The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-10-09
THRILLING EXPERIENCE OF A FEMALE
nIVER

many, reporter was introduced to a
pleasant-faced, dark-garDed, sum
Drowned lady, who in her uuassuming
personality represents the only female
rival oil BOyton, Sidney Cook, Dean and
other famous professional divers OF the
century.
"Will l detail my experiences for pub
licatiour she said. with pleasure.
l was originally steWardess on the L..
and W. l. steamer California, of which
my husband was head waiter. We left
the steamer and established ourselves
in business in Panama i'll 1871, but failed
and went 10 Mexico, where my husband
was employed as a diver by the
Santa Barbara Pearl Fishing Com
pany, operating in The Gulf Of
California. have always been fond Of
the water, from being 80 much at sea, L
suppose, and when we were established
at the headquarters of the fishery, on
the island Of Santa Barbara, where l
acted ior time as cook for the party, L
frequently accompanied the divers TO the
scene of their operations. From watch
ing them SO often L became quite tamil-
lar with the divers work, and one day
the idea struck me that would like to
20 down. My husband finally consente d
10 the experiment i'll shallow water,
that Is, where the depth was not more
tnan fifteen feet. The experience ol my
first descent was not very encouraging.
l came up bleeding at nostrlls, mouth
and ears, and tainted upon reaching
the surface. however, persevered, tried
it again and again, and at length be-
came so hardened TO the work that
could remain down as long as any OF
the men. In 1874 my husband was sutto-
Gated in his arm1r by the breaking OF
the air-supply tube, and from that time
until the end of the season l took his
place in the fishery. III may seem singu-
lar to you that | should tempt the very
death which had seen my husband sue
cumb to, but only tell you what every
other diver will, that the fascination of
my dangerous trade oVercomes every
consideration OF peril. l have seen men
brought up so badly injured that they
lay for months in agony; yet during all
that time were constantly looking for
ward to the time when they could once
more brave the fate they had so mar
rowly escaped"
Ibid you find your sex hindrance
to your success as diverW asked the
reporter. "Ihat is to say, not phy slcal-
ly, but morally. Even The people at the
pearl fisheries, although they knew me
and my ability to DO the work, nesitated
10 employ me, and found it absolutely
impossible to obtain work on the lower
coast until captain Hartley, the CHIEF
diver of Douglas u Co., who had seen
me at work in the Gulf, gave me q chance
, to work on the schooner GaVlota. That
was early last February. The schooner
was sunk on sandbank eighteen miles
from shore, in water seventy-tive feel
deep, and whenever any wind was blow
ing the sea became very heavy. Twas
heartily sick OF Lne job the first time
went down, but The men had sneered u,
me 30 at the start That would not give
up. l never got to like that experience
anyway, and was glad enough when the
last cask of dollars of her cargo came
up and work was declared at an end.'
"Did you meet with any peculiar Oh
dangerous experiences during the con-
tinuance Of this WOrkT asked the re.
porter. The first, and one which nearly
cost all OF our lives, was an attack by
the MeXlcAns. The GaViota had been
sunk with a load OF smuggled silver. Al
the time of the disaster to the GaViota
ihe Mexican authorities were unusually
YIgilant, and 1T was very difficult tC
| rum cargo of silver. After the Gaviot g
was sunk the owners sentCaptaln Hart
ley, with several divers, of whom l was
one, to attempt TO recover the Cargo
under the protection of an armet
steamer, The MeXicans made severa
efforts to drive the Americans OF
One of these attacks resulted in
savage fight, and we had to aban
don work, and run out to SCI
far several days. From that tim
forth we had to be constantly on tn
alert. but we were not further molested
| When the attack was made l was dow
at the bottom, trying to make last to
cask OF dollars that was partially sun
in the sand. We were diving from III
mort side of the steamer, anu the first
knew of the disturbance was the sudde
stoppage of the air supply, occaslonet
as i afLerward found out, by the man i
charge Of the air pump having to desel
J his post to def5nd himself. IL came a
of a sudden, like flash. l felt Erigh
full sense OF oppression at the chest, an
a tDunderous lumbIing at the ear
, while hot shiver, as ii l had been SUI
denly exposed TO the heat OF blast fu
} mace, ran through me. Fortunately tt
man at the signal line was still on dut
? and he answered my call for help
. dragging me to the surface. l was nea
= ly dead, My face was black and stalnt
a with the blood which had started eve
: from the sockets OF my eyes. Ii took 6
= hour to revive me, and for two days
( was unfit for duty. If mad been und
water TWO minutes more l would not
y here to tell of my adventure. We hi
n to blow up the deck OF the schoon
l twice, in order to get at the cargo. II
t second time sad accident occurred.
p Mexican diver named Pablo Vasqu
went down to put the torpedo III POI
4 lion, The man in charge OF the Datte
!. was nervous, and must nave pressed T.
, lever involuntarily. At any rate he
d ploded the charge before Pablo had rls'
= to the surface, and tue shock Killed hl
u tl-although he did not have scratch
$ him. Pablo was a tirstrate diver. y
d day remember he got up $4,000, l
e heaviest raise made by any one m
:! curing the WORK."
" "Do you you intend to follow your pt
J. ilous calling IN this part oil the world
>, ASKED the reporter.
s. mo more OF it Ior me,' said Mrs. Ct
l. siuine, shaking her head gravely.
A VEGETABLE TEA PARTY.