The Opelousas courier., 1890-09-06
TWENTY FATHOMS DEEP
iUNuANEY THINGS SEEM Ry
DIVER IN Al GREAT LAKE.
lDtneFeace in the Waterso of the Lake,
4 -Sunken VesseIs--Recoyerine the
Bodies of the Drowned.

Dus41GS Oh the DfOySne0.
ssFoundering vessels on the lakes.
especially sailing vessels, frequently sinR
solsquarely,9 said a Toledo man who be
aer "a the precautions and perilons pro.
AI diving, that We find them
.fesk = th \ bottom as trim and neat d,
asels were still blowing the sur.
h&cs. sis is particularly The cass Id
Lake Huron, whose waters are unlike
hDse of any Of the other lakes In the
kxeat chain, although all It's water comes
ron Lake Superior. What the scientific
exclamation of the fact is / don't krow.
1 diver can work on the bottom Of
Lake, Huron ct q depth of at least twentv
Eeet greater than he can in Lake sureri.
0rsand much deeper than he can in auv
shsa6ther lakes. In Superior a diver
CaM8 See further than ten feet into the
water surrounding him, but lii Huron hs
can distinctly distinguish objects afty
zeet away. At q depth of 100 feet Ii
Lake Superior q diver can only work an
hour al d time, the feeling Of oppression
becoming unbearably painful. but I have
worked i've hours at a stretch III Lake
Huron 1t6 feet below the surface with.
ont suffering to any great extent from
tbs pressure of the water. a man
drowned in Lake Superior never appears
81 the surface, while the dead aoat ON
shs waters Of Lake Huron.
ssTt Is q weird and startling sight to
come suddenly upon a full-rigged vessel
Car down In the solemn depths of the
hke, standing erect on her keel as IL she
Were dashing away before the breeze on
he cleaning surface. It is uncanny and
rhostlike. There are no waves down
there, but a mysterious swelling and
swaying Of The waters that give d see
saving, tossing motion to the spectre
craft, which ID all the more spectral be-
cause there is no creak of timber, no
sound Of straining ropes D grinding keel.
You may climb the rigging, walk the
deck, 60 down into the aunkGh cabin, as
readily and easily az il you were q sailor
md the vessel were sailing along with
aHly the sky above her, but you can't
keip thinking constantly of death and
tha tomb. There II no sound down there
but the intermitting wall and moan, wall
and moan Of the swaying waters, ali
around and above you, and pet seeming
lar away. / would much rather find 4
bunken wreck a wreck indeed. You
saturally expect to find i broken ruin on
she bottom of the lake, not the ghost Of
i perfect ship. I can work and search
With better cheerannong splintered beams
md shattered spara and broken keel,
Fhere havesto pry and chop and batter
Sewn to uDcover the object Of m y quest,
Rhefherf Il Is merchandise, treasure, 81
A1rzkn corpses, than / can on q eunken
srafk that gives me free and easy access
b her eunksn stores and watery sepul-
hires.
ttThe only tiHae chat I W undertook
b do . piece of work on the lake bottom
reluctantly, and was badly broken up By
he result Of it, although I had antici.
eated and thoughI was prepared for /
startling sight, was the time I went dowr
swsnty fathoms In Lake Erie TO find The
so1ies Of y woman and her two children
Hho had gone down with a propeller
The propeller sank in q heavy storm d
sighk, laundering suddenly as Graf
'@gs lIy do on Lake Erie, and the woman
gentleman had tS 8 Strong r asa nSa1 oan
krssiy offered me : bI gg % pe d
End recover the bodies, but the touchin.
sppeals of ths heart-broken man alon'
Induced me to undertake the work.
1ound She vessel IN easy shape for work
hg, and reached the door Of the fata
tasero0m without difficulty. The doc
ms looked. Tho fact that / must breal
. dCwn before the imprisoned dead coult
70 released increased the dread that pos
sseaea ne, ard I stood irresoluto II th
EefuI threshold. If the money / wal I
ssceiyc Tor the work had been my onI
hnpalling motivs, 4 would have hurrie
nom the wreck that moment; but
was hAuased BY ths memory Of tbs
stricken soul above, awaiting IN agonize
suspense the poor consolation of seein
6is cold and lifeless loved ones, and I pu
side my foplish-fear and with q fe'
oaows Of NV crowbar battered down e
ssnseSo0m door. had pictured Ia n
mind how the three corpses would in q
probability look, floating with starinI
1yes about $40 room, and ! think
had come upon them IN ths
way woald have accepted g
contact With c~omplacency. But me g
Witty OF theif appearance vvas far uiilel
snt Irom the one ! had imagined. ~
sesssl gave . bard iurch 90 4 broke Y
AooE loose, snd ne water : ply ! !