Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-10

A Badly Shattered vessel-Dihacult Con-
ditions for work-How Men Toll At
Twenty Fathoms Deep and Are Some
times Paralyzed.
Mr.. /. J. N. Merritt, Jr., son of Capt
Merritt Of the Coast wrecking company,
by whom the salvage wal effected, a
rating the story of the divers work ON
the Oregon, the other day, said:
"The Oregon lay In twenty fathoms Of
water. There Is . popular idea that the
agitation Of the sea by storms is quite a
shallow effect. But il doesn't take much
Of q storm TO make itself felt sixty feet
down, where the Oregon lay, as our
ivers were fully satisfied. And, though
it was possible TO see dimly outside the
hull, the darkness in the hold was per-
feet so that the difficulties under which
the divers worked were great. Never
theless, it did not take them long TO find
out that the Oregon was a very badly
shattered vessel.
1.-The salvage of the cargo of tie Oregon
wa one of the greatest pieces OF work Of
the kind ever performed not so much on
account of the depth of the water as be-
cause of the locality and the steady con-
tinuance of the work, often under ex-
ceedingly adverse circumstances. Lots
of divers go down twenty fathoms for a
few minutes at a time on some quick job,
but staying down at that depth and
working Is quite a different matter.
Some of our divers stayed down forty
five and even sixty minutes, but the
usual time was from thirty to forty min
utes. As a rule, we did not allow them
TO stay down as long as they wished to
after they had become accustomed TO the
work, for there was always the danger
that il a man was too long subjected to
the pressure of sixty to six:y-two pounds
to the square inch-that had to be main
tanned at that depth-it might break him
all up for several days.
CASES OF PARALYSIS.
"'How break him ups' Well, it seemed
TO ~paralyze them. Sometimes a man
would come up with no control at all Of
an arm or a leg II would hang as if
dead. In q few days ii would come all
right, but the sensation, while it lasted,
must have been rather disQuieting.
Then, whe there was not actual paraly-
sis of one or more limbs there were apt
to be sharp pains and aches. Some Of
the men who started in diving there could
not stand the work and had TO give 1t
up, but those who stuck TO it seemed to
grow accustomed TO it, and did not com
plain at all after a little while. But they
were an exceptionally good lot Of men,
and we took the best possible care Of
them. When a man would come up and
his helmet and armOr were taken of,
l., x-1,ll 10 THEORETICALLY r,hhaI oil QUAR-
walked up and down the deck for a little
bit, get a good drink of brandy, and
then be laid down to sleep for an hour,
when he would be quite fresh and ready
TO go down again. Two would go down
while n was resting.
1--WE had altogether fourteen divers
when we started, but half o dozen Of
them could not stand the work, and our
average force of divers was eight. They
worked in two separate and entirely dis
tinct expeditions, each Of which had a
schooner TO operate from, and there was
also a steamer to take care of and tend
them. When the weather was so VIC
lent that il was impossible to work on
the wreck the steamer would tow the
Schooners into Fire Island inlet TO wait
for more propitiOus skies. But the dis
tance was so great, involving 50 much
loss Of time in going to and fro, that we
only left our ground when the necessity
was most imperative. Often we took in
cargo when the schOOners were pitching
and rolling with such violence in the
angry waves that they were taking water
over their rails on alternate sides at
every roll. Perhaps we even took some
l,t ,-a hrl 30 10 30
or suffer interninable delays. As it was,
we have had 10 lose As much as three
weeks at a stretch, waiting for a change
in the weather.
FAIRLY SwARMED WITH FISH.
Sharks Oh, yes, we saw sharks
there, but they did not make any trouble.
OF course il makes a man feel a little
uncomfortable away down in the sea, to
have a great shadow gliding over him
and know that it is made by n huge
fish, that could bite him in two
if it dared and considered it worth while.
But the sharks are more afraid of the
divers than the divers are of the sharks.
4 real diver isn't afraid of n shark.
Only the divers who dive about gin mills
have the terrible shark experiences.
Asid Q from sharks, the water about the
Oregon wreck fairly swarmed with fish.
There were myriads of them; good big
mes and excellent eating too, as we
found, but / don't remember their names.
Accidents No. With experienced
skill, conscientious care, and intelligence
in conducting diving operations they
need not be attended with any more
danger of accident-or not much more
at least-than any heavy work on land.
Our powerful air pumps, driven by steam,
forced the air into tanks, whence it wa
admitted to the divers hose by a nicely
regulated system of gauges nd cocks that
controlled the pressure TO a nicely, and
that was all under the care of expert
enced and very careful men, in whom
the divers below had the utmost on
idence. 1t is q great help TO n diver to
have HIS mind clear of all anxiety about
what is going on up at the pumps. He
knows then that all he has to look out
for is TO take care that his hose and life
line do not get entangled and that he
does not himself get jammed among the
cargo. Very often we had TO have one
man on deck to attend TO the hose and life
line of another at work in the hold five
fathoms below, TO see that the strong
current did not sweep them away TO
where they would be entangled and per
haps injured. There were hand air
pumps as well as the steam ones, on
nected up and ready for action at any mo-
ment if anything should happen, and
the pressure was always carefully regu-
lated according TO the depth at which the
divers were accurate, knowledge Of their
movements being transmitted by signals
on the life line. No signals except for air
are ever sent by the hose.-New York
Sun.
The Dragon in Chinese Joss Houses.
Perhaps the most familiar form of all is
the dragon. that seems TO have an es-