Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-03-08
THRILLING NARRATION OF poINGS UNDER
THE DEEP

Jack, the Diver.
THRILLING NARRATION OF poINGS uNDEi'
THE DEEP
Jack SAYS the reporter. ''they tell
me that YOU have history, a truly re-
markable history; will you give us the
outlines of it?'
AYE, aye, sir ii you wish, replies the
old tar.
Reporter hear it said that you are
the oldest submarine diver now living Is
it true ?"
jack suppose | am, sir. | am
sixty-four years old, and have followed
divin' forty five years O my lite, sir.
RI notice, Jack, that your voice Is
somewhat impaired; what brought that
about ?'
J.-"Divin', sir. Sometimes, you
know, when ones been down under wa
ter a long time, the air gives out, an
then its an awful strain on teller 5
lungs. | have seen so many o them
times that its made me Kind o hoarse.
RI suppose, Jack, that you are too
old to ever do any more diving"
J.-"What's that? ?'
R.-"Iou could hardly stand it now to
follow the diving business, suppose
Jack rose from his seat, drew himself
up to his fullest height, and Tor 4 moment
did not speak. 1t was easy to see that his
interlocutor had ventured upon danger
Gus ground.
TOO old to dive :" said he, with great
emphasis, mot a bit of it. As soon rs
times gets little better I'll be at it again
and Iii make more money in one day
than these land lubbers make in month.
But" continued he, his anger dying
away. lyon wanted me to spin warn
about myself Well was born in Dub
lin. ould ireland. in March, 1878. | went
To sea when was between nine and ten
wears old. sailed almost all over the
world. ! went to the West Indies and to
the East Indies. | saw considerable of
war, too. | sailed on the English gun
boat Talayeria. of seyenty-iour guns IN
80. | was in the battle OF Joan D'Arc,
and received medal for bravery while
there. | sailed on the irigate Brandy
wine for two years and three months.
Then went on West India mail steam
boat. Finally went aboard the steamer
Dee. 1t was while | was on her that |
begun to dive | came on deck one day,
and, in fun, said would like TO dive. |
said-in sport, you know-that | didn't
believe there was anything so great about
divin' after all. We had several divers
with Us. you know. We were raisin' a
wreck in the English Channel. 1t was
the wreck of an East Indian merchantmen
that had sunk. She was loaded with all
sorts of merchandise. They were raisin'
1. -.,I Tho liy-nr lynn1I
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 rubber 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 rs easy as
rolin' of a log. 1t was to iasten on those
air bags that the divers were hired. |
had often wished that | could lie a diver,
because they were getting fiJ month,
while we sailors were making only Is.
But / had never thought that could, be-
cause 1 didn't suppose | had the grit to
learn Many a man gets killed while
learnin' to dive, You know. But as was
tellin' We. one day came on deck and
was sayin' that would like to dive, when
the captain took me up. said he, Il want
Won 10 90 below anu shorten up that
wheel rope | would have given most
ANYTHING to have got ont OF if, but
wasn't goin' 10 back down, because il
had | would never have heard the last of
it. | got on the armor. and in the after
noon / went below. | can't describe TO
YOU the ieelin' that comes over man
when for the first time he puts on the ar
NOR and gets ready to dive. The great
heavy helmet makes him feel as il he was
ooin' TO smother. As looked At the long
rubber pipe leadin' from the air pump to
the helmet, | thought what il that should
get broke while | was down below. Some
careless fellow might step on it. and shut
off the air, an then what would become
of mee Before | went down had TO learn
the signals. Beside the long hose that
came down and connected with nv he'll
met, there was a lifeline about my waist
which signal man on deck held. That
is of almost as much con sequence as the
hose. | was learnt if wanted more air
should Jerk on the hose once; if less air
was wanted, two pulls; if | wanted 'em
to take up the slack on the hose. | was TO
pull three times on it. Then there were
signals on the lifeline. One jerk on the
line meant Hold on = one pull and Il
shake, Lower away Two Jerks, Pull upg
Cwhatever the tackle may be attachedD
three pulls, Take me out There are sew
eral signals There's one which every
signal-man knows all about, that means
Pull me out quick, tor Gods sake!' Fin
ally, after I'd got ready, they lowered me
I Ctptt.l- tho |
ielt all right. The heavy ieelin' of the
a.mor went away, and seemed as light
as leather. As soon as | struck the deck
of The wreck began to walk around. |
couldn't see very well, and had To be
careful not 10 get my lifeline tangled in
the rigging. hadn't been down long be-
fore | wanted more air. | felt as il was
smothering Oh, twas terrible! The
most peculiar thing about mans feel
ings, when for the first time he's down be
low 'dixin. is the pain that takes him in
the head right behind the ears. 1t feels
as if some one was stickin' sharp knife
into him. 1t put me in terrible misery,
and it was some little time before got
over it. | stayed down over an hour,
and when | came up bled pretty bad out
of the eyes, ears. nose and mouth. But
felt big, | tell you, because | hadn't
allowed them to bluifme off,
Jack gave graphic description of the
appearance of the first sunken steamboat
into which he ever went. 1t was about
two miles from shore that the vessel had
gone down lie went into her for the
purpose of recovering her cargo. The
bodies were of no consequence, he stated.
alt is singular fact" said he, in sub
stance, THAT the corpScs Of women in Il
Sunken vessel always lie face upward,
while men are invariably face downward.
The cabin OF the vessel presented a horrid
appearance. The bloated bodies all laid
up next the ceiling. Some We're clasped
in each others arms. One mother had in
her arms her baby. \ husband and wife
were claSped in each others embrace 50
firmly that they couldnot pull them apart.
It's a bad practice among some divers To
90 through the pockets ul curpSes that
they find, and take all the valuables.
have known divers To make thousands OF
dollars in that way. There is u sort of a
pocket in the aTmOr in which they carry
their tools, and have seen divers come
out of wreck in which they had been
working with their pockets filled with
gold watches, diamond rings, and pins,
and all sorts OF trash. ! dove once in
Mobile Bay, where put over 800 chains
under an ironclad The greatest annoy
ance that we had there was sharks. They
didn't hardly dare tackle Us because with