The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-12-18

| OSOii was OilS VI luG SIOdICoG p'CCOS VI
work of the kind ever performed, not
SO much on account of the depth of the
water as because of the locality and the
steady continuance of the work. often
under exceedingly adverse circum-
stances. Lots of divers 90 down twenty
fathomS for few minutes at time on
some quick job, but staying down at
that depth and working is quite Il diff
ferent matter. Some of our divers
stayed down forty five and even sixty
minutes, but the usual time was from
thirty to forty minutes. 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 if man was
too long subjected to sixty or sixty two
pounds to the square inch. that had to
be maintained at that depth, it might
break him all up for several days How
break him upp' Well. it seemed to
paralyze them. Sometimes man
would come up with no control at all
of an arm or a leg. 1t would hang as
if dead. In few days it would come
all right, but the sensation, while it
lasted, must have been rather dis
quoting. Then, when there was not
actual paralysis 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 it up; but those
who stuck to it seemed to grow accus-
toned to it and did not complain
at all after little while But they
were an exceptionally good lot of
men. and we took the best posi-
BILE care of them. When man
would come up and his hemlet and
armor were taken off, he would be
thoroughly rubbed all over, walked up
and down the deck for little bit, get
a good drink of brandy, and then he
lay down to sleep for an hour, when he
would be quite fresh and ready TO 90
down again. Two would 90 down
while one was resting.
ave had altogether fourteen divers
when we started, but half dozen of
them could not stand the work, and
our average force of divers was eight
| They worked in two separate and en-
tirely distinct 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 violent that it was i'm
| possible to work on the wreck. the
steamer would take the schooners into
| Fire Island Inlet to wait for more pro-
pitious skies. But the distance was so
great, involving so much loss of time
i'll 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 pitch
ing 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 desperate chances, but we had to
do so or suffer interminable delays. As
it was, we have had to lose as much as
three weeks at a stretch waiting for a
| change in the weather.
another danger we had to en-
counter, that was not tile one, was
that of being run down by steamers in
the fogs that were quite frequent. We
were right in their track. and had
several very narrow escapes.
'Sharks?' o, yes, we saw sharks
there, but they did not make any
trouble. OF course it makes man
feel little uncomfortable away down
IN the sea, to have great shadow
glid ng over him and know that it is
made by a huge. ravenous 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. A
real diver ism t af-aid of shark. Only
the divers that dive about gin mills
have the terrible shark experiences.
Aside from sharks, the water about the
Oregon wreck fa rly swarmed with fish.
There were myriads of them; good big
ones and excellent eating, too, as we
| found, but l don't remember their
names.
"'Accidents?' No With expert
enced skill, conscientious care, and
intelligence in conducting diving opera
tons they need not be attended with
any more danger of accid 1nt-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 was admitted to
the divers hose by a nicely regulated
system of gauges and cocks that con-
trolled the pressure to a nicely, and
that was all .un Ter the care of expert.
enced and very careful men, in wnom
the divers below had the utmost conf
dence. 1t is great help to 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
lite line do not get entangl,d and
that he does not himself get janmed
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 perhaps injured
There were hand air pumps as well as
the steam ones, connected up and really
for action at any moment if any thing
should happen, and the pressure was
always regulated according to the depth
at which the divers were, accurate
knowledge of their movements being
transm tied by signals on the life line
No signals except for air are ever sent
by the hose.
ave saved an immense amount of
stuff Of onurSp ua hrnupht nm r,uob