Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-11-28
BENEATH THE SEA.

DLNEt1II IL uE6a DE2As
| was good diver myself at one
time, but have never had grit
enough TO go down since the time
was half murdered under water.''
As the old sailor made the above
remark he seated himself ON a piece
of driftwood on the beach, and / in
Stinctiyely knowing that this was the
introduction to one of the old mans
interesting sea narratives, asked, with
an unfeigned interest, for more of
the particulars.
We were walking on the beach
that morning and gazing out over
the sea, and, as usual, the old sailors
thoughts went back to the years of
his early manhood spent upon its
bosom.
And truly the mariner sees many
things unknown to dwellers of the
land. From time immemorial the
sea has borne a major portion of the
tales and romances pertaining to all
that is of nature mysterious and inn
perfectly known. From the earliest
periods of literature even down TO
the present century wild, terrible and
impossible attributes and powers have
been ascribed to this most incOmpre-.
hensible ocean, so vast that in COM
parison our continents are small in
deed, unfathomably deep by imagina-
tion and rumor filled with awful
monsters that guard well their watery
dominions.
In earliest legends sirens and mer-
maids dwelt in every, cove beneath
the waves or floated on the billows
to allure with their magic charms
and music the captivated mariner to
hidden rocks and destruction. Be-
hold Columbus preparing to strike
out boldly into this terrible ocean, to
whom the warning was given that a
mighty hand would rise to draw him
down beneath the waves.
Wild fancies were these, and vet
perhaps their origin was founded on
true ideas. The sea is indeed fit
ting type of sudden, wrathful dan
ger, of majestic, irresistible power.
Where is found sight more sublime
than the raging of the stormy sea !?
The most formidable beasts of land
and ferest are insignificant beside
the great leviathan and hidden crawl
ing form of marine life.
In the truth alone there is abun-
dant mystery and dreadful reality.
How many a noble slip lies forever
idle on the rocky bottoms, how many
a white, still skeleton shines through
the sand, token of the pitiless
strength of the caplicious ocean.
For the following story | am in
debted to an old sailor whom / met
at town on the coast. We struck
up an acquaintance, and he used often
to tell me stories of his life, some of
them little beyond the limits of
probability. BY chance the subject
of diving was brought up, and the
sailor made the above remark. A
few well-chosen questions brought
out the following story in substance,
for | omit many of the numerous
nautical expressions and change the
sea dialects
When / was a young man, he
said, used to be a great hand to
swim and dive. was in the sea
much of the time, and got so that
could hold my breath and skip around
under water like a crab. Well. the
first voyage that | made | shipped
with regular old tartar of captain
who made my life miserable, as /
was cabin boy, so / made up my
mind before long that would leave
him. When, after a pretty rough
voyage, we put in at Aavigator's
island, one of the Central archipelago
stepping places, / quietly skipped and
let the ship go off without me: and
in passing may remark that / never
saw her again,
wasn't particularly well off, ais
not great many ships put in at that
place, and / was refused work on a
couple that did; but at last got
chance to 60 on board a brig that
was going to fish up what they could
from big ship that had sunk oh a
reef at about three days sail from
the island. | was glad enough to
get work. and so | started as one of
the crew. We had on board beside
the captain three men with myself
to sail the brig and . couple Of pro-
fessi0nal divers.
One Of these was q Malay, cf
which race are most Of the divers
who work in those waters. He was
rather stupid, but could 20 down ike
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