Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-09-14
OF A DIVER.


EXPERIENCES OF A DIVER.
have lately had the pleasure of an in
lew with Mr.. j. Wood, OF Herne BAY,
I has followed the business of diver
kpword of twenty-five years, and who
now retired after q long and active
he.
Wood made his first start in life by
;rsordinary, and, as it turned out, a
lucky piece Of diving If the reader
LOOK at the map of Ireland, he will
bat outside of B Hast Tough, and a
to the southwest, opposite Donagha-
Ire situated the Copeland Islands. 1t
ppened that a Whitstable man was a
guard in this district. He heard a le-
that ship laden with a heavy cargo
yer had been wrecked off the Cope
Islands some halfcentury ago. He
lore communicated with some of his
at Whitstable who were divers.
iingly, Mr.. Wood and four others
Ier diving dresses on board vessel
Sied from Whitstable to Donaghadee.
ng they heard when they got there
a the wrecked vessel was in the
tnas, and that she had on board,
@ struck on the rocks, large
gof slaves, and considerable sum
hey in the shape of silver dollars.
hg would have been known of the
having taken place had not some
discovered human legs projecting
the surface of the water. IL
Is that the people on board
Dip had tried to escape; they had
their shirt.sleeves with dollars, but
hing up the rocks many of them had
back and met al untimely end, as
light of the dollars had kept their
under water. No one had ever dis
the wreck since it happened, SO Mr..
and his friends set to work to find
here it was. They put on their d.
resses, and for two or three days
d about to and fro at the bottom of
q, In about forty feet of water, search.
T the treasure. This they did by
By away the weeds and turning over
pnes with crowbars, and feeling for
blhrs with their hands, as the water
DO thick to see. The wreck itself
entirely disappeared through the
& time. After long and careful
il last they came upon the dollars ;
Em spread about amengthe stones,
bay had slipped down among a
fiion ore which had formed the
ofthe ship. Many of the dollars
rom away thin by the action of the
Some were lying separate, others
Jumps like rocks soldered together
3, certainly in some cases the hand
eed for the slaves. Some days the
got two hundred dollars, sometimes
hundred, sometimes thousand the
y they got five thousand, consid.
sum of money when reduced to
pounds.
Wood showed me one of the dollars,
he always carries about him. 1he
ng is the inscription: On one side,
usiitj. Del Gratia. 1897. Hispsn
Rex NJ 8 r. FM." The coin is
he size of an old five shilling piece.
Divers Arms" near the clock tower
pc Bay, Of which Mr.. Wood is pro-
owes its existence to the discovery
dollars. Mr.. Wood had on this
ma curious under water adventure.
the divers complained that he was
ID by the lobster and couldn't work.
God learned the whereabouts of the
and went down after him. He
severed Mr.. Lobster sitting under
looking as savage as a lobster can
His feelers were pointed we'll for
ND he held out his two great claws
pen in threatening attitude. Wood
3 the habits of Holsters, gave this
his crowbar. Then watching his
unity he passed his signal line over
ster's tail, made it fast, sigralled to
men above to haul up. This they
Instantly away went Mr.. Lobster
p through the water into the air
with his claws still expanded, and
% as lobster could be.
sat congereel also paid the divers q
re was an immense fellow, and
INNING around Wood, but would
pc near him. Wood was afraid of
q being bitten, as congers bite
Dad. He once knew a diver whose
'as seized by a conger. The brute
the flesh clean off the mans fin
conger is very dangerous animal
sa1er. However, this conger kept
ing round about Wood, 80 he took
p'Knlfe out and tried to stab him,
conger would not come near
70 be killed. It was a long time
.ne conger would 60 away, and
Ier ne had gone away Wood could
pn working, because he was not
ne was really gone for good, and
nave come out Of some corner
PEG his fingers.
WOOD has had other adventures
. WHEN working under water. He
employed in fixing some heavy
me harbor at Dover; while wait
sae stones to come down from the
we, ne sat down on rock, and
" quiet, q shoal OF whiting pout
70 examine the strange visitor to
aqueous residence; they played
MN and kept on biting at the
~ which formed the eyes of his
leimet; 80 the next time Wood
~ ne took with him q fish hook
nto the end Of q short stick-a
sct The pouts came around him
and he GATED them one after
WIN his hook. He then strung
sHlng, and came up after his
~ ~ was over with q goodly fry of
pouts for his supper.
saer occasion Wood was employed
Up some pigs of lead from the
ssessel. When he was walking
:. we top Of the lead he felt some.