The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-08-16
.~n.-,enees Of n Diver.

vice. ,;s first start in lie ny an
Mr.. Wood MADE ~" as j, turned out very
80 n;occ Of diving. IL ,no ,;u coo 3b,t
Hchl eto man o! Ireland, ne w" ';.,Jn =. tha J
Wo ..S;ae nf Belfast Lough, anu n' &c ~ ~.
so,thwest opposite Donasu =. 80 hanrenna
atea l"a table man was coast2uard ID I
INA! ina. district, He heard legend that ship
Iiis ,,,;,h a heavy cargo Of silver mao peen
i iaaem of the Copeland Islands some
1'aiT century ago. He therefore commll.
mcatcd with some OF his irienus ."
Wbitstable who were divers. Acc1r9.
ingly Mr.. Wood and four others put I'LL
d,Sng. dresses ON board a vessel, and sailed
from whittable to Dopaghadee. Ime
story they heard when they got tnere mas !;
that the wrecked vessel was IN tne s'uso
trade and that she hid on board wben sue
strnck on the rocks q large NUMBER OF
slaves, and considerable sum OF money ~
the form Of silver dollars. Nothing "ou'u
have been known of the wreck ha'llig
tneen MAGE had not somebody discovered
human legs projecting above the suriace vi
rhe water. 1t appears that the people Oh !!
hoard the shin had tried tU escape they |
had ti,led their shirt-seeves with dollars, !
but I'm getting up tho rocks ipal'y VI
them had fallen back and met WIN an u w.
timely end, as the weight oil the uo'l,,
had kent their heads under water. NO one
had ever dist urbed the wreck since IL mp |
naned go Mr., Wood and his friends set TO /
wnrk 10 find out where IL was. They put on |
thair diving. dresses, and for two or three !
days walked about to and fro at the oottom !
of the sea, in about forty feet Oh ""tei;
searching for the treasure. rms they usu
by clearing away The "eens anu ud ' tne'ins
over the stones with crowbars, anu iec.lns
for the dollars with their hands, Us the wa
ter WINS too thick to see. The wreck ltHen
h,d entirely perished through the lapse OF ,
tima After n long and careful SearcD al
last they came upon the dollars: they were
spread about among the stones, but many
hnd slipped down among heap OF iron orc
which had formed the ballast oil the snip.
MANY Of the dollars were worn away thin
nv the action of The waves. Some were
living separate, others in great Jumps IKE
rocks scldered together by iron, certainly
in some cases the handouts used Tor tue
slaves. Some DAYS the divers got two nun
dred dollars, sometimes three hundred,
sometimes thousand the best Cay they,
cot five thousand. In all, the NUMBER OF
dollars they got up from the wreck was
about twenty-five thousand. consldrrahe
sum of money when reduced 10 hnG''Sh
pounds.
MIR. Wood showed me one Of the dollar.
which be always carries about with hun.
The following is the inscriptions: On one
side. "CaroluX iii. Del Gralia. 1877.
nispan ct Ind Rex Nj. S. X. FM.' Ihe
coin Is about the size OF an old 1lVe-Shiilue
piece. The "Dvers' Arms" near the clock
tower ut Herne Bay, Of which MIR. WOOD Is
proprietor, owes its existence to the DIS.
covery of these dollars. Mr. WOOD hAd on
this occasion n curious underwater adven-
ture. One of the divers complained That
he was ANNOYED by Il lobster, and COULDN'T
work. Mr. Wood learned the whereabouts
of the lobster, and went down alter hun.
He soon discovered Mr.. Lobster sitting I'M
der q rock, looking rs savage as q lobster
can look. His feelers were pointed wei
forward and he held out his two great
claws wide open in a threatening attitude.
Wood, knowing the habits OF Holsters, gave
this fellow his cruwbar, which he immedl-
aiely nipped with his claws. Then. watch
ing his opportunity, he passed his signal
line over the lobster's tail, made IT faSt.and
sienalled to the men above TO haul up. IBIS
they did, and instantly away went Mr.. LOB
stcr flying up through the water into the
air above, with his claws still expanded,
and as scared as Il lobster could be.
A great cOnger eel also paid the divers
visit. He was IN immense fellow, and Kept
swimming around Wood, but would not
come near him. Wood was afraid OF his
hand being bitten, as conScrs bite Is very !
bad. He once knew diver whose flnger
WIS seized by coDger. The brute TOOK all
conner Is very dangerous animal in the
water. However, this coDgcr kept SWIM
ming round about Wood, so he took hls
casp-knife out and tried to stab him, but
the coEeer would not come near enough TO
be knitted. 1t was Il long while before the
conger would go away : and even after ne
had gone away Wood could not go on work
ing. because he was not sure that ne way
really gone for good, and it might nave
M
and nipped his fingers. :,
MIR. Wood has had other adventures WITH
" fish when working under water. lie was
once employed in liking some heavy stones
in the harbor ut Dover. While waiting Tor
the stones to come down from the snip
above, he sat down on rock, ana, belhS
very quiet, a shoal OF whiting pout came
up to examine the strange visitor TO taeu
sub.aqueous residence. They played az
about him, and kept on biting ut the thlcK
glass which formed the eyes OF mis- owing
helmet. So next time Wood Went Gown
lie took with him nsh.hook tasteueo I IMlo
ne end of short stick-a gail, IN iact. lnc
pouts came around him as usual, ana he
gated them one after another with his
hook. He then strung them on string,
and came ND after his days work was over
with goodly fry OF whiting pouts Tor Dis
supper.
to bring up some pigs Of lead from the hold
Of q vessel. When he was walking about
on the top of the lead he felt somethip z
alive under his feet. 1t kicked tremendous
ly, but he knclt down upon 1t to keep it
steady. He soon aSccrtained that it was an
enormous skate that he was standing on,
so he served him as be did the lobster. He
watched his opportunity, and slipped the
moose of his line around the skates tail :;
he then signalied to haul" and up Went
Master Skate, Tapping his great wings like
wounded eugle, and nightly astonished
were the people In the boat when they
found monster skate on the end of the
line, and not pig OF lead.
Wood once nearly lost his life when at
the bottom of the sea. A PruSslan vessel
had gone down Oft the Mouse Buoy Ill the
Thames estuary. The captain was drowned
in his cabin, and Wood had undertaken to
get him out If he possibly could. ArriYipSS
at the bottom OF the sea, Wood found ZEE
vessel lying over on her side, and that she
had gone down with all her sails set. He
tried to get into the cabin, but found the
mainsail all over the cabin door. lie was
lust about to return, when he found his
air.pipe and signal line had suddenly got
damned. Fully aware OF his very dam
gerous position, and without losing
his presence of mind, he sat quietly
on the edge of the vessel and con
sidered. The men above, he could flnd,
were signalling to him violently to come
up, but he could not answer, as the line
was damned. He took out his pocket'kniie,
and thought two or three times of cutting
himself adrift. As last chance he deter.
tha. On q ri m n