The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1871-10-07
Experiences Of a Diver.

|
Herne Bay, who has followed the
business of a diver for upward OF
twenty-five years. and who has now
retired aftera a long and active service.
| Mr.. Wood made his first start in
life by an extraordinary, and, as it
turned out, avery lucky piece Of di-
wing. If the reader will look at the
map of Ireland, he will see that out
side of Belfast Lough, and little to
the southwest, opposite Donaghadee,
are situated the Copeland Islands.
1t so happened that a Whitstable
man was a coastguard in this district.
He heard a legend that ship laden
with a heavy cargo of silver had been
wrecked Oft the Copeland Islands
some half century ago. He there
fore communicated with some OF his
friends at Whitstable who were di
vers. Accordingly, Mr.. Wood and
four others put their diving-ttresses
Oh board vessel and sailed from
| Whitstable to Donaghadee. The
story they heard when they got there
was, that the wrecked vessel was i'll
| the slave trade, and that she had OIL
board, when she struck ON the rocks,
a large number of slaves, and q con-
siderable sum of money in the shape
of silver dollars. Nothing would
have been known of the wreck having
taken place had not somebody dis
covered human legs projecting above
the surface of the water. ltappears
that the people on board the ship
had tried to escape; they had filled
their shirt sleeves with dollars, but
in getting up the rocks many Of them
had fallen back and met an untimely
end, as the weight of the dollars had
kept their heads under water. No
one had ever disturbed the wreck
since it happened, so Mr.. Wood and
his friends set to work to find out
where it was. They put on their di-
wing dresses, and for two or three
days walked about to and fro at the
bottom of the sea, in about forty feet
of water, searching for the treasure.
This they did by clearing away. the
weeds and turning over the stones
with crowbars, and feeling for the
dollars with their hands, as the water
was too thick to see. The wreck itself
had entirely disappeared through
the lapse of time. After long and
careful search at last they came upon
the dollars they were spread about
among the stones, but many had
slipped down among a heap OF iron
ore which had formed the ballast of
the ship Many Of the dollars were
worn away thin by the action of the
waves. Some were lying separate,
others in great Jumps like rocks sol
dered together by iron, certainly in
some cases the handouts used for
the slaves. Some days the divers
got two hundred dollars, sometimes
three hundred, sometimes thou
sand; the best day they got five
thousand, a considerable sum of
money when reduced to English
pounds.
Mr.. Wood showed me one of the
dollars, which he always carries
about him. The following is the in
scription: On one side, g Carolus
iitj. Del Gratia. 1897. Hispan ct
Ind Rex M 5 r. FM.' The coin is
about the size of an old five shilling
piece. The "Divers Arms" near
the clock tower at Herne Bay, Of
which Mr.. Wood is proprietor, owes
its existence to the discovery Of these
dollars. Mr.. Wood had on this oc-
casion a curious under water adven-
ture. One of the divers complained
that he was annoyed by the lobster
and couldn't work. Mr.. Wood
learned the whereabouts ofthe lob
ster and went down after him. He
soon discovered Mr.. Lobster sitting
under a rock, looking as savage as a
lobster can look. His feelers were
pointed well forward, and he held
out his two great claws wide open in
a threatening attitude. Wood know
ing the habits of Holsters, gave this
fellow his crowbar. Then watching
his opportunity he passed his signal
line over the Holsters tail, made it
fast, signalled to the men above to
haulup. This they did, and instant
" away went Mr.. Lobster flying up
through the water into the air above,
with his claws still expanded, and as
scared as a lobster could be. 9.
A great conger-eel also paid the
divers visit. He was an immense
fellow, and kept swimming around
Wood, but would not come near him.
Wood was afraid of his hand being
bitten, as q conger's bite is very bad.
He once knew diver whose finger
was seized by a eonger. The brute
took all the flesh clean off the mans
finger. Acongeris very dangerous
| animal in the water. However, this
conger kept swimming round about
Wood, so he took his clasp knife out
and tried to stab him, 1.-THE conger
would not come near enough to be
killed. It was long time before
the conger would 60 away, and even
after he had gone away, Wood could
not go on working, because he was
not sure that he was really gone for
good, and it might have come out of
| some corner and nipped his fingers.
Mr.. Wood has had other adven-
lures with fish when working under
water. He was once employed in
fixing some heavy stone In the har-