The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-09-05

had gone down, and so undertook the
Job of getting at the old mans pile II 7
could. On q fine afternoon in the latter
part of April 1 went down in my suit.
Everything went all right till stalked
into the cabin. There was the cap
ting's berth, and made for that It
was dark in there. and bumped my
head against various objects repeatedly.
Finally got to the berth where / un-
derstood the money was Feeling my
way, my hand ran against something
soft and shifting. What do you think
it WASH The 'capting,' sure enough.
He had got his head tightly wedged in
between the ceiling and his bedclothes,
and both his arms were in there, too,
while his legs and body stuck out, bob
bing up and down with the motion of
the water. set him loose, and then i
found that his hands were clasped
around big oilcloth bag. 1t was with
great difficulty 1 could detach the
corpso's hands from it. His ruling pas
sion had been strong even in death.
When the body had been hauled up 1t
was seen that the face wore look Of
iron determination, as If he had resolved
to save his gold or perish. His widow
is still living in comfortable style on the
money left her in that bag. That was
. real little adventure. but there are
often tmos when man gets scared at
nothing.
"Once remember was overbauling
the wreck of q steamer that lay in ten
fathoms of water on the Florida coast
There were a good many passengers OF
all sorts that had perished with the yes
sci. Bodies, you know, act very strange
when confined in q closed space under
the water. They are buoyed u2 by the
pressure from below and can't get ont
So they all float under the ceiling. And
that was the case when / entered the
dining saloon of the steamer, into which
the unfortunate passengers had fled half
clad to escape on deck, but had drowned
before reaching it. The sight of it was
enough to make any one feel that he's
got nerves. Mothers and dfathers in their
night robes, pressing their children to
their bosoms; husbands and wives clasp
ed in each others arms to meet death
unitedly; one couple, probably lately
married or lovers, had their lips sealed
in one last parting kiss. While disen-
tangling myself from all these bodies
that would get twisted up with the pipe
and the connecting line on my armor.
and thus endanger my safety, all to
object right opposite me-. 1t stood up
right, and was more than a mans size,
black in appearance, and with tremen.
dous big goggles in the place of eyes
As often as 1 would move, my 'vicy
yersy' would move too. 1 felt chill
creeping over me when / saw that the
object was getting nearer and nearer as
/ approached the wall. Whether the
monster was a fish or what il was
couldn't decide, but quickly made up
my mind it was to be either me or him,
so drew my knife and made for it
Coming nearer, what was my surprise
TO find that the terrible object was merely
the reflection of my own self in large
mirror made indistinct by the water.
That was about the worst scare / ever
had in the course of my professional ex-
perience.
Danger from fish, did you sayP No,
not generally, and not the way people
imagine. 1t amt sharks and devil fish
that trouble us. It's these little critters,
jelly fish, sun fish, ulgae, and the like,
that we're afraid of. They clog up the
armor and impede our movements,
after threatening to break the connec.
ton between the diver below and the
boat above water. And it's that danger,
too, that one has to fear with big fishes
powerful enough to break the line with
q single blow of their tail. Sharks? Not
much. never heard of a diver that was
attacked by a shark And if it came to a
submarine duel between such beast
and the diver, the latter would have all
the odds in his favor.
There's been good many improve
ments made in the diving business since
I've been in it The world does move,
even in our profession. The rig-out OF
a diver nowadays, if everything is first
class, is very expensive thing, often
costing 5000 and over. The top, head
and shoulder gear weigh about eighty
pounds, and each boot twenty pounds,
so you see carry 120 pounds in addi-
ton to my own weight when go down
to the bottom. Once below, the heavy
| weight on the soles of the feet are NO
more noticeable than a pair of ordinary
boots would be in walking the streets.
The buoyancy of the water counterbal-
anees the weight, you see.
| sis there limit to the depth in
which a diver can work? Certainly
there is; seventy to one hundred feet is
about the average depth in which one
can work with anything like ease, and
two hundred feet is as deep as anybody
has dared to go for practical purposes.
Most of the diving work is done at a
depth of fifty feet or less. It's dark and
dismal enough that deep, especially
when the sky is overcast or during the
cool seasons. But that last bother is
pretty near done away with now, since
electric lights have come into fashion,
by means of which man can 60 down
and see as clear as daylight in the
darkest nook of a vessels hold. That's
q very good thing, as it saves much
trouble and money, and often allows
the owners of vessels to have q leak
mended in few hours time by the
diver. when formerly it took weeks on
the dry docks, occasioning an outlay OF
thousands of dollars. But now I'll bid
you good day, Mr.. Herald; you know
about as much of the diving busines;
now as do. ~ Chicago Herald
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