The Osceola times., 1883-08-11
ADVENTURES UNDER WATER.
A Divers Experience with Sharks and
Other Creatures of the Vastly Deep.
Cincinnati Euuuir,r


Other Creatures of the Vastly Deep.
Cincinnati Enquir,r.
Harry II. Ballard, of New Orleans. one
of the eighteen marine or saltwater
divers of the United States, was yester-
day found confded to his room in the
pay ward of the Cincinnati Hospital by
an attack of inflammatory rheumatism,
caused by exposure as a diver.
"Did you not fear the sharks in your
diving expeditions?" asked an Enquirer
reporter.
THAT is subject about which there
great deal of hnmbug. Old sailors
with lots of tine love to spin YARNS about
the ferocity of sharks. The shark is a
cowardly fish. He never attacks unless
you provoke the quarrel. ] have met
thousands of them and had them swim
all around me, with their horriJ, CLASSY,
death-like eyes glaring at me and their
huge mouths under their belly swapping
as though it was ready to swallow me.
The noise that the air makes roaring in
TO the shell frightens them and then
they could see that the man was moving
about. At Callao harbor, which is n
regular sharks nest, / went down forty
feet or more and met lots of these ocean
devils, but none of them offered to mo-
lest me-
Divers have various expedients for
avoiding these animals, and one was
told me on the Peruvian coast A diver
was at work on the wreck of a Spanish
man-of-war in West India waters. A
safe containing S3,000,000 was the object
of his search and after hours of patient
labor the treasure was found. While he
was shackling heavy iron chains to the
treasure box dark shadow, long and
motionless, suddenly attracted his atten-
ton. Looking upward he saw huge
spotted shark, 90 feet long poised above
and watching every movement as a cat
does mouse. The diver forgot about
the S3,000,000, and walking a short dis
tance was on the point of signalling to
the tender to pull him up, when glance
convinced him that it would oe sure
riidlh Ndt'htb IiS tNtIN
movement, and, with a scarcely percepti
bic movement of his tail, oyershadowed
his victim with his huge proportions.
Never before had the diver more need
of coolness and nerve, together with his
wits about him. lie spied long layer
of mud close at hand, and he moved
toward it. The shark followed, gliding
stealthily toward him, while a thrill of
horror ran through his veins. With an
iron bar he stirred the mud which rose
thick and fast above him; the clear,
golden light of the water disappeared,
and the diver escaped.
"The only scare | ever had with fish
was when | first went down of The
South American coast. ! had a great
hig crowbar in my hand, " which perhaps
fell foot or eighteen inches below my
feet. just beneath me lay huge cutte-
fish fast asleep. OF course, | did not see
him, and the crowbar went clear through
him. The cuttle-fish has peculiar mode
of attack. He discharges a black humor
which makes the water look like ink
The first thing knew it was so black all
around me could not see my hand be-
fore my face. / couldn't imagine what
had broken loose and signaled to pull
me up. The natives all laughed and
told me it was only a cuttle.fish. Not
long after the cuttle.iish was worked
ashore and there was my crowbar gone
clear through him"