The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-09-06

| plants. On the r1gnt nRnus Deneatu tue btutue
| and the scroll, is represented the commocore's
marine life, and on the left his railroad life.
1 The statue will be unveiled to the public on
| tho 2Sth instant.
DOWNAMONG THE DEAD MEN.
Beneath the Rolling Waves-Life under
Water-Tragedios ON tho Bottom OF tho
sea-How tho Fishes Look Mt Diver.
The Story efa Detroit Diver.
lFrem the Detroit Advertiser and fribunel
| It is q strange business, this diving. The
| danger fascinates some. but'tbe peril is never
for q moment Lost sight Of. put on the
| helmet for the frst time more than ten years
| ago, and yet never resume it without feel.
ing that it may be the last time shah ever 60
down. or course one has more confidence
after while. but there is something in being
shut up in an armor, weighed down with q
hundred pounds, and knowing that little
leak in your life pipe is your death, that no
diver can ever get rid OF. Aud 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 . fellow man, after long hours
among the fishes, makes you feel like one who
has suddenly been drawn away from the grasp
OF death. I have had some narrow escapes
while pursuing my strange profession; every
diver has, or has been Unusually lucky to es-
cape them.
Think the most dangerous place over got
| into vas going down to examine the propeller
/ Comet, sunk of Toledo. In working about her
bottom. got my air pipe coiled over large
IL with my hards. Every time sprang up to
remove the hose my tender would give me the
''slacb" OF the line, thus letting me foil back
L 10 5..I x,ok, x.l4~e T. -
did not know what my signals on tho life limo
| meant. 1t was two hours and q half before I
was relieved, and there wasn't q moment TINT
was not looking 10 see Inc hose cut by the
ragged wood. It's q strange feeling you have
down there. You 20 walking over q vessel.
olambering up her sides, peering here and
there, and the feeling that you nre alone makes
you nervous and uneasy.
Sometimes q vessel sinks dswn so fairly thot
| she stands up on the bottom as trim and as
neat as II she rode on tho surface. Then you
can go down into the cabin, up the ehrouds
walk all over her, just as easily a sailor could
if she were still daahing away before the breeze.
Only 1t seems 30 quiot, 30 tomb-like; there are
no waves down tnere-only swaying back
the ship. You hear nothing from above. The
great fishes Will como swimming about, rub
bing their noses against your glass. and storing
with wondering look into your eyes. Tho
very stiffness sometimes gives life q chill.
You hear just moaning, waing sound, like
the last notes of an organ, and you cannot
help but think Of dead men floating over nnl
around you.
I have been down especially to rescue the
bodies or those drowned. About tour years ago
the propeller Buckeye, belonging to the North
ern Transportation Company, went down in
the river st. Lawrence. III seventy-elght feet
OF water, and it was known that o mother and
child were asleep in their stateroom at the time
Of her sinking. The father begged of mo and
| oferod me good deal Of money to take out
| the corpses, and though dreaded the work,
at last consented. had been all over tho
wreck two or three times, and knew just whore
| the stateroom was. The door was fast locked
and waited good while before bursting {
open. ..
OF course, dead person conldn't harm you
pie around you, don't you know that the sight
ano presence OF O dead person brings up ol.
emn thoughts and nervous feelings? l know
how they would look, now they we're featlag
around in the room, and IL tho father hadn't
been looking SO wretched above, there was no
money to tempt mo in there. But, at last,
got crowbar from forwards, and, not letting
stove il in. TGe 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 the child.
knew how they would look, but screamed out
and jumped back. Her lace was feartuily dis
torted, showing how hard death had been
waters at me In way that made my flesh
creep. The child had d Led easily its little
| white face giving out no sign of terror.
II WAS good while before I fastened the
line to them aud gave the signal to haul up.
and felt 80 uneasy that was not long in fol-
lowing. This is one of the drawbacks to any
feeling of curl ,sity diver might otherwise
have. ! never go down the Latchway or the
cabin steps without thinking Of dead man
floating about there. When the Lac 10 Belle
sunk on st. Csir flats the engineer was caught
in tho rushing waters. and no trace was ever
found OF his body. His wife came to me, hear
ing that was to go down to the wreck, and
asked me to find the body il possible. ! re-
membered this when went down, and went
cropping through the engine room in momen-
tary expectation Of encountering the body.
4 looked 80 long without finding it that got
nersous. and had started for the ladder to go
ups whenl isa felt something strike my helmet
me as Thought tho dead body was at hand.
Bot, on reaching up, I found that had run
against the are-hose, the end Of which was
hanging down, aud what so areaded waa still
A diver does not like to 20 down more than
hundred and twenty feet; at that depth the
PRESSURE is painful sud there Ia danger Of in
hours st a time at a hundred and fifteen. or
In the waters Of Lake Huron the diver can see
shiiT,y OF forty feet away bnt the other
Up, here you seldom think Of accident or
death, but hundred feet OF water washing
over your head would set you to thinking. A
hose, q careless action on the part ofl yonr
tender. and the wight ora mountain would
press the life out OF you before You could make
line yourself, and In your haste bring on what
you dread. / often got my hose around stair
OF rail, and though I am not called cowardly,
and generally release it without much trouble,
back the clutch Of death of my throat, makes
a cold sweat stsrt from every pore.