The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1880-07-30
miscellaneous.
The Rolling Deep.
CuriOsities OF the Oceans Bed, as See
by II Diver.

by II Diver.
GLOW does it seem," said a Boston report
er the other day to George w. Townsend, u
diver of twcnty-thrce years experience, ito
go down into the water fathom after fathom 2"
swell" was the reply, "thc first time Il man
goes down he is apt to be considerably scared
on account Of the pressure If a man is low
cred too fast it will kill him. Divers are sell
dom or never killed by drowning, but by an
unequal pressure. A driver could cut a hole
i'll the lower portion of his suit without dan
ger of being drowned as long as he stood
erect, for as long as air was supplied by the
air pump the water could not reach his mouth.
In deep water the pressure is very great, and
usually diver can descend as deep as he can
stand the pressure. You see we are in vac
uum. There is no pressure perceptible to us
on the copper helmet about our heads. The
pressure IS all upon the lower garments. and
if it is too great it drives all the blood in the
body to the head and the result is DEATH /
have seen men killed in this way whose heads
were fairly split open, and whose eyes were
driven from their sockets. A more horrible
death could not be imagined, and and al
most all other divers have narrowly escaped
it. Divers seldom descend over 40 feet, and
rarely as deep as that. Under the water the
ears feel stopped up but sometimes we can
make ourselves understood by putting two
helmets together and shouting, but then it
doesn't sound louder than an ordinary Wills
per. A man who went down for the first
time would be likely to signal to come up af-
ter feeling the pressure in the cars, which is
very unpleasant until you are used to it.
GLOW about the fish; do they ever modest
you?"
Every seldom. You see, we make il u rule
n IiSturh thnin Ia l-np,,, tbof : hos,
in their element, and we are not in ours. As
for sharks, we don't care for them. They are
cowardly and easily frightened Off We are
much more afraid of the baricoats, surface
fish, with teeth three inches long. Talk
about fish, why, one can't have any conccp-
ton of them until he has been under the
water and seen them of all sizes and colors of
the rainbow The noise made by school of
fish sounds under water like the rumbing of
thunder
"One of the greatest curiositics in this line
was'the Jew fish | encountered when diving
in the bay of Cumana, on the cost of Venc-
zuca. The fish are from six to fifteen feet in
length, and have large mouth with small
teeth. The jew fish have great deal of Gu
riosity-more than any woman | know Of
and used to eye us while we were at work
We were little afraid of them at first, but
tliut tIN1 NOlltl Hbb uitilll us. L sup
pose you have heard of the electric eel, which
has the power to give shock equal to any
battery When we were diving at the West
Indies one of our divers received a shock
from an electric eel, and for time he seemed
almost paralyzed. Mules and other animals
when fording streams in that country often
receive shock"
as it dark under water"
"That depends upon how clear the water
is. have been down twenty fathoms where
| could see to read the finest print, and have
| been down ten feet where you could not sec
| your hand before you. 1t is not very pleas
ant exploring a wreck, especially where there
are dead bodies, when you are in utter dark
| ness. l remember working in March, 1861
on the ship John Trux, which was sunk at
| the Arch street wharf, Philadelphia. The
| water of the Delaware river is SO thick and
muddy that you can't see anything five feet
| below the surface, and as the steward and
stevcdore were both drowned l knew
! should not have q very pleasant job in recov.
ering their bodies. Well, L went down.
CROPPED around in the darkness, found the
skylight, and after got into the cabin the
first thing that my hands touched was the
| body of the steward.
"lsn't it horrible sight among the dead
bodies in a vessels wreck?"'
"Well, yes: we get used to these sights, and
while can't say we don't mind them, can
say they don't deter us from going down.
am one of these who believe that drowning
is an easy death, comparatively, because
have noticed that the face of drowned per
son looks as if he had gone to sleep, and sci
dom denotes pain; but, when the eyes arc
wide open and CLASSY in look, and the gas in
the stomach makes the body stand bolt un
right, it is rather trying to the nerves.
Sometimes we find drowned persons with
death grip upon piece ofrigging or the side
of bunk, and it is very difficult to unlooser
their hold. Before we see body or an OBJ
ject under the water we always see thu
shadow first In looking for a body on
vessels wreck we sometimes find it closely
following the sediment in the water"
GLOW about the bottom of the ocean:?"
"In many places it is beautiful, especial,
where the coral reefs are. Coral looks like
forest of trees that has been cut down.
have seen coral as large as the stump of an,
tree you ever saw, with enormous limbs run
ming downward, the trunk and branches be
ing of the purest white coral. have encoun
tered coral reef after descending tire
fathoms, and a bottom of pure white sand al
ter descending two fathoms more"