Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-29
A DIVERS EXPERIENCES.
4 VETERANS TALK CONCERNING
AFFAIRS UNDER WATER.

AFFAIRS UNDER WATER.
The Pressure Sustained by "a Diver-Dan-
gers from Too Rapid Ascent to the
Surface - Various Inter, sting Objects
Taken from Wrecks.
Some very interesting facts relating to
diving have been told the writer by George
w. Fuller, the veteran sub-m arine diver and
inventor of submarine appliances. In a
talk with Mr.. Fuller relative TO the pressure
sustained by diver when in liferent depths
Of water and other matters Of a submarine
nature, be has explained many questions
which were perplexing, and corrected some
OF the impressions received by the writer
during his recent trip to the bottom of the
bay. Mr.. Fuller has shown me that the
pressure is about forty four pounds to the
square inch. He goes on To say that "even
this pressure is enormous, for the surface of
the body Of a diver OF ordinary proportions
presents twelve square feet OF surface upon
which this tremendous pressure is exerted,
and he Is, when in 100 feet Of salt water, ex-
posed 10 pressure equal to about thirty.
eight tons pressing inwardly toward com
mon center"
THE PRESSURE
Mr.. Fuller goes ON to say: The resistance
offered TO that pressure, its Immediate and
final effects and the means employed TO
counteract it, form subjects of much inter
est, and these can be thoroughly explained
only by careful attention t. natural and
physical laws and conditions controlling
such actions. The reason one fails TO feel the
weight of his arInor when submerged is sim
ply this: The suit or dress" when properly
inflated with air, contains besides the divers
body and wearing apparel, soine twenty-five
to twenty-five gallons OF air which, by the
action of the air pump. is constantly being
changed or renewed
Now as TO his weight after Icing submerg-
ell. IL his escape valve Is pro Derly adjusted
TO 100 feet depth, the indicated weight OF di-
yer and urmor combined is les when barely
sunk below the surface, and greatest when at
the bottom. At the surface the pressure
pluals one atmosphere 10 in our case
Now, for every q. inches depth we descend
In the sea water, we add one found pressure
per square inch OF surface exposed. With
this slight amount pressing against our dress,
even the legs OF some are fair y well inflated
at the start, hence more displa cement and in
creased buoyanCy. As we des end the pres
sure increases, driving the con i1ed air higher
and higher up the dress, reducing buoyancy,
increasing weight, until, hAviI z reached the
bottom, we have no air in the dress below
the breast, aud mighty little there either
Now it is that our weight begins to show
its presence in painful maI ner. The legs
OF the diver, as we'll as the lower portion OF
his body, succumb To the pre- sure, and are
sensibly compressed 50 far as tissue, etc,
goes, circulation becoming seriously dis
turbed, or, indeed, totally suspended at times,
and the blood, which should formally circu-
late in the lower limbs, is forced above This
causes numbnes OF the legs, and severe head
aches often occur, and if the weights were
suddenly cut adrift, and the d yer allowed 70
pop" to the surface, death would follow from
effort of air confined within the cavity Of the
body 70 escape, or TO establish An equilibrium
Of pressure The air, seeking every natural
passage out Of the divers body, drives before
it blood, contents OF bowels, etc The neces-
sity for comparatively slow descent and
ascent is readily appreciated, as well as the
precaution on the part Of a diver himself u
prevent any sudden or ACCIDENTAL, enforced
OF hurried trip TO the surface.
With a beginner making his first descent
beneath the waves 1t will he veil to remem
Der this fact, when a great deal of the pain
will be avoided: Always swallow as often a.
the slightest pain in the ears experienced
and then the explosion which takes place in
, the head will not be sufficiently heavy to seri
ously attract the attention
SOME EXTRAORDINARY FEATs.
Mr.. Fuller also showed me some specimen.
which he had brought up from wrecks. One
was United States 81 bill, and with it wa,
an old twenty-five cent scrip piece which hs
rescued in one OF his maiden d YES of Beaver
Tail in 1865. He also exhibited some relic.
from a Spanish frigate which was sunk of
the coast of South America in 1915, anC
which he recovered while there in charge o.
| an expedition in 1871 In showing some O
the Spanish dollars to the wri5er, Mr.. Fullel
said that, notwithstanding their long bath
most OF these coins were very veil preserved
/ but some which had come II contact witt
the rusting iron OF the vessel had worn awaI
to mere ghosts OF their former selves. Tn,
bills which were brought up OF Beaver Tail
although badly soaked by tie water, stn
held together, and the printiny on them re
maiLed entirely legible.
| As has been printed in anoi her story, Mr.
Fuller was tine first diver who ever accom-
pliShed the feat Of catching fish, dressin,
and cooking it all under watsr, and bring
| ing il to the surface, hot and dry He wa
also the first man TO success ully expose
sensitized Photographic plate and obtain
negative in a considerable depth Of water.
In speaking Of his early experience as
diver, and OF the manner in which he frs
went into the business, Mr. Fuller said: I'll
1887 was employed as foreu an in an ex
tensive watch repairing establishment ii
Faneuil Hall square Hearing that a dive
was at work repairing the ~uter end o
Long wharf which had faller out, spen
an entire forenoon In order t. crafty IN.
/ great desire to such q curioity.
This diver was George W. Townsend, an
he was the first had ever seen The impres
sion then received haunted me continually
and in 1860 left tine shop and started IA
/ at my adopted business as a 81 bmarine oper
/ ator There were not above siz or eigh
divers then in this country.
In 1862 / had brought out sew sral importan
| inventions pertaining to the apparatus an
business and had n company Of my own, 'Th
Bay State Submarine company OF Boston
of which was superintendent and manager
Since then have had charge Of two oth-
heavy companies, and our ~orl has taken III
to various parts Of the world In 66 we &c
too numerous In and about Boston, and
struck New London, Conn, and tor yeai
carried on ths business there al d al Norwich
where resided. " Boston Globe.
The Ocean Depths.
| % ~ Ia.