The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-10-11
Thrilling Experiences Of a Female
Diver.
New York Mercury.I

Thrilling Experiences Of a Female
Diver.
New York Mercury.I
At the residence of Captain Beers,
late of the Delaware River Submarine
a Mercury reporter was in
troduced to apleasant-faced, dark-garbed,
sun-browned lady, who in her unassum-
ing personality, represents the only fe-
male rival of Botyon, Sidney Cook,
Dean and other professional divers of the
century.
"WiIl 1 detail my experience for pub
LEGATION 7" she asked. "With pleasure.
l was originally stewardess of 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 in 1871, but failed
and went to Mexico where my husband
was employed as a diver by the Santa
Barbara Pearl-fshing Company, oper-
ating in the Gulf Of California. / have
always been fond of the water, from
being so much at sea, / suppose; and we
were established at the headquarters of
the fishery on the Island of Santa Bar
bara, where l enacted for a time as cook
to the party, l ~freqently accompanied
the divers to the scene of their opera
tions. From watching them so often l
became familiar with the divers work,
and one day the idea struck me that l
would like to go down. My husband
finally consented to the experiment in
shallow water. that is, where the depth
was not more than fifteen feet. The ex-
perience of my first descent was not
very encouraging. l came up bleeding
at nostrils, mouth and ears, and tainted
upon reaching the surface. However, 1
~persevered, tried it again and again,
and at length became so hardened to
the work tnat l could remain under as
long as any of the men. In 1874 my hus-
band was suffocated in his armor by the
breaking of the air supply-tube andfrom
that time until the end of the season l
took his place in the fishery. 1t may
seem singular to you that l should
tempt the very death which | had seen
my husband succumb to, but | only tell
you what every other diver will, that
the fascination of my dangerous trade
overcame every consideration of peril.
| have seen men brought up so badly in
jured that they lay for months in agony,
yet during all that time wererconstantly
looking forward to the time when they
could nee more brave the fate they had
SO narrowly escaped"
"Did you find your sex a hindrancet to
your success as adiverW asked the re-
porter. "That is to say, not physically,
but morally. Even the people at the
pearlfisheries, although they knew me
and my ability to do the work, hesitated
to employ me, and l found it utterly i'm
possible to obtain work on the lower
coast until Captain Hartley, the chief
diver of Douglass & Co., who had seen
me at work in the Gulf, gave me achance
for work an the schooner Gaviota. This
was early last February. The schooner
was sunk on a sandbank eighteen miles
from shore, in water seventy-fiye feet
deep, and whenever the wind was blow
ing the sea became very heavy. was
heartily sick of the job the first time l
went down, but the men had sneered at
me so at the start that / would not give
it up. l never got to like that expert
ence any. 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 any peculiar or dan
gerous experience during the contin-
uance of this work." asked the reporter.
"The first and one which nearly cost all
of us our lives, was an attack by the Mex
leans. The Gaviota had been sunk with
a load of struggled silver. AT the time
of the disaster to the Gaviota the Mex.
lean authorities were unusually vigil
ant and it was very difficult to run 8
cargo of silver. After the Gaviota was
sunk the owners sent Captain Hartley
with several divers, of whom l was one
to attemptto recover the cargounder the
protection of an armed steamer. The
Mexicans made several efforts to driv,
the Americans off. One of these attack.
resulted in a savage fight, and we haC
to abandon our work and run out to Sc,
for several days. From that time W,
had to be constantly on the alert, but W,
were not further molested. When tn,
attack was made l was down at the bot
tom, trying to make fast to a cask O
dollars that was partially sunk in tn
sand. We were diving from the por
side of the steamer, and the first / knew
of the disturbance was the sudden stop
page of the air supply, occasioned, as
afterward found out, by the man il
charge. of the air-pump having to deser
his post to defend himself. 1t all cam,
of a sudden, like a flash. Ifelt a fright
full sense of oppression at the chest, ant
a thunderous rumblingat the ears, Will
a hot shiver, as if l had been suddenly
exposed to the heat of a blast furnace
ran through me. Fortunately the MAJ
at the signal line was still on duty, ant
he answered my call for help by drag
ging me to the surface. l was nearl,
dead. My face was black and stainei
with blood which had started ever from
the sockets of my eyes. 1t took an hou
to revive me, and for two daysI was un
fit for duty. If l had heen under waite
two minutes | would not have been her,
to tell the Mercury of the adventure
We had to blow up the deck of tn,
schooner twice, in order to get at tn,
cargo. The second time a sad acciden
occurred. A Mexican diver, name
Pablo Vasquez, went down down to pu
the torpedo in position. The man il
charge of the battery was nervous an,
must have pressed the lever involunta1
lily. At any rate he exploded the charg
before Pablo had risen to the surface
and the shock killed him, although h
did not have a scratch on him. Pabl
was a frst-rate diver. One day l re
member he got up four thousand dollars
the heaviest raise made by any man dun
ing the work"
"Do you intend to follow your pei
ilous calling in this part of the world?
asked the reporter. "No more of j
for me" said Mrs. Considine, shaking he
head gravely.
Why Some People Are Poor.
Silver spoons are used to scrap
kettles.