Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-01-01
A Divers UNIFORM.
Interesting TAX From a Man Who
Goes Gown Into the
Dep Waters.
Diving Not a Hazardous Business il
the Person is COnstitutiOnally
it Fol- 1t.
How it Feels to Find a Corpse in
the Silace of the Great
Deep.

Submarine diving is generally consid
cred very DANGEROUS business to work at,
but this is POPULAR error, said William
| Uruuhart, an oil diver, IL speaking of the
subject few days ago. Another COM
mon delusion, ''be continued, lis that it
| is injurious to ealth. don't think that
you can End much heartier man in town
than am, and have been diving almost
every day for oNr twenty years. OF course,
if you are sutfeing from any organic dis
ease when you FIST start in, why then div
ing will develorit rapidly, but a sound
man will find It'll much healthier business
than plenty of ther trades, and as for &C
cidents, it is nc nearly as hazardous as
many mcdaniel occupations, to say moth
ing Of railroadng, mining, or the risks
by the membersof the fire department.
Serious accidnts rarely happen where
ordinary caution is used, but divers, like
other people, sometimes become careless
| have witnessed only three fatal accidents
during all the wears | have been diving,
and in two of tIese cases the men were to
blame. You ned a cool head all the time
in this business
| | had a CLOSE shave last winter. | was
at work on TIE Did Walnut street wharf,
blasting the tinbers away ON the line for
the new bridge. | used a pound and a
half cartridge of dynamite to about a
square foot of timber. One day after
had let off a blat, pile of mud suddenly
came down, completely blocking my path
back. [ gropei around for long time,
hoping to fn6 an outlet but | seemed
hemmed in. Finally, after two hours
hard work. | succeeded in getting my line
and tube clear and by using all the extra
lengths from the wheel above, | was able
to reach the other side of the wharf, with
my head Just above water, where | was
quickly rescued. If anything had hap
pened to that tube, or if it had run short,
[ should have been dead man.
| "Diving suits are not as umbersome as
| they were. Mine weighs about 22O pounds;
| belt, 80; shoes, %; helmet and collar, Is,
and dress, 40 pound. The life signal line
is fastened to your waist. The hose comes
over the back of the helmet and is made
fast in front and carried under the arms,
the foul air escaping from d valve In the
back of the helmet.
| with the suit on out of the water the
oppression is terrible but when submerged
the dress clings close to you, throwing the
air into the helmet The helmets and col.
lars now used are easily removed or dom
ned. After entering the water you must
descend slowly The pressure of the
water is very great, and the
deeper you go, Of course, the greater the
pressure. The first time | tried diving
stepped off the short ladder that hangs
from the stern Of the boat or scow and
and went plumb.down to the bottom. The
sudden plunge Knocked all the breath out
of me and | thought my head would
burst. You shoEld sink a rope before you
leave the ladderknd then lower yourself
gradually. Beginners always suffer great
pain in the head, but after a few trips
something seems to burst there and then
they are all right.
A short distance under water it is dark,
and you have to feel your way about. Y gu
soon become accustomed to it, and work
alE.ost as well as you could IN the light.
Electric light sent down does not enable
you to see any better, it only makes the
water appear milky. You can hear
nothing except the revolutions of the air
| pump.
About the only time Wien diver feels
timid is when he puts his hand upon a
dead body. 1t produces chilly sensation
|
but you know that is a corpse by the
touch You don't know how many more
there may be and uncanny thoughts will
Jun through your head and make you
uncomfortable | was sent once up the
Lehigh Valley to search an abandoned
mine for the body Of a Is year-old boy.
who was supposed to have fallen in while
playing about its mouth and to have ben
drowned or killed by the fall. | was in
the mine from 9o'clock in the morning
until 3 in the afternoon, when | found
him eighty-eight feet below the surface
| 1t was as dark as pitch and ! had to
grope my way about very carefully. IL
feeling around I happened to put my
hand on his thigh. Instinctively | re,
ed the men at the top that | had found
outgrow that dread of something unde
Unable whenever, down in the dark waters
you come in contact with a corpse even
though you are searching for it, and when
it comes upon youunexpectedly the shock
have been where there were hundreds of
bodies around me- | worked for three
months in 1873 on the wreck of the White
Star steamship Atlantic, which was lost
off Nova Scotia. We had to blow her
open to get in andremoye the bodies of
the passengers and save what we could
| of the cargo.
| That was an awful experience. Mum
hers of bloated BODIES we're floating a out
the cabins; others we're wedged In cetween
the furniture and the fixtures; some were
| found in the staterooms or their knees. as
though in prayer, With their death grasp
fastened to the side of the berth; while
here and there were groups Of men, women
and children still elinging to each other,
and mothers with their little ones tightly
| cIutcbed In their arms, locked In a last
embrace that even death had been unable
| to loosen.
You have to be very careful in moving
| abont a wreck to see that a door does not
close on Won. The greatest danger is with
doors that open outward, as should any
thing heavy fall against one and close it
Won MIGHT be trapped like lat. Your
fnbe and line, too, must be carefully
guarded.
| Steamer Vulcan, which was wrecked at
| Port Hnron She was lying on her side
and a. ! walked along her keel | slipped
and IN falling into the mud below, nv
tube became entangled with projecting
nIank above. preventing my moving more
| fhan vard or two either way | could
banl in this way and that way, but I could
not oct # clear. Just as | thought l had
| it ali right it would 60 back on me. No,
| was not a bit nervous; but was pretty
well provoked, and it took me nearly three
hours 10 get free.
a vessel loaded with railroad iron sunk