Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-05-28
AT WORK UNDER WATER.
FEATURES IN THE LIFE OF A
SUBMARINE DIVER.


stScles which may in moment Sc;
at naught the best precautions Of science
all these surround the profession with
mystery and its followers with awe, moi
unmixed with admiration for theil
bravery Three pulls at the life line
is the signal for the divers tender at
the surface of the water to pull him up,
and unless the line is cut above or the
danger is too sudden TO allow time to
seize it, this will lead him to safety.
Sitting in his little Office on South
street, New York, veteran diver who
has been in the business twenty two
years, and whose father followed it before
him, told HeraM reporter the other
day about some of the jobs he had dom
anl of the dangers to which divers ale
exposed.
"You want to know some hing about
divers experience" he said. "Well,
| will tell you. We divers feel pretty
secure when we get our water clothes on,
but there are unpleasant things that can
happen. can tell you about one kind
of danger from my own experience 1t
was about five years ago next July that /
was working off Cable Isla.d, on the
New England coast, for the underwriters
of schooner that went ashore on the
island and then came off and sank with
her cargo of railroad car wheels. To re-
cover this | went down in 1876 feet of
water. 1t was a fine day, and | could
see objects near me very distinctly. |
| went inside the scLooner's ho'd to
make an examination, when suddenly
tho blowing noise which goes through
the helmet when the air enters ceased,
and | knew that something had happened
to the Qir pump at the surface.
You know that the pressure on a
man, even wien he is getting his
air all right, is equal to half pound for
the foot. At lis depth the pressure was
about sixty pounds, and as soon as the
air was gone it increased terribly. | felt
a tightening sensation creeping up my
legs and pressing in M ribs until they
seemed to stick into my heart. l kept
COOL though, apd managed to get out of
the vessel aud male my way back to the
line by whi,h had come down. l didn't
dare give the signal to be pulled up by
the tender until got hold of this other
line, because | was afraid of the effect
on the blood circulation OF being pulled
up too quickly. AS it was, my blood
seemed to fly out in every direction. But
with the other line hoped to hold on.
then give the signal and make my ascent
slowly. In the meantime the tender sus-
pected something wrong and began to
haul me up. Al the first pail my eyes
seemed to shoot out of my head and then
| lost consciousness and remember nothing
more. That job laid me up good many
weeks, which / spent in the Massa-
chuse.ts Hospital in Boston"
did you ever come across any dead
bodies in the waterl" asked the re-
porter.
"Oh, yes, Often," was the reply. II
have been sent to search for them, and
have run against them unexpectedly
There are some Of these things that ]
would rather not talk about it, but there
are some instances of finding corpses
that can recall and don't mind men
tioning. WhenI was in the Irish ser
vice l was down in e'ghty-fve feet OF
water to look for the body of young
gentleman who was drowned when out
cunning in a boat with his sweetheart
The first day | went down / found his
gun, and after thqt L walked about the
bottom for five days without coming
upon the body. At last | discovered it
tightly held between two rocks, with the
game bag lying beside it.
"Another time, when was diving of
the pier at Dungeness, England, when
reached the bottom | noticed an object
leaning against one of the dock piles,
which | took 10 be bag of coal, like one
of those used on British steamers.
went up to it and took hold of it, when
the tide loosed it from its mooring and
the CHASTITY face of dead man bobbld
up close to my own. ! recovered from
my horror in a moment, and took the
body in my arms and brought it to the
surface. 1t proved to be the body of a
man who had disappeared some time be.
fore.
"a diver has got to get used to meet
ing queer things" he continued. dead
men are foreigners under the sea as much
as the divers are, but there are some OF
the natives that are pretty nasty. ! have
never been attacked by any kind of a
fish, but | have met some sharks that
made me feel unpleasant. always
carry short, double-bladed knife i'll q
little case on my wrist. l can get it out
in two twists of a screw, and it is a use,
full thing to have about when shark is
around. | stabbed a monster with it in
Hong Kong harbor, but the animal did
not attack me- He was probably scared
by the ugliness of the divers dress.
don't believe fish would attack me- but
there is always chance of his being able
to cut the air pipe
In how deep water have you worked,
Captain"
The deepest work ever did was in
1876 feet of water. That was on tht
wreck of the British iron-clad Vanguard,
which was run into and sunk by the
Iron Duke eight and a half miles south.
east of the Kish lightship in st. Georges
Channel. was in the government ser.
vice then, and was sent down to recover
the anchors of the corvette Petral, which
was going to be made into Il lightship
and also to inspect the Vanguard's wreck
"There YVES fearful tide, which sci
dead across the ship, and there were
only fifteen minutes of slack water, ir
which all the work had to be done. Thl
job was considered so dangerous that {
second man was kept dressed at the tol
of the water ready to go down to my as
sistance at minutes notice. That wa
something like work. The hole in th,
Vanguard's side was eighteen feet Ions
by nine wide, and there were 1sO
fathoms of two aud half cable to ge
clear, as they were foul of the corvette''
nr.nh ORG flor ali Ilnin hnd l,nnn don.