The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1881-06-16

a oovEeS EkpenknDoeA
Too often are our services Sought In
sadness BY those who have Lot friends
who have been drowned either In In
harbOr or in lakes and riveD and
whose bodies they wish 70 recover for
burial. Such calls are usually respond
ed 10, though IL IL Q service from which
the heart Of the boldest diver anay
well shrink.
as IL not horrible to 20 down into
deep, dark water and bring up bodies
of drowned persons from out the slip
pery submerged cabins and holds Of
sunken ships ?' Is question often
asked.
To this may be answered, that Of all
| the strange experiences Of diver that
Is at once the most repulsive aud the
most melancholy. The terrible scenes
| Of death, terror and despair presented
by the cabins of vessels like the steam
er Atlantic, lost OF HALIFAX, and the
Thalia, have been but too graphically
described to again shock the reader
by repetition. Even the most Injured
diver cannot fail Ia experience q shock,
when, cropping his way in lost ships
| dark corridors, his hands or his hel.
| met come i'm contact with rigid
blOated corpse.
When first we were able to enter the
saloon of the ill-starred Minnie BOr-
den, in lS,is, five of the eight unfortu-
mates pent in there and drowned, were
| found clutciing the carved r:sfters Of
| the s.iioon holding fast i'm death. An
| other. 4 woman, was kneeling "a IL in
prayer. Still another, u gentleman in
the prime !of life, lay with u pistol
gr.isped in his hand. He had shot
himself.
Yet il j. the opinion Of many that
drowning il not a painful death, and
l.liave seen the drowned persons lie
won drously PEA .cf;ii with their dead
face As calm ~ il the soul WIS there
and dreaming of loved ones.
Durin,: isc tour Ia Panama Bay and
It. Marguerite, Walters and ! visited
The wreck of a BRAZILIAN ship, the Ibi-
c,ihy of Rio, where a number Of Aspin-
wall divers were at work ON their own
account. We supposed. Our visit was
one of curiosity, merely ut the invita-
ton of one Of the divers, with whom
we had passing acquaintance, ana
we descended from their schooner with
the Use Of their pumps. The vessel,
once fine bar,Iie, lay half-embedded
i'm broken coral and bright yellow
sand, and so clear was the water and
SO brilliant the tropic sunshine over
head that l could easily have seen to
read the finest print at a depth OF
eighty feet Never before or since
have | descended into so beautiful q
sea, where the wafer had such daz-
Zlin.ly clear and bright tints. As we
stood on the ruined deck one of our
diver acquaintance approached and
reckoning me 10 follow, led the way
aft Ia the cabins, which were built up
nn the after deck. The door Of the in
nermost stood ajar. The diver signed
for me Ia enter. | looked in and shall
never forget the spectacle. The heavy
mahogany chairs and sofa still kept
their places and in the uppermost Of
the two bertlis, wrapped I'm gaily-
c"lorcd blanket, lay II fair young lady
~ ii asleep. Her long hair fiOated like
seawe..,l, streaming out ON the water.
One little jcwele.i hand hung over the
side of the berth and on her beauti-
ful oval face, with its dark brOws,
there was no sign that life gone. Her
eyes were closed, and the long lashes
rested dreamily on the lids. 1t seemed
~ il she must Ice only asleep; and the
crimson curtain hanging half drawn
away 10y rings on its silver rod, still
east its roseate glow into the berth.
could hardly believe that her soul
had long LEFT lis fair earthly adobe,
aud that she had been lying there
drowned two months, or more! That
clear sca-water had einbalnied her and
death WAS half robbed Of its prey.
Without exception. it was the most
impressive image of death have ever
witnessed. 4 vision Of il haunted my
mind for many a month, yet not I'M
pleasantly. Those divers were rough
men. vel net one Of them had the hard
ilinod Ia approach and take the spark
ling rings from the fingers Of the poor
girl. In conversation. after we had
assembled, they said they took care not
to disturb the lazy, though they
seemed 10 have no scruples about plum.
dcring the ship. by heresay, we sub
se,Iuently learned that sometime after.
her brothcr-sonie said her lover
came there and himself descended to
the wreck. | can imagine, though
perhaps but family, the emotions
which must have filed his heart when
first he stood within that sea-lit cabin
-Io'ahs Companion.