The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1885-10-17


the strokes of the pump"
''1f those above are watchfulfor any
danger signal, and when they get the
signal haul the diver promptly, do
they usually land him safe and
sound ?''
Usually not. If divers careful
about his work, nothing should hap
pen; but if anything does happen, it's
usually all over with him. a tug on
the line means death, especially if he's
down deep. The diver doesn't perish
because he's cut off too long from the
supply OF air, but from the frightful
pressure. Take, for instance, the
death of Jenkins in 1878. His hose
burst. They hauled him up in two
minutes. He was a corpse. | don't
care to describe his appearance. 1t
was narrowing. | can give you from
an experience OF name some idea of the
pressure. | was at work below, when
suddenly the supply Of air gave out.
| tugged the life line. Fortunately |
wasn't in very deep water, and they
hauled me out alive. But / felt while
they were hauling as if | had a hy-
draullc jack on each side of my head.
The hose hadn't burst and the pump
had been working all right, so we were
at loss to know why the supply OF
air had gwen out till we made a care
full examination of the hose. Wefound
a lot OF paper balls in it. Think of a
diver being exposed to the pranks of a
fool or the villainy OF enemies, besides
the dangers he has to be exposed to
anyhow. / don't know OF any one
who Is an enemy of mine, so in my case
fool must have put the paper balls
in the hose. The kind Of danger I've
just described-that OF thestoppage of
air and from pressure is perhaps
the greatest, because the diver can't
do anything to avoid it. 1t is the
danger of accident through circum-
stances beyond his control. In most
other cases ths diver contributes to
the disaster. There is great danger in
working where the tide runs fast and
in swift currents. Let me give you an
illustration. There is a tremendous
tide running between Governors and
BedlOe's Islands. Between those isl
ands lies an iron ship which was run
into last year, or early this year, by
steamer. TheRhip was at anchor, and
went down on her wounded side. No
diver can work on her except during the
onehour ofslack water. To begin with,
the tide would snap hose and life line
as ii they were threads, and the diver
would perish. There's no way, YOU
know, of throwing of the helmet and
the weights in giffy. He'd stay down
there like block OF granite. But sup
pose the tide wasn't running fast
enough to snap the line and the hose.
Even then there'd be great danger with
new wreck like that OF the iron ship.
You see the rigging is still standing, or
at least a good part of it. Ten to one
the tide would twist the life rope or
hose around some spar, and that, too,
means death below. Then, too, in
working wrecks there's danger OF get
ting iammed in between pieces of
freight. That, too, IS equivalent to
death unless there's another diver
about who can help you extricate
yourself. IL getting out freight We at
tach the rope or chain to the articles
to be hauled out. OF course, there's
danger OF the other articles OF freight
being displaced and topping over un-
less wefeel all around and locate all the
pieces in the vicinity. There another
instance OF the skillrequired of diver.
He must have the knowledge of the Of
ficer who loads the vessel and the
capacity for work of a stevedOre, and,
as | said, he is required to labor in the
dark. We have Just had an instance
OF the dangers to which divers are ex-
posed in the death OF Tom Conklin,
o,,l -, +bot Df hon, Ii,-a,, IDI1-
oke. The swift current caught them
and rope and hose snapped. That was
the end of them. Toms body will
never be got, though they've sent for
Jack Bundy. You see, Tom didn't go
over the dam. He lies between the
crib and the dam. The other man
went over the dam, and they had no
trouble getting him. You can easily
imagine the danger that 'srun in work
ing wrecks for bodies, for you can
fancy how careful you must be ingOing
down stairs and in and out in state
rooms and through companion ways
with a long hose and rope attached
to you not to get these twisted or
caught around articles OF furniture.
The moment that you feel that the
rope is twisted you ought to work
your way back along it till you
come to the point where the twist has
occurred and straighten matters out.
"There is another danger, and a very
curious one, too, which very fortunate
ly, however, is not often incurred.
The dress of a diver is very heavy and
hot. On warm day the perspiration
from a diver, while his dress is being
put on, will sometimes show through
the duck and rubber. Now, when you
get into the water the delightful cool
ness makes you drowsy. Divers actu-
ally 90 to sleep over their work. |
have fallen asleep but once. | was
laying pipe in Catskill Greek. | slept
at the bottom of the creek soundly for
one hour and a half. Now suppose
you had a Job that you could work
at only during onehOur OF slack water,
as is the case with the Job on the iron
ship between Governors and Bedloe's
Islands, and on going below you fell
asleep, and slept over your time? The
tide would come with a rush, your
hose and rope would snap, and that
would be the end OF you.
Il spoke of working wrecks for
IOl llStS a HlOliISllI 6lSO Ia lElIIiiiNAS
me OF what / SAID when | began our
conversation about the stories that
are told OF corpses being found in all
kinds OF startling positions. Irepeat
that such stories arelies. A diver who
works a vessel for corpses looks. or
rather feelsfor them only in two places
along the floors and along the cell
ings. Ii the wreck is very new-that
is, il it has been made out a day or
two-a diver will feel along both floor
and ceiling; if the wreck is older, only
along the ceiling.
"Who employs New York divers in
Europe, and what kind ofjobs do they
have over there?"
1--WE are usually employed for Eu-
ropean work by the underwriters. As
to the kind of work can giveyou some
particulars. About three years ago,
| when the Hamburg steamer Cambria