The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-09-06
From the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune.

DETROIT DlNER.
From the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune.
1t is strange business, this diving. The
danger fascinates some, but the peril is
never for a.moment lost sight Of. put on
the helmet for the first time more than ten
wears ago and yet never resume it with
out feeling that it may be the last time l
shall ever 70 down. OF 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. 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 fcllow-man, after long hours
among tho fishes, makes you feel like one
who he's suddenly been drawn away from
the grasp of death. | have had some mar
row escapes while pursuing my strange
profession every diver has, or has been
unusually lucky to escape them.
| think the most dangerous place | ever
rot into was going down to examine the pro-
pcllcr Comet, sunk off Toledo. In working
about her bottom got my ai"-pipe coilcd
oyer large silver from the stovcn hole, and
could not reach it with my hands. Every
time | sprang up to remove the 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 half before
was relieved, and there wasn't Il moment
that was not looking to sec the hose cut by
the ragged wood. It's a strange feeling
YOU have down there. You 90 walking over
vessel, clambering up her sides, pcering
here and there, and the feeling that you
are alone makes you nervous and uneasy.
Sometimes vessel sinks down so fairly
that she stands up on the bottom as trim
and as neat 2s if she rode on the surface.
Then you can 20 down into the cabin, up
the slrouds, walk all over her, just as
easily as sailor could if she were still
dashing away before the breeze. Only it
seems so quiet, so tomb-like there are no
waves down therc-only swaying back
and forth of the waters. and a sec-sawng
of the ship. You hear nothing from above.
The great fishes will come swimming about,
rubbing their noses against your glass, and
staring with wondering look into your
eyes. The very stiffness sometimes gives
life chill. You hear just 4 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 been down especially to rescue
the bodies Of those drowned. About four
years ago the propeller Buckeye, belonging
10 the Northern Transportation Company,
went down in the river st. Lawrence in
scycnty-cight feet OF water, and 1t was
known that mother and child were asleep
in their statcroom at the time of her sink
ing. The father begged of me and offered
me good deal Of money to take out their
corpses, and though dreaded the work.
at last consented. had been all over the
wreck two or three times, and knew just
where the statCro0m was. The door was
fast locked, and waited good while be-
fore bursting it open.
OF course dead person couldn't harm
YOU, but even in broad day, on shore, and
with people around you, don't you know
that the sight and presence of dead per-
son brings up solemn thoughts and nervous
feelings! l knew how they would look,
how they were floating around in the room,
and if the iather hadu't been looking SO
wretchcd above. there was no money to
tempt me in there. But, at last, got q
clowbar from forwards, and, not letting
myself think, gave the light door blow
that stove il in. The water came rushing
out, the vessel just then lurched over to-
ward my side, and out they came, the wo-
man first. her eyes wide open and hair
trailing behind, and in her left hand she
held the hand cf the child. | knew how
they would look, but | screamed out, and
Jumped back. Her face was fearfully dis
tortcd showing how hard death had been
made, and the eyes looked through the
green waters at me in a way that made my
flesh creep. The child had died easily, its
little white face giving out no sign Of ter
r0r.
It was a good while before fastened the
line to them and gave the signal to haul up,
and felt so uneasy that l was not long in
following. This is one of the drawbacks TO
any feeling of curiosity a diver might
otherwise have. | never 20 down the hatch
way or the cabin steps without thinking OF
a dead man tioating about there. When the
Lac Ia Belle sunk ON st. Clair flats the en-
gincer was caught in the rushing waters,
and no trace was ever found Of his body.
His wife came to me, hearing that | was to
&c down to the wreck, and asked me to find
the body if possible. l remembered this
when l went down, and went cropping
through the engine-room in momentary ex-
pectatOn Of encOuntering the body. l
looked so long without finding that l got
nervous, and had started for the ladder TO
20 up, when felt something strike my he'll
met aud give way, and chill went dancing
over me rs thought the dead body was at
hand. But on reaching up l found that l
had run against the tire-hose, the end OF
which was hanging down, and what l so
dreaded was still hidden beyond my sight.
4 diver does not like to go down more
than a hundred and twenty feet; at that
depth the pressure is painful and there Is
danger Of Internal injury. l can stay
down five or six hours at 4 time ut hun
dred and fifteen or twenty feet, and DO
good deal OF hard work. In the waters OF
Lake Huron the diver can see thirty or torty
feet away, but the other lakes will screen L
vessel not ten feet from you.
Up here you seldom think OF accident or
death, but a hundred feet of water washing
over your head would set you to thinking.
A little stoppage Of the air-pump, leak
in your hose, careless action OH the part
of your tender, and the weight of a noun
tain would press the life out of you before
you could make move. And you may
'' foul I" your pipe, or line yourself, and in
your haste bring on what you dread. l
often get my hose around stair or rail,
and though am notScalled cowardly, and
generally release it without much trouble,
the bare idea of what slender thing holds
back the clutch of death off my throat
makes cold sweat start from every pore.