Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-08-26
SUNKEN IRONCIADS.
Curious Things Seen by Divers at the
Bottom of the sea.

The Charleston Ne,cs, in giving an
account of the work of wreckers in
Charleston hasbor. says that the iron
clad Housatonic lies in thirty six fee
of water, just over the bar, sixteen
miles from the city. She rests on a
hard she'll bottom, and lies northwest
and southeast, upright on her keel. The
water out there is beautifully clear, and
the divers prosecute their work with
much less difficulty than at the " ee
hawkcn Her deck nasts aud ri11in-
have all been eaten away by the worms,
aud little else is LETT of her but the
huge. black hull Her propeller, shaft,
chains aud anchors, aud large purtl ~
of her machinery have been hoisted
ont by the machine. and also two ot
the smaller guns composing her arma~
nent. The rest Of them were taken uf
~ the Government several years a&o
The Government has a buoy planted
about 800 yards east>southeast OF this
guess pretty closely as to her wherea
bnnts. To render the matter a GER
tainty, however, Captain Soames, whcn
he leaves her to come up t. the city
marks her position with a buoy fts ea-
ed tn the center OF the hull About
twenty feet south Of tho wreck Of the
doomed ship lies the hull of her des
troyer, the Confederate torpcdo>hoat.
She has been visited by the Captain,
who reports her to be lying bottom up
ward, and seemingly in good preSerya
ton. There are 10 holes in her hull aud
the wings Of her diminutlvc propeller,
now uppermost, seem To be IN good
running order She did her work efIec-
tuiIly. In the hull on the port quarter
of the huge ship is u jagged hoic large
enough to drive a carriage and pain
through. The heavy oaken ribs aud
thick planks are blown in with tremen~
dous power, and the Housatonic must
have gone down with but IittI" prepar
alton Her dininutvc but dangerous
foe met with similar fate, and the two
now rest in silence, side by side, at the
bottom If the sea.
Under the waters the divers see curl
Gus things and make curious acqnaiut-
ances. Near the surface of The water.
on his way down, the diver sees sharks
of enormous dimensions. which seem
afraid of the curious monsters thus
iDtruding on their domain The sharks
are never seen at the bottom they
keep their distance but the small, fry
at the bottom are much more sociable
These swim around the diver in the
most Indifferent manner, and with "a
curiosity truly feminine, insert their
noses in every oriGce in his submarine
armor. Their particular amusement is
to pry into the glass eyes, aud at times
they are as Troublesome as the mo~qui
toes are to US and-ubbers. All vari
etles, and immense numbers of these
small fish feed around on the shells.
and their curiosity renders them easy
victims to the insinuations of hook and
bait. At night the phosphorescent
sparks in the Clear blue water out at
the Housatonic, light up the depths in
a wonderful manner, and the diver en-
joys the illumination, though be has not
much time for enjoying the beauties of
nature. He stays down six hours or
less, as his work renders it necessary.
In runmaging about the ship, the Capt
discovered several bottles of Rhine
WING aud ale. He also brought up a
globular brass lamp and several metal
mountlngs from officers swords. The
Captain has also in his possession a
massive jawbone. 1t is evidently the
lower maxillary of man, but its size
and the strength of teeth are wonderful.