Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1883-07-06
Adventures Under Water.

Harry H. Ballard, of New Orleans.
one of the eighteen marine or salt
water divers of the United States, was
yesterday found confined to his room
in the pay ward of the Cincinnati
Hospital by an attack Of infammatory
rheumatism, caused by exposure as a
diver.
Did you not fear the sharks in your
diving expeditions" asked an Enquirer
reporter.
That is a subject about which there
is great deal Of humbug. Old sailors
with lots of idle time on their hands
love to spin yarns about the ferocity
of sharks. The shark is a cowardly
fish. He never attacks one unless
you provoke the quarrel. l have met
thousands of them and had them swim
all around me, with their horrid.
glossy, death like eyes glaring at me
and their huge mouths under their
belly swapping as though they were
ready to swallow me. The noise that
the air makes roaring into the shell
frightens them, and then they see that
a man is moving about. At Callao
harbor, which is a regular sharks
nest, | went down forty feet or more
and met lots of these ocean devils, but
none of them offered to molest me.
divers have various expedients for
avoiding these animals and one was
told me on the Peruvian coast. A
liver was at work on the wreck of a
Spanish man-of-war in West India
waters. A safe containing 100000
was the object of his search and after
hours of patient labor the treasure
was found While he was Stacking
heavy iron chains to the treasure box
a dark shadow, long and motionless,
suddenly attracted his attention
Looking upward he s,w huge spot
ted shark. 30 feet long, poised above
and watching every m'v'ment. as a
cat does mouse. The diver forgot
about the 100000, and walking Il
short distance, was on the point Of
signaling to the tender to pull him
up, when glance convinced him that
it would be sure death. The shark
watched his every movement, and.
with scarcely perceptible movement
of his tail, overshadowed his victim
with his huge proportions. Never be-
fore had the diver more need of cool
ness and nerve. together with his wits
about him. He spied a long LAYER Of
mud close at hand, and he moved to-
ward it. The shark followed. gliding
stealthily toward him. while 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 disap-
peared and the diver escaped.
The only scare | ever had with a
fish was when | first went down of
the South American coast | had a
great big crowbar in my hand, which
perhaps fell about foot or eighteen
inches below my feet. Just beneath
me lay a huge cuttlefsh fast asleep.
OF course | did not see him, and the
crowbar went clear through him. The
cuttlefsh has peculiar mode of at
tack. He discharges a black humor,
which makes the water look like ink.
The first thing | knew it was so black
all around me | colld not see my hand
before my face. | couldn't imagine
what he'd broken loose and | signaled
to pull me up, The natives all laughed
and told me it was only a cuttletish.
Not long after the cuttletish was
washed ashore and there was nv crow
bar gone clear through him.-CinciH-
nHti En1nirpr.