Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-06-29
AN AMATEUR DIVERS PERIL.
Fifty Feet Under Water in the North
RiVer-An EngtRmgled Lie Cord.


Some time ago a canal boat laden with
steel rails was sunk off Tivoli, Hudson
river, and the services of submarine
diver were required. During his opera
tons he was watched with the deepest
interest by the villagers, and few days
since the telegraph operator expressed a
desire to don the submarine armor and
90 below,to explore the mysterious depths
of the river, the water being fifty feet
deep. The owner of the armor, who is
an old hand at the business, acceded to
the operator request, and arrangements
were at once made to send him down. "
What followed is best described by him
self:
Slowly / sank out of sight, and during
the first twenty feet of my descent the
water around me was plainly visible, and
| could also see inside of the hemlet;
could see all OF foot off outside. Grad
ually darkness came, and slowly increas-
ed in intensity until my eyes were use
less, and / could almost feel the gloom.
1t was then | began to feel uncomforta-
BILE. The pressure of the water as | kept
going down was tremendous, and my
head felt bad, and now and then there
was sharp pain in my ears. Had also
great desire to reach bottom, for it
seemed as though / was poised In dull,
heavy air. Suddenly bottom was reached,
when / experienced great sense OF re-
lief, and commenced to grope about me.
All was still except the roaring OF the
pump above, every stroke OF which l
could distinctly hear. The air was es-
Gaping from my hemlet fast, and 1t
sounded ike the boiling of large pot of
water. This noise was all at once litter
rupted by sharp, swapping sound, and
felt for the life cord, fearing something
had happened but / could not find It'll
In coming down / carried with me some
tackling to fasten to stump in the bot
tom of the river. In my descent the
current turned me round and round, and
much of the gearing, including the life
cord and tackling, became entangled so
that when | felt for the cord, which |
ought to have found instantly, it could
not be quickly separated so as to work
easily. All sound of any description
then ceased, and sense of drowsiness
come over me. l knew that the escape
valve had closed and / was breathing
foul air. Finally securing the life cord,
| sippalled for more air, and could hear
the pump run at an increased speed, but
it was to no purpose, as by constant use
the pistons had become so worn they
could not give the requisite pressure. l
became alarmed, and it was hard to
breathe, and my strength commenced to
fail me. / could do nothing to help my
self l seemed to increase in size, until
my head felt as though it must burst, and
the foul gas | breathed seemed as if it
had been heated in furnace. l thought
/ should die. The most horrible sensa-
tons came over me. Finally exhaust
ed all the air from the suit, and then
came tremendous pressure upon my
body on all sides. 1t was terrible. My
eyes felt as though they would burst
from their sockets. Ny legs expanded,
and so did my arms and body, till it
seemed as if they too would burst, and
then came inconsistencies. When rea-
son returned soft light seemed to steal
over me, and began to awake, and after
time opened my eyes, and found my
self on the surface of the water. could
see the boat on which were my friends,
but all Of them had weird look and their
proportions were gigantic, the smallest
boy among them surprising in size the
famous Cardiff giant. AS quickly as
possible was hauled on board the yes
sci, and the hemlet was removed. The
sensation produced by the admission of
the cold air was the same as that pro-
duced by the sudden drenching of a
sleeper with ice water However, soon
recovered my strength and congratulated
myself on my very narrow escape from
death
1t seems that after he was let down,
the diver who owned the armor was
somewhat doubtful in regard to the power
Of the air pump, and finding from the
sense of feeling that he was doing moth
ing on the bed of the river, signalled
several times, but get no answer. Those
on the vessel saw his countenance change
to ashy white. Then the alarm became
general, and all possible haste was made
to get the diver to the surface.
Following a Buck 10 Sea.