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

marine life, and on tne leIt uie iehho"A '-'~'
| The statue will be unveiled to the public on
the 28th instant.
DoWN aMONG THE DEAD MEN
Beneath the Rolling Wnves-Aife under
Water-Tragedies on the Bottom Oh tso
sea-Eovv the Fishes Look nj o Dnver-'
The Story ofa Detroit Diver.
From the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune.]
It ia a 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 vet never resume it without feel
ing that It NAV be the last time l shall ever 60
down. or course one has more confidence
| after q while, but there is something in being
shut I'D in an armor, weighed down with
hundred 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 selling for the
sight OF the clear blue sky, the genial sun, and
the face of a fellow man, after long hours
among ths 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 es-
cape them.
think the most dangerous place ever got
| into was going down to examine the propeller
| Comet, sunk OF Toledo. In working about her
bottom, got my air pipe coiled over large
silver from the sloven hole, and could not reach
/ t., lo t,rr II IN
! remove the hose my tender would give me the
.'slack" of the line, thus letting me fall back
| aoaip. He did not understand his duties, and
| did not know what my signals on the hfe line
meant, 1t was two hours and hall before
was relieved, and there wasn't a moment that
| I was not looking to see the hose cut by fhe
ragged wood. It's q strange feeling you have
down thele. You 60 walking over vessel,
| clambering up her sides, peering here and
there and the feeling that you are alone makes
| you nervous and uneasy.
Sometimes q vessel sinks down so fairly that
she stands up on the bottom as trim aud as
neat as if she rode on the surface, Then you
can 90 down into the cabin, up the ehrouds:
! walk all over her, Just as easily as sailor could
IL she were still dashing away before the breeze.
| ONLY 1t seems 30 quiet, sotomb-like; there are
i no waves down tnere-only swaylng Dack
i and forth of the waters, and see-sawing or
/ the ship. You hear nothing from above. The
great fishes will come swimming about rub
bipg their noses against your glass, and staring
WITH wondering look into your eyes. The
| yery stiffness sometimes gives life chll.
You hear Just moaning, wailing sound, like
| the last notes of an organ, and you cannot
help but think Of dead men floating over and
around you.
I have been down especially to rescue the
bodies OF those drowned. About tour years ago
the propeller Buckeye. belonging to the North
| ern Transrt rtation Company, went down IN
| the river 81. Lawrence, Ill seventy-elght feet
| of water, and it was known that q mother and
| child we're asleep ID their stateroom at the time
| of her sinking. The father begged OF me and
offered me good deal OF money 10 taKo OUT
| the corpses, and though dreaded the work, L
| at last consented. l had been all over the
wreck two or three times, and knew just where
| the stateroom was. The door was fast locked
| and waited good while before bursting 1t
open.
OF couree, dead person couldn't harm you,
| but even IN broad day, on shore, and with peo-
ple around you, don't you know that the sight
ano presence OF a dead person brings up oil
emn thoughts and nervous feelings? knew
| how thew would look, now they we're fl atllg
er ound in the room, and il the father hadn't
been looking 80 wretched above, there was no
money to tempt me in there. But, at last, l
| got q crowbar from forwards, and, not letting
myself think, gave the light door blow that
| stove it in. The water came rushing out, the
vessel lust then lurched over toward my side,
| and out they came, the woman first, her ewes
| 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 face was fearfully dis
| torted, showing how hard death had been
made, and the eyes looked through the green
waters at me in way that made nv flesh
creep. The child had died easily; It's little
white face giving out no sign OF terror.
| 1t was good while before fastened the
line to them and gave the signal to haul up,
| and / felt SO uneasy that was not long in fol-
loving. This is one Of the drawbacks to any
| feeling of curl sity diver might otherwise
have, I never go down the hatchway or the
cabin steps without thinking Of dead man
| floating about there. When the Lac Ia Belle
sunk on st. Clair fats the engineer was caught
| in the 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 10 find the body If possible. re-
membered this when ! went down, and went
| cropping through the engine room in momen-
I tary expectation of encountering the body. l
| looked so long without finding it that got
| nervous, and had started for the ladder to go
| up, when felt something strike my helmet
and give way, and chill went dancing over
me as thought the dead body was at hand.
| But. on reaching up, found that had run
| against the fre-hose. the end of which was
banging down, aud wnabl 90 uresoeu was suh
hidden beyond my sight. :
a diver does not like to 20 down more than a
hundred aud twenty feet; at that depth the
pressure is painful and there is danger OF in
| ternaliujury. can stay down for five or SIX
hours at a time at hundred and fifteen or
twenty feet and do q good deal of hard work.
In the waters OF Lake Huron the diver can see
thirty or forty feet away, but the other lakes
will screen vessel not ten feet from you.
| Up here you seldom think Of accident or
| death, but hundred feet OF water washing
over your head would set you to thinking. a
| little stoppage OF the alr pump, leak in your
| hose, careless action on The part Of yonr
tender, and the wight Of mountain would
press the life cut Of you before Won could make
q move. And you may "tcuP your pipe or
line yourself. and in your haste bring on what
you dread. j often got my hose around stair
or rail, and though am not called cowardly,
| and generally release it without much trouble,
the bare idea Of what a slender thing holds
back the clutch Of death of my throat, makes
| a cod sweat start from every pore.