Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-07-11
AN AMATEUR DIVERS PERIL.
Fifty Feet Under Water I'm the North
River--An EntangIed Life Cord.

h1Ver--An hhtAhShcu AalIc OOfus
Ssme time ago a canal-boat laden
with steel rails was sunk off Tivoi,
Hudson river, and the services of a
submarine diver we're required. During
his operations he was watched with the
deepest interest by the villagers, and a
few days since the telegraph operator
expressed desire to don the subma-
rine armor and go 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, acce6sd to the operators
request, and arrangements were made
at once to send him down." What
followed is best described by himself:
SLOWLY sank out of sight, and dur
ing the first twenty feet of my descent
the water around me was plainly visi-
BILE, and I could also see inside the
helmet could see all of foot off out
side. Gradually darkness came, and
slowly increased in intensity until my
eyes were useless, and I could almost
feel the gloom. It was then that be-
gan to feel uncomfortable. The pres
sure 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 de,
sire to reach bottom. for it seemed as
though [ was poised in dull, heavy air.
Suddenly bottom was reached, when l
experienced great sense of relief, and
[ commenced to grope about me. All
was still except the roaring of the pump
above, every stroke of which I could
distinctly hear. The air was escaping
from my helmet fast, and it sounded
like the boiling of large pot of water.
This noise was all at once interrupted
by sharp, swapping sound, and I felt
for the life cord fearing something had
happened; but I could not find it! 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 descrip-
tion then ceased, and a sense of drowsi-
ness came over me. I knew that the
escape valve had closed and [ was
breathing foul air. Finally securing
the life cord, signalled for more air,
and could hear the pump run at an in
creased speed, but it was to no pur-
pose, as by constant use the pistons had
become so worn they could not give
the requisite pressure. became
alarmed, and it was hard to breathe,
and my strength commenced to fail me.
could do nothing to help myself. ]
seemed to increase in size, until my
head felt as though it would burst, and
the foul gas I breathed seemed as if il
had been heated in furnace. I thought
I should die. The most horrible sensa-
tions came over me. Finally I ex-
hausted 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 ex.
panded, and so did my arms and body,
till it seemed as if they too would burst,
and then came unconsciousness. When
reason returned soft light seemed tc
steal over me, and began to awake,
and after time opened my eyes and
found myself on the surface of the
water. I could see the boat on which
were my friends, but all of them had 8
weird look, and their proportions were
gigantic, the smallest boy among them
SURPRISING in size the famous Cardiff
giant.
AS quickly as possible I was hauled
on board the vessel, and the helmet
was removed. The sensation produced
by the admission of the cold air was
the same as that produced by the sud.
den drenching of a sleeper with ice
water. However, I soon recovered my
strength, and congratulated myself or
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 nothing on the bed of the river
signalled several times but got nc
answer. Those on the vessel saw his
countenance change to ashy white
Then the alarm became general, ant
all possible haste was made to get The
diver to the surface.