, 1888-03-29
THE RIVERS BOTTOM.
WHAT A DIVER SAW UNDER THE
WAVES OF THE HUDSON.

In New York city, near the Brooklyn
bridge, and visible from tho promenade Of
that great viaduct, Is o loft which has
long been u favOrite headquarters OF the
| professional divers who do business along
this part Of the Atlantic coast. The place
II well furnished, cosy and supplied with
all the latest ideas In submarine work.
Every day y Is visited by the divers, who
come for new orders for work, to obtain
assistance upon some hard task, or to pro-
cure supplies for their peculiar calling.
| One afternoon while party of friends,
| chiefly newspaper men and divers we're
chatting over the news of tis day, one Of
the more popular subaQueOus toilers
entered who had been absent some time
from the city. He joined In the conver-
| sation, and afte- nearly every member OF
the party had related some experience,
said; II do not recall any exciting episode
In my career at the present moment, but
| only the humdrum Of my daily career. I
suppose, however, that 1t may interest
outsiders and so give the story Of days
work. Last fall one of the ocean steamers,
in approaching her pier, lost q valuable
anchor and chain cable through the care
lessness 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. It was not much OF q Job, but
business was slack and was glad to get
It. We got everything ready and went to
| work day or two afterward, about II
O'Clock In the morning. Weanchored our
boat, got the pump ready, adjusted my
an idea that the water Is clear
like the air. but you are away of. II Is
dirty, very dirty Ordinarily you can see
about ten feet from you In any direction
sideways. Over your head II isn glare.
Underneath 1t Is ~ dark as cave. With
an electrical lamp, the best invention yet
made as far a. our trade Is concerned,
you can see twice ~ far, but il IL just
like standing by a camp fire in the woods
at night time II makes the surrounding
darkness all the darker. l reached tho
bottom OF the Hudson and began walking
around. The floor Of u great river Is not
like Broadway, nor even the beach ut
Coney Island. 1t Is great mass OF ooze
or slime, into which you sink sometimes
to your knees, sometimes to your waist
and sometimes over your head. You do
as much work by feeling as by seeing
This day struck a lot of commonplace
things, but under water they interested
even me. One was mass OF telegraph
and telephone wires from New York to
Jersey City. Some were whole and some
we're broken, probably by the anchors of
small vessels that hove to over night
just above.
"A
out just rs ii they had been pulled so by
main force. All Of the wires showed the
effect of their submergence Some were
half rotten, Others wcre beginning to
decay or rust. Every one had something
attached to IL. Little snails, oyster shells,
seaweed, eel, grass, rags and other water
logged matter from the land were few
of the things attached 70 the wires. Fur
ther on came across the oil pipe through
'x1h fl,a ntI
petroleum direct from the oil wells of
Pennsylvania To the great retneries In
Brooklyn and Williamsburg. The pipe
was stronger and more accurately made
than the ordinary gas and water pipes we
see In the city. Yet l thought Silat II
some craft got the fiuke of its anchor un-
der it and pulled quite hard tiren 1t would
break short and cover the harbor with
crude petroleum. There Is u great deal
of wood lying around the bed Of the river
Contrary to public opinion, wood il not
tighter than water. Full Of air II il, OF
course, but when water soaked or logged
IL nearly always sinks. It's weight is SO
close tn water, though, that it doesn't
work its way down into the fine dirt and
mud OF the bottom. For this reason it is
very apt to deceive amateurs and novices.
"Therc is another thing that divers see
under the Hudson and that is that the
river is being filed mp through the folly
or ignorance of human beings. The great
sewers never stop throwing their vile con-
tents into the slips. Every steamer, from
tug TO ocean greyhound, drops it's ashes
overheard. Every vessel does the same
with its sweepings and refuse. Then the
scows, which ought TO carry the ashes and
garbage of this city far away, save time
ind trouble by dumping them III dark
nights into the Hudson.
"Therc are not very many fishes In the
North river There may be, but we divers
don't see much of them. Probably they
see Us first and give us a wide berth
Those | meet most are eels and little
sinners, or mianows. II. however, we
carry one OF those new fashioned incan-
descent lamps il acts like n jack lantern
In eel spcaring, and brings shoals OF FISH
around. They are horribly unintelligent
and after studying fellow i've minutes
and swimming off they will immediately
return ana begin cycling him again, Rs If
they had never seen him before We
never mind them, ~ they are harmless,
nud voul,in't he caught by US even II we
desired 10 get n good mess Of them when
u, work.
1.-The MOST unpleasant thing Il diver
can meet is the dead body OF human
being. Ii Is a popular delusiOn that all
drowned men come 10 the surface after
several days. Probably they would IL
they were left alone and were not attacked
by wharf rats, GELS ana fishes, BuL In the
Hudson they arc always attacked in this
way within an hour OF two after they are
submerged. Once attacked that ends IL.
The breaking OF the skin diffuses some
thing. ir may he "a scent around, and then
everything travels for that body to get
square meal. Long before decomposition
it is so cut apd riddled that what gases
lre formed have no chance tn accumulate
and initiate the walls OF the abdomen We
divers never touch bodies In this state, be-
cause IL brings the worst luck possible.
''Ihere is very little romance or beauty