Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-02-14
THE HERALD.
JACK THE DIVER.
'hrillips Narration OF DoiDes Under the Deep
From the Toledo Blade.


me that you have history, truly
remarkable history, will you give
rs the outlines of it p
Aye, aye, sir if you wish,' replies
the old tar.
Reporter,-'I hear it said that you
are the oldest submarine diver now
living, is il true?
Jack I'll suppose am, sir. / am
Ga years old, and have followed
divin' forty-fve wears o. my life, sir
RI notice, Jack, that your
voice is somewhat impaired, what
brought that aboutS'
J.-'Diviu', sir. Sometimes, you
know, when ones been down under
the water long time, the air gives
out, an then it's an awful strainin'
on fslIer's lungs. L have seen 80
many o. them times that it's made
me kind o. hoarse.
RI suppose, Jack, that you are
too old to ever do any more diving.
WHATS that
r You could hardly stand it
now to follow the diving business, |
suppose
Jack rose from his seat, drew him.
self up to his fullest height, and for
o moment did rot speak. II was
easy to see that his interiocutor had
ventured upon dangerous ground.
TOO old to divel said he, with
great emphasis, mot a bit of it sir.
As soon az these times get little
setter III be at it again and Ill make
more money in one day than these
land lubbers make in o month. But,
continued he, his anger dying away,
you wanted me to spin yarn
about myself. Well 1 was born in
Dublin, ould Ireland, in March 1918.
l went to sea when l was between
0 and 10 years old. | sailed almost
all over the world. ! went to the
West Indies and TO the East Indies.
l saw considerable of war, too. 1
sailed on the English gunboat Tai.
averia of seveuty-four guns, in '39.
was in the battle of John D'Arc
and received medal for bravery
while there. | sailed on the frigate
brandy wine for two years aud three
months. Thon | won't on q West
India mail steamboat. Finally l
went aboard the steamer Dee. 1t
was while | was on hor that | begun
TO dive came on deck one day,
aud, 10 fun, said that I would like
TO dive. said-ia sport you know
that | didn't believe there was
anything 50 great in divin' after all.
We had several divers with US, you
kaow. We were rsisin' a wreck in
the English Channel. 1t was the
wreck al an East India merchant.
man that had sunk. She was load.
cd with all sorts OF merchandise
They were raisin' her with rubber
bags. The diver would 90 down
and take with him big air-tight
rubber bag. Each of them bags
when filled with air, would raise five
ton. They were fastened all over
the vessel and connected with rub.
Der pipe. After we had fastened
hundreds OF them to her, air was
pumped into 'em and they lifted that
vessel out of the water just as easy
as rollin off log. 1t was to fasten
on these air bags that the divers
were hired. had often wished that
could be diver, because they were
getting 945 q month, while we sail
ors were making only f3. But | had
never thought that could, because
didn't have the grit to learn. Many
man gots killed while learnin' tC
dive, you know. But as l was tellir
ye, one day came on deck and was
sayin' that would like to dive wher
the captain took me up, Sale
he, Il want you to go below anC
shorten up that wheel rope | woulG
have given most anything to have
got out oft, but wasn't going te
back down, because if | had would
never have heard the last Of it.
got on the armor, and in the after
noonI went below. / can't describe
to you the feelin that comes over {
man when, for the first time, he put.
on the armor and gets ready to dive
The great heavy helmet makes hin
feel as if he was goin to smother. Al
1 looked at the long rubber PIPE
leadin from the air pump to my bel
met / thought, what if that shoule
get broke while was down below
Some careless fellow might step OF
it, and shut off the air, an then wha
would become o. me2 Before l wen
down l bad to learn the signals. Be
side the long hose that came dowr
and connected with my helmet Their,
was life line about my waist which
signal man on deck held. That il
of almost as much consequence al
The hose. / was learnt if | wanted
more air | should jerk on the hos,
once; Ii less air was wanted, two
pulls; if | wanted them to take NJ
the slack on the hose l was 20 pull
three times on it. Then there wore
signals on the life line. One jerk OF
tho line meant hold on = one pull
and shake, Lower awayl' two
Jerks, Pull up l'(whatever the tackle
may DO attached to-; three pulls
Take me OUT There are severa
signals. There's one which every
signal man knows all about, that
means, Pull me out quick, for Gods
sakel' Finally, after I'd got ready
they lowered me down. The minute
struck the water | felt oil right
The heavy feolin' of the armor went
away and | seemed as light as q
feather. As soon as l struck the
deck Of the wreck / began to walk
around. l couldn't see very well
and had to be careful not to ge,
my life line tangled in the rigging
hadn't been down long before
wanted more air. 1 felt as if was
smotherin'. Oh, it was terrible
The most peculiar thing about 9
mans feelings, when for the frs
time he's down below o divin', is the
pain that takes him in the head righ
behind the ears. 1t feels as if som,
one was stickin' q sharp knife init
him. It put me in terrible misery
and it was some little time before