Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1869-09-17
WALHALLA, s, C., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER II, 1869
From the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune
Down Among tho Dead Men.

~ 10 . olranRe business, TINS diving. Tho
danger fascinatcs some, but the peril is never
for =. moment Loaf sight of. l put on the hel-
n'etifor che frat time more than ten years ago,
and yet J. never resume it without a feeling
that it may be the last tims l shall over 10
down. aOf course one hsa moro confidence
after q while, but there 10 something q 10 being
shut up, in 40 srmor, weighed down with .
hundred pounds, aud knowing that a little
leak in your life pipe is your death, that no
diver can ever get lid of. And | do not know
that | should care to bauish the feelings for
the sight Of the clear blue sky, the genial sun
and the face Of fellow man, after long hours
among the fisher, makes you feel like one
who has suddenly been drawn away from the
grasp of death. / have had some narrow "a.
oapes while pursuing my strange profession
every diver has, or has been unusually lucky
to escape them.
think the most dangerous place I ever
got into was going down to examine the pro-
pollertC Comet, sunk off Toledo. In WORKING
about her bottom, l got my air pipe coiled
over a large silver from the steven hole, and
could not REACH it with my hands. Every
tIme'l spranR up to remove the hose my ten.
der would give lms the 'slack' of the line,
thus letting me fall back again. He did not
understandable his duties, and did not know what
my signals on the life line meant. 1t was
two hours and a half before l was relieved,
and there wasn't q moment that I was not
looking TO see the hese cut by the ragged
wood lt's a strange feeling you have down
there, You 90 walking over q vessel, clam
bsr!dg up her sides, peering here aud there,
aud the feeling that you are alone makes you
nervous aud uneasy.
Sometimes q vessel sinks down so fairly
that she stands up on the bottom as trim and
as neat as if she rode on the surface. Then
you can go down into the cabin, up tho
shrouds walk all over her, just as easily as y
sailor could if she were still dashing away be.
ioro the Aasi1ee oaly it seems SO quiet, SO
tomb like; There are no waves down there
only a swsying back and forth of tho waters,
and a see saving Of the ship. You hear moth
Zig from above. The great fishes will come
swimming about, rubbing their noses against
your glass, and staring with u wondering
look into your eyes. The worry stiffness some.
times gives life a chill. You bear Just q
moaning, wailing sound, like the last notes
of an organ, and you cannot help but think
Of dead men floating over and around you.
have becn' down especially to rescue the
bodies Of those drowned. About four years
ago the propeller Buckeye, belongin, to the
Northern transportation Company, went
down 10 the river St. Lawronoe, in seventy.
eight feet of water, and it was known that a
mother aud child were asleep 10 their state
room ut the time of her sinking. The father
begged of me aud offered me y good deal Of
dreaded tic lwvrp,t the corpses, ssu -
been all over the wreck two or three times,
and knew just where tho stateroom was
The door was fast looked, and / waited q good
while before bursting it open.
OF course, . dead person could not harm
you, but even in broad day, on shore, and
with people around you, don't you know that
the siglt aud presence OF . dead person brings
up solemn thoughts aud nervous feelings2
knew how they would look, now they were
floating around in the room, aud if the fathe,
hadn't been looking so wretched above, there,
was no money to tempt me in there. But
~at'last, L got a croabar from forwards, and
not letting myself think, gave the light doo1
a blow that stove. it in. The water cam'
rushing out, the vessel just then lurchet
over toward my side, aud cut they came, tn
woman first, her eyes wide open and hal
trailing behind, and in her left hand yhe hell
the hand Of the child. I knew how the,
would look, but l screamed out and jumpe
back. Her face was fo~arfully distorted, show
ing how hard death had been made, and til
eyes looked through the green waters at mel
2. a way that made my Aeshr creep. Che chill
had died easily T; its little white face givin
IL out no sign Of terror.
n gIt was o good while before I fastened IL
!. line TO them and gave the signal to haul u
!, and Ifelt so aneasy that 1 was not long
3 following This ia, ono Of the drawbacks
+ any feeling Of curiosity q diver might othe
" wise have.st j mover 60 down the hatohw,
orthe cabin astepstwitbout thinking Of 4 dc
. mantAosting shout there. Whom the Lao
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