Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-05-10

- F - "a a -
81 frss began diving il lees, 'ssaid
Captain Anthony Williama 30 q Phil
adelphia reporter. recently. q
Can you breathe as frealY in your
disIng-dress as you can out az a.
yes, iudeed When teh or twelve
fathoms under water my breathing i
as wholly dsvsid &c eiEarG n il ID when
! "a walking ahont On dry Land.
You know that. By means Of an air
pump worked BY two mea, the diver
i supplied with air. Through hose
his air passes into Elle back Of his hsl-
mat. AID near its plaea af entrance .
. spring valve for its escape. The
valve can b controlled By the diver.
but he usually ssss Il bsfore going
down into the water, and seldom Dis
turhs il affsrward. The pressure Of
the air being greater than that Of the
water, q surplus Of the former readi-
ly escapes. When this valve is not
sufficient, the diver can open in his
breastplate similar spring valve, in
tended only for such an emergency.
He can also regulate the amount Of
air pumped to him by signals upon
the air hose to the men engaged in
pumping. These signals each diver
writes down very carefully and gives
to the man in charge If the lifeline.
By means Of these we can send mp for
tools, materials, etc. When q lengthy
communication is 10 be made. we send
mp for slate and write all we want
to say. It is. just as easy to read and
write under water as out Of it. One
can see very plainly, all objects being
greatly magni6ed." -
Does q diver have any unpleasant
sensations while at work p
None, save q drumming in the
ears, and this will sometimes destroy
the hearing if the diver remains too
long below. Four hours-two in the
morning and two in the afternoon
constitute days work, and if the d.
YER restricts himself to this limit,
there is little or no danger of his be-
coming deaf; but il he goes much be-
yond it, hes.pretty sure to iniure his
hearing. / once remained under wa
ter nine hours. and, as consequence,
completely lost the use of my left ear
for three months. during which time
| suffered agony with the earache.
Eventually, however, my hearing be-
came normal again. Aside from this,
the sensations are delightful, and
feel just as well, happy and content
ed at the bottom of the sea as ever
can under any circumstances. While
engaged in raising the sunken schoon-
er Dauntless, in Kingston. Jamaica,
on the 18th of August, 1880, / be-
came so disguised at the stupidity Of
the men above in answering nv sig
mails that / took a book which l found
in the Captains cabin, and, sitting
down, read it for nearly an hour. /
once knew a diver, Tom Brintley by
name, who, though a thoroughly COM
petent man and 3 good fellow, was q
little too fond of stimulants. On one
occasion he went down with a pretty
good cargo of spirits aboard, and the
men above not knowing his condition,
became seriously alarmed when seve-
raj hours passed by without their re-
ceiving any signals from him, or any
response to those they made to him.
Another diver was sent down TO look
for him, and found him lying on his
back on the bottom of the ocean, six
ty feet below the surface. fast asleep.
What is the greatest depth ever
descended to? Well, about ninety
feet, and it takes me about three min
utes to 60 down that far"
Must not a diver be a practical
ship-bnilder also?"
'Oh, yes; the diver who could do
nothing but dive would be Of very lit
tie use. He must be both a ship car
penter and q boiler maker as we'll
that he may repair sunken ships
The holes must be patched and tbs
water pumped out before ship can
be raised.
nnarks 1 have often seen large
schools Of them. They would advance
to within few feet Of me, and would
then stop and look at me in apparent
wonder, as though trying to make oui
what manner Of strange creature they
were gazing at They are most COW
ardly fish. however. and the slight
est menace on my part would fright
en- them away. As / was repairing
the schooner Shepard in Kingston one
day, I felt something tampsring with
my left hand middle finger. Look.
ing, I found a baby shark, evidently
much too young to leave IFS maternal
parent. trying to nibble it.
1.-The pay Of diver? That varies
Divers generally work by the Job, and
when they do that they sometimes
make it pay well. A diver viii q
down, look at a vessel, and then state
what he will charge to raise her.
raised the schooner Dauntless in two
days, and received $3.50 for my time
and trouble"
~ A grateful man always &C.