Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-05-01
Diver and Man Eater.
y. Y. Evening Post

y. 4. Evening Iost.
"D'ye see that tallish man with the
big chin whiskers?" asked the skipper
of a schooner IN the southern trade.
"Well, he's been with me goin' on
twenty years, off and on started with
me in the wreckin' business first, and
we've kept a-goin' ever since, thick
and thin, After the men have had
supper want you to hear him spin
warn about the time when we wracked
Il together on Bonavista reef.
After the meal the ex diver came
aft and proved TO be a very jolly com.
panion. There's only one thing, |"
he said, "that Eve got agin Captain
Sam. and that is he's always tarnally
tryin' to git me TO spin that ere shark
story. Two told it down East when
we're to home; I've spun H. OIL 10
every man, woman and child IN
Boothbay; I've told it in Bosting and
on the line, and if had all the wind
I've used a.spinnin' this ere Identical
warn, I'd fill balloon the size OF this
schooner and float off" SLACK up a
trlfle, you're a leetle too taut, inter
rupted his friend, the skipper, with q
laugh. at hain't cost ye nothln' but
wind and ye're famous all over the
eastern coast as the only man that
ever got eat by man cater and got
of scot free"
"Well, I don't know but you're
right, skipper returned the hero,
"and reckon I'll have to keep on
tellin' it till Pm put over board SO
here goes" And the veteran story
teller leaned back and drew heavily
on his pipe, until he seemed lost IN
the clouds of smoke.
H.'Ye never saw a wrack, did YER
asked the speaker. "No2 Wall It's
dismal sight. She was fine bark,
but had been hammered to pieces in
gOin' on the reef, so that some OF the
plankin' had started and taken a
shear right up at angles with the hulls,
and at first looked like masts. With
such lot of standin' riggin' it was
mighty hard picliln' yer way round,
and every time I'd take step I'd git
my head almost yanked off by foul
in the tube. But | kept at it and
made complete survey of the wrack
and found out how the land lay, then
went up. An hour later L had torts
and machinery down with ms. The
first thing TO do was to blow up side
of the hull so as to get things out.
This / did with torpedo, and when L
went back after the explosion there
was the incest hole in her ye'd want
to see. In | went and hooked the
tackle into twenty bales of cotton, L
reckon, before went up.
There was only one trouble about
the place, and that was the darkness.
She laid on her side, just SO that all
the light | got came in through the
hole | had made, and it hadn't been
for that | should have been able to
do ANYTHING, let alone work. 4e see,
in a hull like that there's always
danger of the load comm down on
We. Wall, | was hauln away, work
in near the hole, when all at once l
was in perfect darkness, just as If the
lamp had gone out Of all creation, and
then Just as quick it came again. L
thought the schooner had swung over
Mt first and paid no attention. TO 1T,
but in minute more out went the
light again; then on it came, and that
comm and goln' went o. for about
ten minutes, until finally made up
my mind to go and see what 1t was.
al started for Ike openin', but just
before | got to it it became dark
again, and fancted | saw y dark
shape like big fish dart by; then l
thought il might be squall outside,
and the low clouds that they have
there had been dom business. | crept
through the hole, takin' care of my
pipes, and grabbed the rope I'd left
hangin' there to pull me up on the
hull, when there came kind of q whirl
or rush, Just as if current of water
had been let on me from some where.
l turned half round just in time to see
a big fish risin' above me. 1t was too
late to do anything. I'd left my pike
below and before l could move step
| saw the dark form rushin' ut me. |
was in the most exposed part of tho
wreck, not thing to do but face the
music, and as | thought whatever: it
was it was goin' to strike me turned
the best protected portion toward it,
and that, of course, was my copper
helmet.
'There was kind OF rush; then
instead of blow l felt a wrench that
almost twisted my head off, terrible
scratchiu' sound, and | felt myself
bein' borne Off bodily by the head.
The thought that l was bein' eaten
alive by some horrible monster came
over nue., and with force that found
out aftSrwaYd must have been almosI
superhumau, IS it nearly jsrked the
Waterman overheard, | gave the
signal on the line"
Here the speaker stopped ia his
narrative and said: Nov l reckon
Captain Sara had better go on. He
kin tell you the rest better than l
kim"
Wall, recken / kin, answered the
individual, "considerin' what fix We
were in. The first warnin' we had
that anythin' was wrong. he contin-
usd, was SEEM Tom Ramsey, who
was settin' on a camp stool smokin'
and holdln' the line, go aSprawlin'
board. Up he got, sweariu' that Jed
was drunk or crazy down at the bot
tom for yankia' so on the line, but we
knew somethin' was up, so we clapped
on to the line, and ye'd thought there
was a sperm whale on the other end.
1t was a. If Jed didn't want TO come
up, and was q jerkin' and hauling to
stay where he was. Then there came
steady strain like, but we stuck to it,
and in about three miAuteS had him in
sight, when one Of the hands yelled.
a sharks got him. and ran for a har-
pooh. The rest of us gave way hard
on the rope aud in a minute the cook,
him that yelled, got back with the
iron, and then right before us Jed ap.
peared on the surface with a shark
about eighteen feet long. The cook
let fly the harpoon, the water flew,
the men yelled, and we jsrked Jed
fairly out OF the wafer, and just as we
gave the last lft-he was comm up
feet first-I see his head was iammed
in the SHARKS mouth. The critter
dropped him as soon as hit was struck
with the iron, and Jed fell on the deck
like lead. 1 tell ye we want long in
gettin' that armor off. / didn't wait
to unscrew it, but knocked in one side
light with marine spike, and so gave
him little air"
II was pretty near gone" put in the
hero of the tale, land it's as Captain
Sam says. The shark-for that's what
it was-a regular man eater, when ]
mt my head down took me for q crab