The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio) 1859-1859, 1859-06-01
THE OCEAN DEPTHS.
a. 4 DIVERS TABR.
tooxcLuDED.1

huuidl- 'Vcended the deck by the Hrst out
lot that appeared. When speak Of hurry,
speak of the quickest movement possible, when
numbered with so much armor. But this move
ment of mine was quick rushed upward; 1
sprang out upon the deck -. .. ..
II was Rimmerl lr.
He stepped forward and olutched my arm.
He pressed It with convulsve grasp, and
pointed to tho cabin. f...
l attempted to 90 there. ........
He stamped his foot and tried to hold me
back. He pointed to the boat, and implored
me with frantic gestures TO 60 up. ..
1t is appalling TO witness the horror struck
soul trying to express itself by signs. 1t is
awful to see these signs when no face is plainly
visible, and no voice is heard. could not see
his face plainly, but his eyes, through his
heavy mask, gowed like Goals of FIRE. ..t
~ will gol" l exclaimed. sprang from
him. He rlasped his hands together, but
dared not follow. .ff =. -
Good heavens l thought, what fearful
thing is hereH What scene can be so dread
ful as to paralyze the soul Of q praoticed diver,
I will see for myself. | . h..
walked forward. came TO the cabin
door. entered the forward saloon, but saw
nothing. A feeling of contempt camo to me.
Rimmer shall not come with me again, l
thought. Yet l was we-struck. Down in
the depths Of the sea there is only silence---oh,
how solemnl paced the long saloon, which
had echoed with the shrieks of the drowning
passengers. All there are thoughts which
sometimes fill the soul, which are only felt by
those to whom scenes of sublimity are familiar.
Thus thinking, walked to the after cabin and
entered. Oh, God of heavenl Had not my
hand clenched the door with grasp which
mortal terror had made convulsive, should
have fallen to the floor. / stood nailed to the
spot. For there before me stood crowd of
people--men and women-caught in the last
death struggle by the overwhelming waters,
and fastened to the spot, each in the position
in which death had found him. Each one had
sprung from his chair at the shock of the sink
ing ship, and with one common emotion all
had started for the door. But the waters of
the sea had been too swift for them. Lo then:
some wildly grasping the table, others the
sides Of the cabin-there they all stood. NNar
; the door was crowd of people, heaped upon
one another-some on the floor, others rushing
; over them-all seeking, madly, to gain the
outlet. There was one who sought to chamber
over the table, and still was there, holding on
to an iron post. So strong was each convul-
sive grasp, so fierce the struggle of each with
death, that their hold had not yet been re-
laxed; but each one stood and looked frantically
to the door. .... :
To the door-good God To me, to me
they were lookingl They were glancing at
eyes in which the fire of life had been dis
placed by the chilling CLEAN of death-eyes
which still glared, like the eyes of maniac,
with no expression. They froze me with their
cold and icy stare. They had 20 meaning,
for the soul had gone. And this made it still
moro horrible than it could have been in life;
for the appalling oontortion of their faces,
expressing fear, horror, despair, and whatever
else the human soul may feel, contrasting with
the cold and CLASSY eyes, made their vacancy
yet more fearful He upon the table seemed
more fendish than the others; for his long
black hair was disheveled, and foated horribly
down--and his beard and mustache, all loos-
: ened by the water, gave him the grimness of a
demon. Oh, what woe and torture, what un-
utterable agonies appeared in the despairing
glance of those faces--faces twisted into spas
rnodic contortions, while the souls that lighted
them were writhing and struggling for life.
Needed not the dangerous sea which, even
when we touched the steamer, had slightly
} rolled. Down in those awful depths the swell
would not be very strong, unless it should in
crease with ten-fold fury above. But it had
been increasing, though had not noticed it,
and the motion of the water began to be felt
in these abysses. Suddenly the steamer was
shaken and rocked by the swell. r.s
At this the hideous forms were shaken and
fell. The heaps Of people rolled asunder.
That demon on the table seemed to make q
spring directly toward me, fed shrieking--
all were after me, thought. / rushed out,
with no purpose but to escape. / sought to
throw of my weights and rise. 40 :.
My weights could not be loosened--I pulled
at them with frantic exertion, but could not
loosen them. The iron fastening had grown
stiff. One of them I wrested off in my con-
vulsiye efforts, but the other still kept me
down. The tube, also, was lying down still in
my passage way through the machine rooms
l did not know this until had exhausted my
strength, and almost my hope, in the efforts to
loosen the weight, and still the horror of that
scene in the cabin rested upon me. +,..
Where was Rimmer? Tho thought flashed
across me. He was not here. He had returned.
Two weights lay near, which seemed thrown
off in terrible haste. Yes, Rimmer had gone.
l looked up; there they lay, the boat tossing
and rolling among the waves.
l rushed down into the machine room, to 20
back, so as to loosen my tube. / had gone
through passages carelessly, and this lay there,
for it was unrolled from above as went on.
1 went back in haste to sxtricate myself; I
could stay here no longer, for if all the gold Of
Golconda was in the vessel, I would not stay
in company with the dreadful dead.
Back--fear lent wings to my feet. hurried
down stairs into the lower hold once more, and
retraced my steps through the passages be-
low. l walked back to the place into which !
had first descended. 1t was dark; n new feel
ing of horror shot through me; looked up
The aperture was closed ......
Heavens was it closed by mortal hand +?
J Had Rimmer, in his panic flight, blindly
thrown down the trap door, which 1 now re-
, membered to have seen open when descend
ed or had some fearful being from the cabin
9 that demon who sprung towards me-?
Q started back In terror. .... .
: But l could not wait here; must go;
/ must escape from this den of horrors. spraDl
up the ladder, and tried to raise the door. 4
!. resisted my efforts; put my helmeted heat
. against it, and tried to raise it, the rung o.
: the ladder broke beneath me, but the door wal
!. not raised; my tube came down through i
+, and kept strongly expanded by close wounC
= wire. o.. ..'. .ft .'... ...-..
I seized bar of iron and tried to pry it up
raised it slightly, but there was no way t.
get 1t up further. l looked around, and fount
some blocks; with these / raised the heavy
door, little by little, placing block in to keel
what had gained. But the work was slow
and laborious, and had worked long Will,
before had raised it four inches. .-
' The sea rolled more and more. The sub
= merged vessel felt its power, and rocked
Suddenly it wheeled over and lay upon ii