Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1890-09-30
aENgAIh TIE SEA.


years during which { have often had
cause Ia feel that I wa. face to face With
death. I cannot remember ever having
fear than I dh when about To make my
fir.t descent urder water In the suit of q
| submarine dive. stood on the rung'
of n diving launch's ladder. eDcase,i In q
waterpr, of suit, fully two .lres too large
for me, with b.e.stplste and helmet
firmly screwed down, and shoes on my
fct weighing twenty pounds having
been adjusted around INV shoulders aud
my MANILA lifeline having been hauled
taut around my waist anil strapped With
the air-hosc "a the sIlr of nv helmet,
my Instructor gave the signal "a his az
sl.tsnt to start the pump, questioned me
In regard to Signals, CAUTIONED me not Ca
SNAKE q fool of myself" ne many others
had done. and then screwed on the face
plate, which cut me- Oh from all ordinary
communication With the world. What
emotion. wellcd within mc as descend-
c,i step by step shall not trrspass on
space Ia describe: suffice II Ia say II
WAS almost q hundrc,ito one against NV
Descending NJ all. ! felt so drrsdfully
afraid. Pride ani will finally conquered,
however. compelled my almost psr,.
lyFed limb. to perform their office, the
last rung 30, the ladder was reached, ]
gr,.p~i my guide rope aud slowly let
mv-clf down io the bottom.
During NV descent had expcrienc~l
a most fightful ringing In my ears; Il
.c.mcd az II the drum. we're about to
hurst. On reaching the bottom ~
membcrcd the injunction ~ my Instruct
or to swallow my breath, y.ll or sing.
Z prsctlsed all thrrc. With th. result that
! WAS Instantly relieved. then .et
about tour. The fi.h, of which there
we're q gr-st number. swan around the,
p-.rrd curiou.ly into th. glass plate ~
INV helmet for q few moments, then q. IL
satisfied. swan away again. ] pat cut
INV hands, a. u to catch them, hut this
iIi no, seem to scare thsm In Oh. least (.
on the contrary, they clustered around
me al the more closely. They appeared
much larger than the species had seen
out of water. AFTER while. the bottom
t.lng muddy. and bcing unable to see
perfectly, NV feet slipped from under
me and made what ] thoughi VA. q
Brooklyn bridge leap. After rrgalning
nv fooiing and receiving Que tug on my
life Ilue. which va. . signal inquirlng
whether va. al right, explored thl.
apparent chs.m sni found u was only
about ak fe.t deep. ! suppose ] ~
mainci under water fully half an hour
on INV first essay. I did not ask Ia IL
hsulsSi up, bat wslici until the signal
..coms up" va. given me.
During my stay under water ] had
made the acqualntanc. ~ more live eels
than ever before In my life, although ]
had only de.c.nicd to q depth ~ thirty
feet. | felt none the wor.e for my de-
scent am my arrival on top, and ] began
to think had within M. the maxim. of
q model diver.
Nv second essay was not 80 successful. {.
II was In deeper waier--probably t~el,.
or fourteen hthoms. l started out to
flni rahl. that was somewhere near
where had b..n LEI down. ] scrambled
around for some time without any sue
cess, when my right shoe having be-
come .uianglci In something on the
hDttom, I hal ia. misfortune to los. lt.
Finding Il impossible to keep my right
Leg ON the bottom. because of IT. decided
Tendency to practice high.kicklng every
time I moved .ignslled "pull me up.
When NV fac. plate was unscrrw-si
explained that I had lost Que of my
Shoes. Nv .ho. having been replaced
In few moment. was again descending,
this time Ia hunt up my lo.t one. Af,er
a search ~ probably q quarter of an
hour, I c.pled u half Jsmmei under
stone. Unfortunately for myself ln my
eag-rne.. to grasp Il, ] bent forward
from standing position Instead ~
dropping on NV knees. The con.e'
auencc va. that th. air In th. up-
ner part ~ nv suit escaped to the
leg. and llftei my feet. trici AMI
triei again to regain NV footing, but
could not, and eventually had Ia go up
feet hr.t. Nv second essay was not
without fruit. however. had r-gsined
my io.t shoe and had learned valuable
Lesson.
Sine. then have worked under ships
bottoms, on stage. weighted With hedge
anchor. aud plaosi In po.ition by myself.
and have rarely experienced any DIM
Guilty Ia performing the work which act
oui Ia accomplish. When a man once
become. accustomed "a working under
water be can handle tool. With almost
the .ame precision q. he doe. upon dry
land.
In shallow water-.sy from .ix tn
eight f,thoms--ii I. difficult to keep
one. footing. because the pressure of
IA. water A. not sufYicient altogether to
oy.rcome IA. air In the suit. 4 man
can easily work for thr-e hours In ten
fathom. ~ water, hut In twenty an hour
4. considered very good work. u TAKE.
a strongly constituted man aud good
diver IA work At all la thirty fsthom.'
All this talk about men descending Ia
nry fathoms I believe to be utter rot.
have couyrr-ed With some of the most
expert diver. from time To time, aud the
concensus of oplnlon seem. To b. that
man Who eau stay In thiry-four hthom'
of water for half an hour IL good one
In .s,suarine diving one soon discovers
tia, Ia order to descend to any great
dep,h and remain length of time u u
desirable 10 let ones self down slowly.
Goluy down quickly starts q rush 81
blo.d to the head, and In almost al
case. the diver will find himself bleeding
from the eyes, nose, mouth aud ears, and
suffering Intense pain on his touching
the bottom. Given a light sandy bolton
aud clear water, q man can discern 90
Iects al q great distance; but " the Dot
tom 4. zt all muddy II IL almost eqii.a'
lent 10 one grouping his way In th'es
fog.
The average weight of the submarine
diver. suit and its equipment IL abou
IsO pounds, so that when man weigh
Ing, .sy iJO pounds-snd men of tha
weight generally msks the best divers VI
perfectIy sound-desc~nds below tn
blue depths he Il carrying on his bod!
twenty pounds more than his owl
Weight vet on his touching the bottom
ne fsel. so light that be could run rse'
n freed from his air hose aud lifeline.
One very dark night about three year
!, ago n diver descended under the boa
house At the torpedo station, Newport
Rhode Island, for the purpose OF tr.tlnl
q iOo-csndle-power incandesc.nt .uDms
rine lamp. lie had scarcely been unde
water five minutes when, owing 10 th
imperfect Insulation of the wires, he be
came "short-circuited" and was knocke'
fiat ON nj. hack. Ills attendant, scarcel!
more fortunate, received the curren
along the wet line and ho.e and for
few minutes he thought spring had come
n needed only few moments Ia cut ol
the circuit. haul up the diver and un
screw his facc-plate. strange to relate
he saId he felt 'all right, having onl!
been stunned for few minutes
lie was able "a tell us that, by the AID o
the light. he could sce perfectly within
| radius Of fourteen To fifteen feet.
JOSHUA AL RloHr.