The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-09-09
Down i'm a Diying.Bell.

| HAVEN'T you often wondered what mys-
| terlous things were hidden in the far
| down depths of the waves Of the great
| lakes? Wondered how the bottom looked ;
OF the strange fishes; the sensations that
| a living man would feel down there in the
moaning waters? When you have read
OF some good ship, freighted with many
happy souls, plunging down into the dark
| depths, haven't you wondered how she
rested, and seen, like a vision, the pale
faces, with staring eyes and floating locks,
being washed hther and thither, their
| fingers clutching stiff1y at one another as
the cold water swept them back and forth?
We can see nature in the forest, in the air,
| in all her workings but that of the waters.
And that is why we seek to penetrate the
| hidden mysteries; why the diver who de-
scends into her closed cells is an object of
awe and admiration. We who live upon
| the shore see him in his armOr often, hear
| of his successes and failures, sometimes of
| his death, and yet but few of us know his
| courage, his endurance, his perils, his feel
ings down there alone, knowing that he
descends with his life in his hands, and
| that the waves above him would gladly
| chant his death-song for his boldness.
Foremost among the bold divers of the
IL,
and, from a long and varied experience,
cminently qualified to tell the readers of
the Free Press of the mysteries of which
we have spoken, and with little help to
polish up his-Yords, he says:
ut is - strange business, this diving
The danger fascinates some, but the peril
is never for moment lost sight Of | put
! on the helmet for the first time more than
ten years ago, and yet | never resume it
without feeling that it may be the last
time / shall ever go down. OfcOurse, one
has more confidence after a while, but
there is something in being shut up in an
armOr, weighed down with 100 pounds
and knowing that little leak in your life
pipe is your death, that no diver can ever
get rid Of And [ do not know that
| should care to Danish the feeling,
for the sight of the clear, blue sky, the
genial sun and the face of a fellow-man,
after long hours among the fishes, makes
you feel like one who has suddenly
been drawn away from the grasp of
death. | have had some narrow escapes
| while pursuing my strange profession
every diver has, or has been unusually
lucky to escape them. | think the most
dangerous place | ever got into was going
down to examine the propeller Comet,
sunk off Toledo. In working about her
bottom | got my air pipe coiled over
! large silver from the stOven hole, and
could not reach it with my hands Every
| time | sprang up to remove my hose my
tender would give me the "slack of the
| line, thus letting me fall back again. He
did not understand his duties, and did not
know what my signals on the lifeline
meant 1t was two hours and halt before
was relieved, and there wasn't a moment
! that | was not looking TO see the hose cut
by the Jagged wood. 1t is strange feel
ing you have down there You go walk
ing over vessel clambering up her sides,
pecring here and there, and the feeling
that you are alone makes you nervous and
uneasy Sometimes a vessel sinks down
SO fairly that she stands up on the bottom
as trim and neat as if she rode on the sur
face. Then, you can go down into the
cabin, up the shrOuds, walk all over her,
just as easily as a sailor could if she were
still dashing away before the breeze. Only,
it seems so quiet, so tOmb-like; there are
no waves down there-Only swaylng
back aRd forth of the waters, and a see
sawingA 81. the ship. You hear nothing
from above; the great fishes will come
swimming about rubbing their noses
against your glass, and staring with won
dering look INTO your eyes. The very
stiffness sometimes gives me chill. You
hear just moaning wailing sound, like
the last notes of an organ, and you can
not help but think of dead men floating
over and around you. i have been down
especially to rescue the bodies of those
drowned About four years ago, the pro-
pellcr Buckeye, belonging to the Northern
Transportation Company, went down in
NV. .Ifrltf
feet of water, and it was known that a
a mother and child were asleep in their
statc-room at the time of her sinking.
The father begged of me, and Of
| fered me a good deal of money, to take out
the corpses, and though l dreaded
| the work. | at last consentee. had been
| all over the wreck two or three times, and
| knew just where the statcrOOm was.
| The door was fast locked, and | waited a
good while before bursting open. Of
course, dead person couldn't harm you,
but even in broad day, on shore, and peo-
pie around you, don't you know that the
sight and presence of deadpersoR brings
up ssolemn thoughts and nervous feel
| ings? knew how they would look,
how they were floating around in
tie room, and if the. father hadn't been
| looking so wretched above, there was no
money to tempt me in there. But, at last
| got a crowbar from forwards, and, not
letting myself think gave the light door
blow that stove it in. The water came
rushing out, the vessel just then lurched
over toward my side, and out they came,
the woman first, her eyes wide open and
hair trailing behind, and in her left hand
she held the hand of her child. knew
how they would look, but | screamed out
and jumped back. Her face was fearfully
distorted, showing how hard death had
been met and the eyes looked through the
| green waters ut me III way that made
my flesh creep. The child had died easily,
its livid, white face giving no sign Of ter
ror. Il was good while before l fas-
tened the line to them and gave the sigma!
to haul up, and felt so uneasy that L
was not long i'm following This is
one of The drawbacks TO any feeling OF GU
riosity diver might otherwise have. |
never go down the hatchway or the cabin
steps without thinking of u dead man float
ING about there. When the Lac Ia Belle
sunk on St Clair flats, the engineer was
caught in the rushing waters, and no trace
was ever found of his body. His wife
came ID me, hearing that l was to go down
TO the wreck, and asked me to find the
BODY ifpossibler | remembered this when
l went down. and went cropping through
the enyine-rOom, i'm mOmentary expecta-
ton of fencountering the body. l looked
SO long without finding It that / got ner-
vous. and had started for the ladder to go
up. when felt something strike my he'll
met and give way, and chill went dane
ING over me as thought the dead body
was at hand. But on reaching up found
that had run against the fire hose, the
end ofwhch was hanging down, and that
+ what so dreaded was still out ofmy sight.
a diver does not like to gOdown more
than 100 feet; ut that depth the pres
sure is painful and there is danger of in
ternal injury can stay down for five or
six hours Mt time at 1l5 or 12O feet, and
| L. :, ,,,l JooI of har,l work In the WA