Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-17
WORK UNDER WATER.
TALK WITH A NEW YORK DIVER OF
EXPERIENCE.
Laboring Beneath tke Dark Waters About
New York-Risks Which the Div
ers Rsn-Going to Sleep
-Corpses-wages-
New York Sun.l

.Pm not going to tell you about ghosts
under water corpses sitting upright in the
staterooms of steamers, with books open
on their knees as if they had been reading
when they were drowned, because |
haven't seen such. Nor has any other
diver. You can't see anything in asunken
vessel. If any one tells you such stories
he's not a diver-hes liar.
The speaker was robert 5 Russell, No.
/ of the New York divers.
People always associate diving with
wrecks, dead bodies, or treasure; but
that's a small part of our work, and not a
particularly ffue line Of it either The fine
work of divers occupation Is that In
which he has to ply some trade like car
pentering or pipe-lsying under water.
You see, a diver should be skilled ut many
trades to be q success. That $
what mean by Icing handy On
account Of the sewerage. |
suppose, it's pitch dark under the water
all about New York. That the reason
New York divers are at the top Of the
profession. Put them in clear water and
their work seems childs play to them.
They can work twice as fast there as
divers from elsewhere But get diver
from elsewhere, for instance an English
diver, here and he can't do a stroke Of
work Now, we can work as fast In these
dark waters by touch as they can work in
their own waters by sight
-Is there any skill required in the act
of diying-l mean getting down to the
OBJ iect on which you are to work.
NO That is TO say. no particular
skill, only care. You must be careful
not to go down the life line too fast,
because if you did the pressure on you
would be too sudden but the art Of
going down is easy enough The dress
, weighs diver down You see,
his shoes weigh twenty pounds each.
Then he has on his chest and back.
weights of forty ounds each In addition
to this the helmet AID collar are heavy.
The dress consists of two layers Of du k
with layer of rubber between them To
the top part Of the dress collar of copper
! is a iixed, and TO this the helmet is firmly
screwed after il has been paced over the
divers head. The helmet is large enough
TO allow space Of three inches around
the head. and there are three tubes
| through which the air reaches the inter
| ior of the helmet Before the diver goes
| down, a weighted line is sunk to the spot
around his waist. and 10 his helmet is at.
IdChCu tuC hOSC NhC OIL ID
| pumped into the he met The diver goes
down the weighted line, the hose and the
| life line being run out as he desceuds.
AS he movea about below. those above
must regulate the life line and hose. and
should be ready to pull him up as soon as
they get the signal-s sharp tug at the
line Some pe1ple fancy there's a rush
| ing sound or noise like thunder made
by the air passing from the hose into the
| helmet But that's nonsense. You
don't hear an sound except the strokes
of the pump
/ If those above are watchful for any
danger signal. and. when they get the
signal, haul the diver up promptly. do
/ they usually land him safe and soundI"
= suslly not If divers careful about
his work. nothing should happen but il
/ anything does happen. II 5 usually all
| over with him A tug on the line means
I death, especially If he's down deep The
I diver doesn't perish because he's cut of
/ too long from the supply Of air but from
/ the frightful pressure Take. for instance,
the death Of enkirs in 1879. His hose
burst They hauled him up in two
minutes. He was a corpse. don't care
/ to describe his appearance. 1t was har.
rowing can give you. from an expert
ence Of mine. some idea of the
| pressure l was at work below, when
suddenly the supply of air gave out
/ tugged the life line Fortunately ! WASH
in very deep water. and they hauled me
/ out alive But | felt while they were
/ hauling me rs if had hydraulic jack
on each side of my head The hnse had
not burst. and the pump had been work
| ing all right so we were at loss to know
why the supply Of air had given out till
| we made careful examination of the
hose We found lot Of PAPER balls in it
| l don't know any one one who is an en-
| envy of mine, so in my case a fool must
have put the PAPER balls in the hose The
kind of danger I've Just described that
of the stoppage of air and death from
| pressure-is perhaps the greatest because
/ a diver can't do anything to avoid It. II
/ Is the danger of accident through circum-
stances beyond his control
There is another danger. and very
\ curious one too. which fortunately. how
ever. is not often incurred. The dress OF
| a diver is fearfully heavy and hot On 8
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 GOODNESS makes you
| drowsy. Divers actually go 10 sleep over
| their work | have fallen asleep but once.
| ! was laying pipe in Catskill creek
/ sept at the bottom of the creek soundly
| for one hour and half Now. suppose
( you had job that you could work at only
/ during one hour Of slack water. as is the
case with the oh on the iron ship between
Co. ernors and Pedloe's islands. and on
| going below you fell asleep and slep: o. Ell
your time? The ii would come with q
rush. your hose and rope W. uld snap. and
that would be the end of you
/ spoke of working wrecks for corpses
q moment ago That reminds me OF what
| | said when | began our con ersaiion
about the stories that are tod of corpses
being found in all kinds of startling po-
sitions repeat that such stor ies arc lies
A driver who works vessel for corpses
looks, or rather feels, for them only in
two places along the floors and along the
ceilings the wreck is very new-that
is if il has been made but day or two
driver will feel alon both floor and
ceiling; if the wreck is older, only along
the ceiling"
What is a drivers day."
-Four hours. and his pay Is >6 That
is the rate when he doesn furnish his
own apparatus If he furni-hes his
own apparatus that is, boat. pump hose,
lines and dress-the price runs from
$35 to $50 day. according TO the Job
For instance. if | get 4 hawser out of
the screw of a steamer and supply my
own apparatus | charge so for the job,
i