Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-06-28
Experiences Of an Amateur Diver,


day, and exerted himself to most lauda.
BILE degree in the effort to ascertain what |
sort of condition submarine locals were |
in. SO far as seeing is concerned the Bo-
hemian does not appear to have achieved |
any marked success, yet he has managed
withal to work up quite readable ac-
count of his experiences. We let him tell
most of his story in his own way:
Never did human ingenuity invent any
thing which renders one so thoroughly
ludicrous to behold as a divers dress.
No, not ludicreus, but horrible; for there
is, in the appearance of dressed diver, a
good deal that is very suggestive OF a
wretched criminal standing under the gal
lows and about 10 be launched into eter-
nifty. The association of idea is consider
ably strengthened by the air-tube which
enters the helmet, looking, for all the
world, like the rope dangling from the
beam. One of the divers kindly lent me
his paraphernalia, and also aided me in
putting it on. After removing my own
clothing, put on immensely thick and
heavy knitted woolen shirt, drawers and
stockings. Over these ] had to put on
garment which was by no means
easy to struggle into. 1t was
waterproof dress of one thickness
of Inda-rubber between two thick
nesses of canvas, and comprising jacket,
pantaloons and stockings all in one. My
boots were stout, rough pair, with six
teen pounds of lead attached to the soles.
At the wrists the sleeves had brass band
inserted, and the tops of the waterproof
gloves had a similar band, which just tit-
ted outside the one on the sleeves. BY
means of screws these two bands were
jammed so tightly together that it was
-, I, 10 Co 20 20 xAau
in. Similar bands, held together by
twelve bolts and nuts, attached the brass
collar to the top of the water-p proof dress.
Into this collar the head piece or helmet
is inserted, and is fixed in its place by
quarter-turn screw. The helmet is made
of brass, and looks like an inverted
pitcher, without handle. 1t has small
window on either side, between the eye
and ear, and round glass in front of the
face, which screws in and out like the
lenses of telescope. The air is forced
into the helmet by a common suction air
pump, and escapes through small valve
governed by spiral spring. Thus fresh
streams of compressed air are constantly
passing in through the tubes and out
through the valve The helmet and col
lar weigh twenty-five pounds. The best
part of one hundred pounds of lead,
fastened round the chest, completed my
outfit, and was ready to make my call
on any one l might find at the bottom of
the Bay.
"What an indigestible morsel should
make for shark, with all this lead about
me-" was my reflection as / stepped over
the side of the vessel, and slowly descend
ed the short ladder hanging from the gum
vale. Gradually l slid into the water,
and was soon immersed. "Heavens! what
| is that?" thought, as disappeared be-
| low the surface l felt as though some
one had run an iron rod clean through
my head, from one ear to the other. The
next moment the same sensation passed
| through both eyes to the back OF the
head. The pain increased as went down,
| till at last / felt as though had grid
iron in my brain. AS | went down and
| down, it seemed as though my Uranium
must explode like an engine boiler, and
that the drums of my ears would certain
ly burst. was on the point of pulling
the signal-rope to be hauled up, when my
feet touched the bottom. | stood perfect
ly still for awhile, and the pressure on
the brain from the compressed air soon
began to decrease. In a moment it had
so far gone off that gave up any idea of
signaling to the divers above that wanted
| to come up. l was much sur
prised at the enormous pressure
of the water on my body and limbs;
something far beyond anything that
| one experiences in swimming. The ap-
parent difficulty of keeping nv feet on
| the ground, too, struck me as being rather
extraordinary, considering that l was so
heavily weighted.
/ stopped down to touch the bottom
| with my hand, to feel what was standing
on, when up went my feet. l had the
greatest difficulty in regaining them.
| This was afterward explained to me by
the divers. 1t arose from very simple
cause. The air introduced into the helmet
forces its way down into the clothing, and
initiates it to some extent. This imitation
is of course, greater about the legs, where
the diving-dress does not fit so closely as
it does about the body. The air pressure
is necessarily very great-15 pounds to
the square inch for every foot descended
below the surface-and it seems to'carry
on continual warfare with the outside
pressure of the water. About a month
ago, a diver who was working in the
North River, off SiXty-first street, was
forced off his feet by the ballooning of the
legs of his dress, and his legs went up In
the water above his head. He appears to
have lost his presence of mind for, when
his comrades hauled him up, they found
that he had cut the air-tube with his
knife. Poor fellow, he paid for this fool
ish action with his life.
But the thing of all others which aston
ished me most was the total inability tC
see anything at the bottom. | could not
even see my hand when / put it before
the glass window in the helmet. was
grievously disappointed, for | had fully
anticipated being able to give pen pic
ture of the bottom of the sea, to describe
the astonishment of the fishes on seeing
me, and interview any dead bodies OF
skeletons might come across. And my
friends, the mermaids, too Had they
been around, they might have played al
sorts of tricks with me without my being
able to discover their whereabouts. Two
or three times / fancied that small fisl
touched me but am inclined to thinl
that this was only imaginary probably
some eddy in the water or a bit OF float
ing sea-weed, or something else. Tit
only thing | really encountered was thu
, rough angle of stone. l started al
though a shark were after me, and any
thing but blessed the spring freshet
which had rendered the water so thicl
and muddy as to envelop the bottom IL
all the darkness of the land of Egypt
But there was no help for it. l could M
more pierce the darkness of the dens
, water than Mr.. Weller could "sel
through fight o. stairs and deal door.
was, at first, inclined to think that tn
inability to see was the result of disorgan
ization of the optic nerve, caused by tn
great pressure on the brain. But coul'
not see better when the pressure began t.
decrease, nor could when had becom
, tolerably comfortable.
After l had been down some minutes
"groping blindly in the darkness,
became aware of a pain in tn
lower part of the abdomen, cause'
by the pressure of the water. II
two or three minutes this pain became 81
intense that, having assured myself tina
there was nothing to be seen and nothing
to do but walk blindly about, tugged a
the signal-rope, and telegraphed to tn
divers that / wished to be drawn up.
shot up through the water much taste