National Republican., 1888-03-25


sea bound from Kingston, Jamaica, to New
York, that recently had an interesting and
instructive chat with Capt. Anthony Will
Jams, the famous English diver, on the sub
ject Of his hazardous profession.
~ first began diving in 1863" he said, in
answer to my question. al was q wreckcr
then, and was raising sunken ship
N off the coast Of Cornwall | had
II working for me diver who
n seemed very lazy, careless sort of fellow
was paying him by the day, and once, after
being under water for long time, he came
~ up and reported very little progress in his
work. | was angry and expressed myself
strongly. He retorted with, Try It yourself
Il If you can do any better.i
"'All right said |, let me have your
I diving dress and will try it myself lie
\ thought was only joking, but wasn't. He
dofrcd the dress, put it on and down
4 won't. ! discharged him when came up
and have been doing my own diving ever
4 siige.
H subsequently, however, placed myself
under the instruction of a diver named Scott
When he thought me proficient he said to
me ono day: Tony, think YOU have learned
about all can teach you. Now am going
10 put you to the test Taking from a can
HI vas DHP 80 Ill hlllulI SILVER COlns Hc JllreW
them into the sea. Now, you go down and
bring those up
"ks every school boy knows, dime or
half dime under water looks as large as
trade dollar out of water, so | did not con-
slider the task a very difficult one Down
went, and up came presently with every
coin, whereupon Scott pronounced my div
ing education complete. Poor fellow, he
Y was drowned about five years ago while
bathing in the River Magdalen, IN British
I Columbia.
"Did you ever see diving dressg No?
Then will put mine on aud give you an
idea of one,' and the captain retired to his
state room, whence he presently emerged In
full diving costume, except the heavy cast
iron helmet, which several OF the company
raised from the deck and placed upon him,
thus making his outfit complete. The
\ dress is really two dresses, one within the
n other, each Of India rubber. The stock
ings, pants, and shirt are all made together
as one garment, which the divers
enters at the neck feet first. The
of the rubber shirtsleeves tightly compress
ing the wrists. There is Il copper breast
plate, bearing upon its outer, convex sur
face small screws, which are adjusted
through holes in the neck of the shirt, which,
by means of nuts fastened upon the screws,
is held is so firmly in place as to render
the entire dress, from the neck down
tight. Fitting with equal ~ close
moss to this brcast-plate is the helmet men
toned above. 1t completely incloses the
head and is supplied with three glasses, one
In front and one at each side, to enable the
diver to look in any direction. A pair of
very thick leather shoes, made to lace up the
front and supplied with heavy leaden soles,
completes the dress.
"You see," said the captain, when his
helmet had been removed after every body
had ample time to criicse his appearance in
it, sit takes about fifteen minutes to put
IN these togs on, and when the diveris rugged
in them all but the helmet there are placed
across his shoulders ropes, sustaining
two leaden weights, one hanging at
his back, this other at his breast
lie then goes down ladder
into the water up to his armpits, and then
the helmet is placed on him, the glass in
front is screwed in place, and when every
thing is ready he is made aware of the
fact by blow on the top of the helmet. He
then goes down by means of rope previ-
ously lowered, hand under hand, to the
bottom OF the sea. Sometimes, in very
strong currents, 1t is necessary to make the
weights extraordinarily heavy in order to
hold the diver down, Notwithstanding the
hundred pounds, and yet do not feel the
weight Of 1t down among the fishes any
more than do that of an ordinary suit Of
clothes out of the water 1t was invented
in Switzerland by a native of that coun-
try, named Bauer, who spent small
competency In having it patented and
in trying to bring II into use, but he died
disappointed, heart-broken pauper, lcav-
ing Others to reap the benefit Of his inven-
ton"
"Can you breathe as freely in your diving
dress as you can out of itY'
"Yes, indeed. When ten or twelve faith
oms under water my breathing is as wholly
devoid of effort as 1t is when | am walking
about on dry land. You know that by
means Of an air pump, worked by two men,
kA the diver is supplied with air. Through a
hose this air passes ihtO the back Of his he'll
lnet, and near it} place of entrance is a
" sp.mg valve f9f its escape This valve
can rtc0ntrolleg by the diver, but he usually
sets it before going into the water and sell
dom dsturbs It afterward. The pressure of
the air being greater than that of the water,
II surplus of the former readily escapes.
When this valve is not sufficient the diver
can open in his breastplate similar spring
valve, intended only for such an emergency,
He can also regulate the amount of air
pumped to him by signals upon the air
One pull upon the hose means more air;
two pulls, less air, and two pulls and Il
shake, i want to come up These signals
ON the air hose are generally used by all
divers, but each one of us has his own private
code of signals on the life line, which is
always fastened to the Divers waist, and by
means of which he Is drawn up out of the
water. These signals each diver writes down
very carefully and gives to the man in charge
of the life line. By means of these we
can send up for tools, material,
&c. When lengthy communication is to
be made we send up for slate and write all
we want to say. 1t is Just as easy to read
and write under water rs out OF it, One
can see very plainly, all objects being
WJgreatly magnifed"
"Does a diver have any unpleasant sensa
tions while at workY'
''None, save drumming in the ears, and
this will sometimes destroy the hearing II
the diver remains too long below. Foul
hours-two in the morning and two in the
aftemoon-consttute days work, and II
nthc diver restricts himself to this limit there
is little or no danger of his becoming deaf,
but If he goes much beyond II he is pretty sure
to injure his hearing. | once remained under
water for nine hours, and as consequence
/ completely lost the use of my left ear fOr
~ three months, during which time | suffered
w agony with carache. Eventually, however
my hearing became normal again. Aside
from this the sensations are delightful, aud
feel just as well, happy, and contented al
the bottom Of the sea as | ever can under
h any circumstances. While engaged IN rails
ing the schooner Dauntless in Kingston
Jamaica, on the 18th of August 1880, be
came so disgusted at the stupidity of the
men above In answering my signals that
cabin, and, sitting down, read 1t for nearly
an hour | once knew divcr-Tom Brlnt
ley by name who though q thoroughly
n competent IN and n good fellow
was litt too fond OF stimulants
ON one occasion he went down will
pretty good cargo of spirits aboard, anC
the men above, not knowing his condition
rl,...