The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-09-05
DOWN N A DIYMG-BELL.


DOWN IN A DIvNG-BELL.
Deep Sea Diving Experiences-A Veteran
Diver In the Briny Deep Who Found His
Long-Lost wife In . sunksn HuIk-A
Queer Life ON Land, and q Queerer Life
In the Sea.
he was q queer-looking man, with
shaggy eyebrows overhanging sharp,
bright eyes, set deep in their sockets, q
prominent nose, sallow complexion, q
slow, shutting gait, lank, bony frame,
slightly stopped with the burdens of
some fifty odd winters and summers.
BE was wandering, apparently quite
aimlessly, among the sailors who fire.
quent the warf In front of the Lumber
mans Exchange, at the end Of Franklin
street.
-"Whois that manp" Herald report
er inquired Of q lake shipper, with
whom he had observed the stranger in
conversation q few minutes before.
ssThat-that's Holmes, the famous
ocean diver. He lives in the East, but
/ understand he's on his way to the
Pacific coast Just now to manage . diff
ficult fob of raising valuable cargo,
which went down during the April
storms near Seattle. He's g man who
could tell stories which would make
your hair stand on end, If he had mind
TO-"
"rn go and see him, them" said the
reporter.
A few moments later the twain, the
reporter and the old sea dog, were
seated comfortably In cool place, the
breeze playing with the scant crop of
hair on Mr.. Holmes head. While sip
ping cooling beverage the old diver
gradually filtered out "reminiscences,
about In the proportion of one to every
tumbler he emptied-
s.It's queer business, :" he said, land
it seems the queerer the longer you're
In It The way got into it was this:
I was born IN Little Rhody,' not far
from Newport, nearly half Q century
ago. In my young days followed the
seafar1ng trades, and I've been to most
every country and climate on the globe
lin Brazil as well as on the African
Gold Coast, in the East Indies and in
China On British vessel was for
some time in the opium smuggling
trade I've visited nearly every port
on the Mediterranean shore as well
as on the Black Sea. Well, being back
home one day from long trip, there
was considerable talk over Q slave
vessel which had been pursued by q
cruiser, and had been scuttled and sunk
in Newport harbor q number of years
ago. How the rumor started don't
know, but anyhow the papers at that
time, about '52. told long yarns about
the wealth that was hidden in the YES
sci, the gold dust and ivory, and so
forth. A proposition was made to me
to 90 down in diving bell, which had
Just come into practical use about that
time, and investigate the hulk. I had
always been q good diver and could hold
my breath an awful long time. But i
lacked experience as practical diver.
Well, undertook the job for good.
round sum. This was the means Of my
leaving seafaring and engaging in the
profession of q diver. As I said before,
It's queer calling, and one never gets
used to It. It isn't for the fun do it,
it's for the money earn own fine
little farm and cozy cottage in Rhode
Island, not for from Woonsocket, and
have q couple of thousands in the bank
all made by diving. Besides, own
complete outfit, and that is worth con-
siderable money. Married and chill
drena Wen, yes, and no. You see, the
way of it was this. After married,
my young wife didn't like my trade and
my long absences from home, and she
ran off IN 1857 with an old shipmate OF
mine 20 the gold fields of California,
while was attending to q job on the
New Jersey coast She took all the
money with her had saved up for her
4 and our two children. heard nothing
of her for q number of years It was in
1863, when had to go down to save the
mail and the cash freight of the Ante
1ope, apassenger clipper vessel running
between San Francisco and New York,
that had foundered in q stormy night
near Cape Hatteras on her trip East
was then diving in my armor suit, thai
being much more handy and expedient
than the bell was down in the cabin
cropping my way to the safe when q
corpse stuck fast in my armor. hproved
to be . woman's body. She was poorly
dressed, and had nursing in her arms.
The body fioated face down in the wa
ter, but in tearing myself away from il
the face turned almost beneath my eyes,
and met mine with q CLASSY stare. Il
was my Annie's face, my wife's- II
der the water, and for q moment felt
faint. But / had the body hauled up tc
the surface, and afterward had it buried
near our old home. / made inquiries in
Californy. Her letters and papers in
her pocket had already given me q clue
and on that worked. / found that my
faithless wife had married Charles Rum.
sey, for whom she had deserted me, and
had borne several children to him. Only
two of these lived, besides the two she
had borne to me, when Charlie left her
Then she had thought of me, but had
vainly endeavored to obtain my address
On her way East to find me she had met
her dreadful fate on board the Antelope
Invent to Californy, fetched the children
home, and have treated them since as l
they were all my own, and when I dit
I'll leave them equal shares Of my prop
erty. They'veYbeen educated carefully
at my expense, and they are all well es
tablished In life now, and don't know
anything of their mothers shame
sNow you've heard bit of my owl
private troubles, of which every mar
has Q peck or two, I reckon" remarked
Holmes refectively. Zone does SCI
awful things sometimes down in these
vessels on the bottom of the sea- Ths
first time that 1 did some work thai
made me feel bad was in "a. A three
masted schooner, q fishing vessel be
longing to Bedford, Mass, had broker
In two on q reef not many miles from
port. 1t was early in spring, Just abou
the time of the saquenackshels.' Tha
part of the vessel containing the cabir
seemed to be well preserved. as could
be seen on any clear day looking down
into the depth. And It was in ther'
that Gaping Willis had kept his httl,
nile. He must have been queer nu
Il half the stories the people told abou
him were true. He never would leav'
any money on shore, thinking his yes
sell a much safer bank than any on terri
frmy. Well, he and his whole crew