Connecticut western news., 1873-05-02
At the Atlantie's Wreck.

letter from the wreck of the Allan t1c says: Capt. Merritt, of the New York Wrecking Company, has taken charge of the wreck of the Atlantic, and Capt. Sheridan, the great Nova Scotia wreck CT, is acting under his instructions. The bodies of persons in the cabin are plainly seen, and an effort IS to be made to get at them by cutting through the side of the ship. As the vessel lies on her side, 1t is extremely difficult to get into the saloon. The manner of diving here IS primitive. But for the spars of the broken Atlantic a person knowing noth- Ing of the wreck might think that the men in the group of row boats were hauling in fish. They take no unusual interest Tn their work, and body or bale IS steadily hauled up and borne away to the storehouse or tho graveyard. There IS the diving-boat, in which is made fast the air-pump, worked by two men. This boat is lashed to one of the spars of the Atlantic. Parallel with it, at a dltance of about six feet, lies another boat, Tn which are the men who haul up the bodies. The diver puts on most of his dress in the schooner, which lies about two hundred yards from the wreck. Over his ordinary attire he pulls first thick Jersey, then he se- cures his feet and legs in half dozen pairs of thick, long, woollen socks, and over all he draws nondescript flannel garment. Thus fortified against the cold, he crawls into his waterproof dress, and looks like turtle with a hu- man head. From the schooner he is rowed to the boats. There he completes his toilet. He puts on an enormous pair of boots, with double soles, one of leather and one of inch lead. Two heavy fiat lead weights are hung over his shoulders, the helmet is screwed on, the lifeline attached to the neck plate, the sheath-knife belted, and the curious-looking being is ready to ex- plore the green waves below.
 He lifts himself heavily from his seat, disappears over the side of the boat, and is slowly lowered twenty feet to the wreck. He walks on the upturned side of the Atlantic till he reaches point from which he can enter the hatchway. Into the hatchway the blank object dis appears. Divers have o strange life. Capt. Sheridan is the most experienced diver of this coast. The first time he went down into a wreck for bodies he met sight that would have appalled, less stout-hearted men. He entered tho cabin. In @ corner stood almost straight the form of a woman in her night dress. The hands were open opened the saloon door the still water man moved up and down. As he moved and the dead body, still upright, foated r1 I1 Ia do 1o4, pass, then passed rope around the middle, guided it through the cabin door, gave the signal, and it was hoist ed. One of the divers at work on the Atlantic told me that as he was passing along in the steerage he was struck twice on the helmet. Looking up he saw dead body. The agitation of the water had caused the corpse to move. The vessel is full of broken timber, of twisted and jagged iron plates, and of bales, and boxes, and beds, scattered among which lie the bodies of men and women. The work is dangerous one, even for experienced divers, for the se- curing of body or bale raises liquid mass of filth, which obscures the vision and makes search difficult. The after hatch is still nearly full of female bodies, that section of the steerage being set apart for single women.
 The divers have never, except on Sun- day last, endeavored to get at the bodies, when they could just as easily send up bale of goods. Capt. Sheridan has been working for forty per cent. of the net value of goods saved, and his men must, of course, look to his interests. A body is worth nothing, while bale of silk may be worth thousands of dollars There is, therefore, no inducement for diver to send up body. Personal eff fects are exempt from salvage, so that body with half dozen gold watches and thousands of dollars in bank notes and gold is worth as little to the diver as that of the poorest stowaway.