Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1884-01-03

can take it down to almost any dis F;
t2nce from the surface. In building
the Mississippi bridge we used candles
in the cylinders, and under a pressure
Of one hundred feet they would burn
down about three times as fast as they
would ashore, and at eighty feet when :,
you blew the candle out it would
light up again. The experiment was
tried at one hundred and eight feet,
and thirteen times the candle power
was blown out, re!ighting itself imme
dlately; so, you see, pressure Is Gu
rious sort of 4 thing.
STRANGE SIGHTS UNDER WATER.
Eyes, We see more strange sights in
salt water than fresh. I've spent ten
years saltwater diving and had ell
want. The first job L got was Il good
many years ago, and was all by acct
dent. | started for Key West to get
job at bricklaying, but when got
there the Government was hiring
slaves from their owners so cheap that
it didn't pay. At last l dritted over
to Matanzas, and there found myself
dead broke. [ was about giving up
one day, when 4 man came up and
asked me if wanted job OF course
[ said yes. Then he told me that he
was the head of "A party that we're 60
ing to hunt for ship that was wreck
ed off the coast hundred years be-
fore, supposed to be loaded with gold.
Well, the long and short of it was
they couldn't get a diver, and offered
me the job and | took it. They hired
a small schooner, and with n crew of
five or six set out along the coast,
and came to an anchor five miles Off
shore, on reef that shelvcd off grad
ually into deep weter. 1t was week
before they got the spot they wanted
me to go down, and in the meantime
I'd been practicing so that | could at
last stand it. One day they anchored
over big black patch that looked
like coral, and told me to make the
survey. l reckon the water must
have been 60 feet deep, and, | tell YOU
/ it gave ME a kind of shake They
let me down slow, so that the sudden
pressure wouldn't affect me, and in
about ten minutes | found myself in a
regular forest of coral It was in reg
ular banks on each side, some twenty
feet III height, and not this common
! branch kind you see i'll the stores, but
brown, with the points all sticking out.
zhd, should Judge, they were six
feet long. The strangest thing to me
was the tameness Of the fishes. If |
stood still they came toward me in
schools, floating in front of my helmet
and even when [ raised my arms they
only moved little; they eyidedtly
thought was q big crab.
As soon as had got the lay of the
land | found [ could see we'll enough,
and | started along the street between
the coral walls. The bottom was as
as hard as rock, and | hadn't gone
more than 80 feet before | saw some
| thing looming up ahead, and a few
minutes later [ was under the stern Of
a big ship. She must have been there
years; the coral had grown up around
her and in at the stern windows. Her
nasts were gone, and star fish, crabs
and shells were hanging out of her
seams; In fact, she was picture Of
desolation, if you ever saw one. |
stuck my boat-hook in the deck and
hauled myself aboard. Her hold" he
continued, relighting his pipe, "was a
regular garden, coral growing out Of
it just as if it was planted there, and
the decks were that slippery with sea-
weed and living things that it was
hard to hold up. The hold was so full
of coral that | gave up looking there
/ and made aft, The companion-way-
in fact, the whole side of the house
gave way as | touched it, all rotten
and bored by a kind of worm, and in
stead of rising, the planks sunk like
lead. l fixed the hook into the deck
where it appeared solid, and gradua
| lily lowered myself into the cabin. Cor
al was growing on everything. One
of the doors was still on a stuteroom.
| knocksd it in, and a big fish shot out
through an open headlight, and there
were all sorts Of things crawling about.
"No, there wasn't the sign of hui
man being; she had been there too
long, but [ picked up heap of what
looked to be tin cans and things, and
/ strung them on q line and sent them
up, and they proved to be gold and
silver dishes. They were lying on the
cabin-foor, and were over-grown with
stuff. In the state-room there were
heaps of money, perhaps $1,000. all
black and eaten all this | took on
deck and sent up, and then went up
myself. We hung about there for !,
week, trying to get the coral out of
the hold, but it was solid as roc', and
you couldn't get under or into it. The
only force you can bring to bear un-
der water is lift; blow or pull
doesn't amount to anything, as you
throw yourself right off your feet.
THE GIANT RAY.
'The last trip [ made down to the
old hulk came near being my last. |
was just coming up from the hold
when | saw something dark coming
along. | drew back, thinking of sharks,
and got behind the combings, when
there came along the biggest fish l ev-
er clappcd my eyes on before or since.
1t was what they call a devil-fsh, or
giant ray, and was moving along, flap
ping its side fins just like wings. 1t
must have been twenty feet wide, and
weighed perhaps a couple of tons. On
its head were two kinds of horns of
horns Of ieash, and the skipper told