which purity show the progress and cost of the work
Near the sea end of this lane, standing upon enc
side under the heavy overbenging scafolding, and
between the concrete blocks, was q small wooden
hu;, not unlike a 6%sherman's hut in shape, but
presenting the appearance of o rude early store in
Australia for the sale of boots, coais, and Guer-
psey shirts. A large old cracked lantern was
among the apparent stock ia trade but seven
league boots, such as are worn by men who 60
down the sewers. formed tho staple. Most Of
these boots were hougiEg up against the wall Of
tho hut, like specimens of some we'll CREASED black
and unknown beast the great nails in the heavy
sole. griuniug like a hundred teeth. One pair
were lying in a 5ardy-legged posture on a heap of
rubbish at the door of the hut, looking like the
limbs Of a fierce horse-soldier, whose body had
been blown away in battle.
This was the haunt Of the mermon-stonemasons,
where tho dry clothes Of earth were exchanged for
the soddened, picked, salt-stifened clothes of the
sea and here /. as an amateur norman, was Dis
guised. so that I might have deceived my own
mother rs to my identity.
Itappeared that l had undertaken to do some
thing which. if not very desperate, was very rare.
No amateur as I was called, had ever been down
in a bell during the whole twelve years the works
had been in progress. Princes ofthe blood, I was
told, had exhibited q desire to see something oil
the lower znermanlife, and had been courteously
but firmly refused. thought that princes Of a.
little blood as possible, were the Best persons t.
descend in diVing-hells, because of the determine
ton Of that vital fuid to the head. Ahy way, th,
hours dip to the bottom Of tho sea that | had ask
ed Mr.. Lee. the contractor, to give orders for N,
to reeeise. was a luxury, apart from lite rarity ,tha
would, add ten pounds to the custof the pier.
put on a blue Jersey 6sherman's shirt, a pai
Of long. dark. rough. grey leg-bags-I cannot cal
them stockings-which made me look as il I wer,
made up at that extreme to perform the part Of
man monkey and after this ] drew on q pair o
loose brown frieze trousers. At this point | Eel
very appc?lec.ic and puffy, and experienced q diff
Guilty in STOPPING, which com PEELED me to call fol
assistance in getting into my waterproof seven
league boots. When this defensive toilet. this bu
man fortihcat!on. was completed with a water
proof southwestern cap. ! stood up a perfect n.er
man, allowing for the dash Of the amateur which
l have before alluded to-. My attcm pts at walk
ing were heavy, d~ignlfed. and slow. There wa
no springiness, no ~dancing-master elasticity, abou
me. My frail, but once active body, was like
mummy encased in many solid folds and at eve
~ step took, felt a resisting weight, as if
were walking through a thick bog.
A few PAGES out of the hui, and up the lane TO-
wards the sea. and l found myself among my fel
b~w-mermen. Some were trudging towards thu
shore. having finished their days work, while 9th,
ere ,we,e setting on the sea-washed etone stens
which formed the termination of the pier work. a.
far as it had reached, waiting for the rising Of
the bell which was to take them Down below
They were all dressed very nearly in the sam,
etsle as myself, except that my clothes had tn,
proper amateur quality of being perfectly new.
Beyond this wet, Shiny, iron-bound pyramid o
steps, stretching some little distance further int,
the sea, wasra heavy aud solid scaffo.dipg. reach
ing far above over our heads. and supported upor
strppg piles more than one-balfin the water, anc
with the other part OFT.
These piles. which cost about fifty pounds each
and which are often washed away in a storm, lik;
straws, are strongly shod with iron. The part O
them which appears Immediately above the waite,
is hung with rich brown sea weed, tipped with q
deep b9rderyof green moss above. Standing upon
some ofths stone uoeks which have already begun
to peep shove the ~ssrfaee Of the water within this
irsnnevork. were several Of my fellow mermen,
who looked like arctic vOyagers among the ice.
AT last my diving-bell (which was onaofsiI on
the works, four employed and two unemnloved,