Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-02-29
What a Diver Saw Under the Waves
of the Hudson.

enhue OF tnaL great Viduuct, il ioi
which has been a favorite headquar
ters of the professional divers who dc
business along this part of the Allan
tic coast. The place is we'll furnish.
! ed, cozy, and supplied with all the
latest ideas in submarine work
Every day it is visited by the divers
who come for new orders for work, to
obtain assistance upon some hard task
or procure supplies for their peculiar
calling.
One afternoon while party OF
friends, chiefly newspaper men and
divers, were chatting over the news Of
the day, one of the more popular sub
aqueous toilers entered who had been
absent some time from the city. He
Joined in the conversation, and after
nearly every member of tho party
had related some experience, said: 81
do not recall any exciting episode in
my career at the present moment, but
only the humdrum of my daily career.
suppose, however, that it may inter
est outsiders and so l give the story
of days work. Last fall one of the
ocean steamers, in approaching her
pier, lost a valuable anchor and chain
cable through the carelessness or
drunkenness of some seamen on board.
The captain of the boat was an old
friend and he sent for me to recover
the property. 1t was not much of a
job, but business was slack and l was
glad to get it. We got everything
ready and went to work day or two
afterward, about IL o'clock in the
morning. We anchored our boat, got
the pump ready, adjusted my armor
and down 1 went. You have an idea
that the water is clear like the air,
but you are away of. 1t is dirty,
very dirty. Ordinarily you can see
about ten feet from you in any direc-
ton sideways. Over your head it is
a glare. Underneath it is as dark as
a cave. With an electrical lamp, the
best invention yet made as far as our
trade is concerned, you can see twice
as far, but it is just like standing by
a camp fire in the woods at night time.
1t makes the surrounding darkness
all the darker. / reached the bottom
of the Hudson and began walking
around. The floor of the great river
is not like Broadway, nor even the
beach at Coney Island. 1t is a great
mass of ooze or slime, into which you
sink sometimes to your knees, some
times to your waist, and sometimes
over your head You do rs much
work by feeling as by seeing. This
day struck lot of common place
things, but under water they interest
ed even me. One was mass of tele-
graph and telephone wires from New
York city to Jersey City. Some
were whole and some were broken,
probably by the anchors of small ves-
sells that we too over night just
above.
A few of the broken wires still
stuck out just as if they had been
pulled so by main force. All of the
wires showed the effect of their sub
mergence. Some were half rotten,
others were beginning to decay or rust
Every one had something attached to
it. Little snails, oyster shells, sea-
weed, eel, grass, rags and other water
logged matter from the land were a
few of the things attached to the
wires. Further on came across the
oil pipe through which the Standard
Oil company pumps petroleum direct
from the oil wells in Pennsylvania to
the refineries in Brooklyn and Will
liamsburg. The pipe was stronger
and more accurately made than the
ordinary gas and water pipes we see
in the city. Yet thought that if
some craft got the fukc of its anchor
under it and pulled quite hard then
it would break short and cover the
harbor with crude petroleum. There
is great deal of wood lying around
the bed of the river. Contrary to
public opinion, wood is not lighter
than water. Full of air it is, of
course, but when water soaked or log
ged it nearly always sinks. Its weight
is so close to water, though, that it
doesn't work its way down into the
fine dirt and mud at the bottom. For
this reason it is very apt to deceive
amateurs and novices.
There is another thing that divers
see under the Hudson, and that is
that the river is being filled up
through the folly and ignorance of
human beings. The great sewers new
er stop throwing their vile contents in
to the slips. Every steamer from tug
to ocean greyhound, drops its ashes
overheard. Every vessel does the
same with its sweeping and refuse.
Then the scows, which ought to carry
the ashes and garbage of this city far
away, save time and trouble by dump
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