The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-04-21
SUBMARINE DIVERS.
Tho Dangers to which They arc Sub
jecfed and the Sights Witnessed.

Tho Dangers to which Thoy arc Sub.
jected and the Sights Witnessed.
George W. Townsed, a well-knowI
submarine diver, has been interviewed
by representative OF the Boston Herald
He said: The first time man goes
down he is apt to be considerably scared
on account Of the pressure. If a man is
lowered too fast it will kill him. Divers
are seldom or never killed by drowning
but by an unequal pressure. A diver
could cut hole in the lower portion ol
his suit without danger of being
drowned as long as he stood erect, for,
as long as air is supplied by the air
pump, the water could not reach his
mouth. In deep water the pressure is
very great, and usually diver can de.
scend as deep as he can stand the pres
sure. You see we are in q vacuum.
There is no pressure perceptible to us on
the copper helmet about our heads.
The pressure is all upon the lower gar.
ments, 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
we're driven from their sockets. A
more horrible death could not be inn.
agined, and I and almost all other
divers have narrowly escaped it. When
a diver is ten feet down the pressure to
the square foot is $3.50 pounds; at 80
feet, 1880 pounds; at SO feet, 81, ,250
pounds; at 10 feet, 43, $50 pounds; at 80
feet, $3.50 pounds; at ITO feet, GO, 750
pounds; at 100 feet, 8l,250 pounds; at
$50 feet, which is the greatest depth to
which. I have descended, SO, $50 pounds,
and at 100 feet, 100000 pounds. Divers
seldom descend over ITO feet, and rarely
as deep rs that. Under the water the
ears feel stopped up, but sometimes we
can make on, selves understood by put
ting two helmets together and shouting,
but then it doesn't sound louder tl,an an
ordinary whisper. A man who went
down for the first time would be likely
to signal to come up after feeling the
pressure in the ears, which is very un-
pleasant until you are used to it.
"How about the fish; do they ever
molest you?" =.
Very seldom. You see we make it
a rule not to disturb them. We know
that they are in their element, and we
are not in ours. As for sharks, we
don't care for them. They are cowardly.
and easily frightened of. We are much
more afraid of the bsricotas, a surface
fish, with teeth three inches long.
Talk about fish, why, one can't have
any conception of them until he has
been under the water and seen them OF
all sizes and all the colors of the rain
bow. The noise made by a school o1
fish sounds under water like the rumb-
lings of thunder. One of the greatest
curiosities in this line was the jew fish
encountered when diving in the bay ol
Cumana, on the coast of Venezuela.
The fish are from six to fifteen feet in
length, have large mouth, with small
teeth. The Jew fish have q great deal
of curicsity-more than any woman
that I know of-and used to eye US
while we were at work. We were 8
little afraid OF them at first, but found
that they would not harm us. suppose
YOU have heard of the electric eel
which has the power to give a shocs
equal to any battery. When we were
diving at the West Indies, one Of oul
divers received a shock from an electric
eel, and for q time he seemed almost
paralyzed. Mules and other animals
when .fording streams in this country
often receive a shock. :
It depends how clear the water is,
whether it is dark or not. l have been
down twenty fathoms where ! could see
to read the finest print, and 1 have been
down ten feet where you could not see
your hard before you. 1t is not very
pleasant exploring q wreck, especially
where there are dead bodies, when you
are in utter darkness. We get used to
those and, while I can't say that we
don't mind them, I can say that they
don't deter us from going down. am
one of those who believe that drowning
is an easy death, comparatively, because
have noticed that the face Of drowned
person looks as if he had gone to sleep
and seldom denotes pain, but, when the
eyes arc wide open and CLASSY in ap'
pearance, and the gas in the stomach
makes the body stand bolt upright, it is
rather trying to the nerves. Some
times we find drowned persons with q
death grip upon a piece of rigging or
the side of bunk, and it is very diff
cult to unloose their hold. Before we
see body or an object under tue water
we always see the shadow first. In
looking for body not on vessels
wreck, we sometimes find it by closely
following the sediments in the water.
In many places the bottom of the
ocean is beautiful, especially where the
coral reefs are. Coral looks like forest
of trees that has been cut down. 1have
seen coral as large as the stump Of any
tree you ever saw, with enormous limbs
running downward, the trunk and
branches being of the purest white
coral. I have encountered coral rec
after descending three fathoms, and
bottom Of pure white sand after de-
scending two fathoms more.