News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-01-16
ALL UNDER THE WATER.
Diving Expert Fuller's Novel Exploit On
der Water.
He Was the First Man to Dive Into the Sea,
Catch Fish and Clean and Cook it Before
Coming to the Surface

Globe, sthat / was the first man to
ever catch fish, dress it and cook it,
all under water, and then bring it tc
the surface in perfectly palatable and
appetizing shape"
How did you come to do that Pr
questioned the writer.
at was this way. replied Mr.
Fuller, sitting back in his chair and
half closing his eyes, as ii To recall all
the circumstances of this most curious
of diving experiments. You see, /
had been talking with some OF the
boys, telling them about what | could
do, and all that, and if / remember
rightly, made the assertion that
could latch fish, dress 1t, cook it
under water and bring it up to the sur
face in good shape for eating without
wetting it particle. OF course every-
body was incredulous, and one man,
who was even more incredulous than
the rest, offered to bet me 800 that l
could not do it. Of course | felt that I
could, and although it looks strange
to you now you can see how it was
done after | have finished my
story. AS thought l had pretty
sure show of winning, and the man
seemed anxious to bet put up my
money, and when asked when | wanted
the affair to come off set day about
week ahead, as | had some prepare
tions to make. The date was agreea-
bic to all parties concerned, and other
things were talked Of So the days
went hT4netil only had a couple
more to wait for the trial. Then, talk
ing two of my men, l got boat and
went quite distance out into the har-
Dor, stopping over place where [
thought | should be able to catch a
fish easily. l had brought weighted
barrel along with me and my diving
suit. The barrel we then proceeded
to sink, having the open side down.
ward. Putting on my suit l went to
the bottom and securely fastened
the barrel to some rocks with
ropes to make sure that it would
neither rise to the surface nor
float away. Mind you, / had the bar
rel raised about three feet from the
bottom, and at this time as matter of
course, it was filled with water. After
l had secured it / stopped down and
crawled up into it, standing erect upon
the bottom. When | crawled in the
barrel was full OF water, but as l stay
ed under there minute after minute
the water began to be driven out little
by little, this being caused by the air
which was issuing from my escape
valve rising to the top of the barrel.
and not being able to go any farther it,
as a matter of course. kept forcing the
water down. Soon my head was en-
tirely out OF water and soon my chest
was out.
Then / unscrewed my hemlet and
stood in the air under the barrel. AS
it was being fed const ntly from the
pump above, the water lowered until
there was not drop in the barrel, and
| was standing in only three feet of
water. had one OF my patent lam
terms with me, so l could see what
was doing, and taking a hammer,
nails and small board, which l had
brought down with me. proceeded to
nail up small shelf at one side OF the
barrel OF the height so that when my
lantern was set upon it it would be
convenient for me to look down on top
of it. This done, put on my hemlet,
got out from under the barrel and wen
up to the surface once more. All my
arrangements were completed. and all
| had to do now was to wait patiently
for the day OF the trial to come off.
at dawned at last, bright and clear,
and a considerable party OF gentlemen
embarked with US to either see this, as
they supposed, great feat performed or
to see me fail in my attempt to make
good my assertion. / impressed 1t
upoI. Si,o iafr1tisof tae party who had
bet against me that to perform the
feat it was very essential that l should
go under water at a place where |
could be reasonably sure of catchin g
IL fish. and he left it with me to select
the place. OF course | steered for the
spot where | had the barrel anchored,
and, stopping near where l thought 1t
would be, | put on my suit and pre-
pared for the descent l took with me
my lantern. small stew pan, pepper,
salt, ETC., and my fish-hook.
"By the way, you never saw man
catch fish under water. did you? Well,
it is quite a simple operation. You
long line with big sail needle on the
end of it. When you are on the bot
tom and see fish, good care must be
taken to get behind him. Then
cautiously edging up to him, you make
a quick jab with the needle, and il
you are good shot your fish is caught.
Then all you have TO do is to push him
up on the string. which must OF course.
be l1notted on the end, and you are
ready for another one. 1t was one oil
these needles that had, and was very
successful in not having to occupy
much time in catching my fish. for !
had scarcely struck bottom and got my
bearings when / saw one directly
ahead OF me, and / succeeded in
getting him impaled upon my needle in
short order. Then / crawled under the
barrel, and setting my lantern on the
shelf waited for the water to lower.
had not long to wait, however. and
soon my helmet was hanging on a nal
which | had hammered into the side oil
the barrel for that purpose, and
was busily cleaning the fish with my
jackknife, which forgot to mention
brought with me for that purpose. This
done, l unscrewed the top OF the Ian
tern, which, as you know, is quite &
large one and has big flame. This
Ian ern is fed by small air pipe from
above, the same as O human being is,
and as ] could live and breath freely
under the barrel, OF course the lantern
could burn brightly, too. Placing the
pan which fitted exactly into the top oil
the lantern over the flame, | put the
fish in it and he WAS soon frying away
at great rate, while mado him pal
atable with salt and pepper.
"After it was well fried | shut of
the blaze in the lamp and screwed on
the cover, leaving the stewpan and
the fish inside, where they were sure
to keep perfectly dry. Then, putting
on my helmet, l got out from under
the barrel and gave the signal to be
pulled up. had been gone only few
minutes and the people thought as a
matter of course that had come up to
say that | could not catch the fish,
never dreaming that | had caught it,
dressed it and cooked it all ready. They
were very much surprised when, on
taking off the lamp, | showed them
the fish steaming hot and we'll cooked.
OF course, like all other tricks, it's
easy after one knows how to do it,
but | made little money being the
first to think of it.
BARBkROUS PRACTICE.