The Portland daily press., 1864-03-07

A correspondent of the Baltimore American,
who recently visited Port Royal and witnessed
the operations of the divers employed to clean
the bottoms of the monitors, gives the following
interesting account thereof:
Messrs. Joseph H. Smith and James B. Phelps
have a contract with the government for the
performance of this work, and have been of
great use here. Their principal diver, appro-
priately named Waters-is used to this work
that he has become almost amphibious, remain
ing for five or six hours at time under water
A man of herculean strength and proportions,
when clad in his submarine armor he becomes
monstrous in size and appearance. more sin
gular sight than to see him roll or tumble into
hewater, and disappear from sight, orpopping
up, blowing, as the air escapes from his helmet,
like young whale, can scarcely be imagined.
Waters has his own ideas of joke, and when
he has curious audience, will wave his scraper
about as he 'bobs around on the water, with
the air of a veritable river-god. One of his best
Jokes-the better for being veritable fact-oc-
Cured last summer. Whilst he was employed
scraping the hull of one of the monitors, ne
gro from one of the up-riyer plantations came
alongside with boat-load of water-melons.
Whilst busy selling his melons the diver came
mp and rested himself on the side of the boat
The negro stared at the extraordinary appear
ance thus suddenly coming up out of the water
with alarmed wonder, but when the diver seized
peared from the water, the gurgling of the air
from the helmet mixing with his muf1ed laugh
ter, the fright of the negro reached climax.
Hastily seizing his oars, without waiting to be
paid for his melons, he put off at his best speed,
and has not been seen in the vicinity of Station
Creek since He cannot be tempted beyond the
bounds of the plantation, and believes that the
Yankees have brought river devils to aid them
in making war.
The diver when clothed in his armor is weight
ed with one hundred and eghty-fiye pounds
Beside his armor he has two leaden pads, fitting
TO his breast and back The soles of his shoes
are of lead, an inch and half thick. All this
weight is needed to overcome the buoyancy Civ
en- by the mass of air forced into the armor and
dress, the latter of India rubber, worn by the
diver. When below the surface he can instantly
bring himself up by closing momentarily the aps
erture in the helmet for the escape of the air.
His buoyancy is Immediately increased, and he
pops up like a cork and floats at will upon the
surface. The work of scraping the bottoms of
the monitors is very arduous The diver sits
upon a spar, lashed athwart the bottom of the
vessel, so arranged as to be moved as the work
progresses, and with scraper fixed to long
handle works ON both sides of himself as far as
he can reach. The mass of oysters that become
attached to the iron hulls of one of the moni-
tors, even during one summer here, is immense.
By actual measurement it was estimated that
two hundred and fifty bushels of oysters, shells
aiu acanecu Neic tsthtu lfoDi tic botton Vi TUE
Montauk alone. The captains of the monitors
have sometimes INDUCED in the novelty Of
mess of oysters raised on the huls of their own
vessels.
Besides cleaning the monitors the divers per-
form other important services. They have ran
sacked the interior of the Keokuck, attached
buoys TO lost anchors, and made under water
examinations of the rebel distractions Waters
recently examined the sunken Weehawken and
met an unusual danger for even his perilous
calling. The sea was so violent that he was
twice thrown from the deck of the monitor. Fl
naly, getting hold of the iron ladder he climbed
TO the top of the turret, when heavy sea cast
him inside the turret between the guns. Fear
ing that his air hose would become entangled,
he made his way out with all possible speed, and
was forced to give up his Investigations until
calmer weather offered more favorable oppor-
tunity.