River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1874-07-10
AN AMATEUR DIVERS PERIL.
Fifty Feet Under Water In the North River
An Enlangl,d Life Cord.

Fifty Feet Under Water In the North River
An EnIanglad Life Cord.
Some time ago canal boat laden with
steel rails was sunk off Iivoli, Hudson
river, and the services of submarine
diver were required. During hisopera
tons he was watched with the deepest
interest by the villagers, and few
days since the telegraph operator ex
pressed a desire to don the submarine
armor and go below to explore the mys-
terious depths. The owner of the ar
NOR, who is an old hand at the business,
acceded to the operators request, and
arrangements were at once made 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 was plainly visible, and /
could also see inside of the helmet !;
could see all of foot off outside,
Gradually darkness came, and slowly in
creased in intensity until my eyes were
useless, and / could almost feel the
gloom. 1t was then that began feel
uncomfortable. The pressure of the
water as | kept going down was tire
mendous, and my head felt bad, and
now and then there was a 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 relief, and commenced
to grope about me- All was still ex
cept the roaring of the pump above,
every stroke of which / could distinctly
hear. The air was escaping from my
helmet fast, and it sounded like the
boiling of a large pot of water. This
noise was all at once interrupted by II
sharp, swapping sound, and felt for
the life cord, fearing something had
happened; but | could not find it |
In coming down | carried with me
some tackling to fasten to stump in
the bottom of the river. In my de
scent the current turned me round and
round, and much Of the gearing, in
GLIDING the life cord and tackling, be-
came entangled, SO that when / felt for
the cord, which ought to have found
instantly, it could not be quickly sepa
rated so as to work easily. All sound
of any description then ceased, and
sense of drOwsiness came over me- 1
knew that the escape valve had closed
and was breathing foul air. Finally
securing the life cord, / signaled 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 that they could
not give the requisite pressure. be-
~ all Cd nd ~ a.,
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 must
burst and the foul gas l breathed
seemed as if it had been heated i'll
furnace. thought L should die. The
most horrible sensations came over me-
Finally exhausted all the air from the
suit, and then came tremendous pres
sure upon my body on all sides. twas
terrible. My eyes felt as though they
would burst from their sockets. NV
legs expanded, and so did my arms and
body, till it seemed as if they too would
burst, and then came inconsistencies.
| When reason returned soft light
seemed to steal over me, and | began to
awake, and after time opened my eyes
and found myself on the surface of the
water. [ could see the boat on which
were my friends, but all of them had a
wierd 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 vessel, and the helmet was
removed The sensation produced by
the admission of the cold air was the
same as that produced 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 nothing ON the bed of the river,
signaled several times but got no an
swer. 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. ~ y San.