Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1892-05-06
HORRORS OF THE DEEP.
A DIVER WHO HAS BEEN DOWN
ALONG THE COAST.
Enjoyed Being Under Water-Meetine
Dead Misunderstanding Big Fish
In Rhode Island Waters
Swarms of Dog Fish.

I've seen many Il time when Is
rather be under writer than on shore
| used to feel that way sometimes"
Mr.. Edward II. Littefe.d. a native
OF Block Island. IS years cd. made
this remark in n story he was telling
to Prov ldsnce Journal reporter He
was a diver for twenty -four years, in
ell spent forty years under the water
or upon ii and has tackled wre cks
from Lake Superio, to Niagara Falls,
and from Maine to Port Royal. Ho
estimates the number OF bodies he has
with his own hands. pulled out of
sunken vessels at 100. and that he has
walked out and around forty to fly
We sells ~ nr in water varying in depth
from ii teen to 1jS feet.
He nearly lost his Ii @ ten years ago
while gettiog the cargo out OF the
schooner Warren Gage. OF east OF
Aarrasansett Pier, and has since that
Tine preferred t. Say above water
My first experience. said he, was
n Scaconnet river IN l3.9, bunting
for taptaia Fen Tallman's son, 20
rome. 1t was in the month of August
and Jeromc Ialman had been in the
waior eleven days They'd dragged
for him. but couldn't find him was
>hipmaa for Captain Charles Herbert,
the wrecker then. but one day the
regular diver took sick. and u, they
bad an agreement for three days Civ
ing Captain Herbert $500 ii he found
the body in three days, and 500 If he
did not. bat with the idea of working
at it the time | was picked out to
60 down.
1t was right off Gould's Island and
| went down at 1880 o'clock in the
morning. ! wasn't used to it, so |
took sick about $50 o'clock. but | got
some old cognac brandy to drink. and
went back about II o'clock The first
thing ! saw when | got down the sec.
ond time was swarm of blue fish.
went through them, and then came a
swarm of dog fish.
These dog fish are tough things
for they have two spurs on the back
near tho tail and they wind around
II mans legs and spur him. They
smashed against mo. and any number
of them spurred my legs a good deal
as roostcrs use their spurs. so that
at last got out my knife and won't to
cutting my way through.
You know dog fish will feed on n
dog fish that is dead, so I ripped them
open all around me as they went along
with the tide, and the others ute tho
injured ones. | must have killed fftv
or sixty OF them. all two to three feet
long.
After | got through them I felt
something whirl me around. | could
tell it wasn't the current so looked
around to see what it was. There
was big shark off to the left looking
at me. I'd have given city to be
out of his way, but says |. il | 90 up
he'll bite me In two; and so decided
to stay there. | felt just as If nv
helmet was rising up. suppose it was
my hair. Well Mr. Shark looked at
me awhile. Then he goes round mo
twice and hall. and then l got nv
knife out again.
he turns on one side, and | could
have put barrel in his mouth easv.
l knew what was coming. so | waited.
He dashed for me and as he came |
stepped to one side, shut my eyes and
slashed with the knife. | caught him
in his life, for | cut his heart right in
two.
lopened my eyes and found him
lying on the bottom fifty or sixty feet
of, the blood rising from him in
bubbles. | went up to him and then
something happened to me- / don't
know what suppose | tainted, for
l came to with my body leaning against
the sharks down there on the bottom.
Well, l hadn't given any signal to nv
tender so he had kept up the air
supply. but pretty quick | felt them
pull three times to ask mo il | was
all right
They said the blood all came up to
the top in bubbles before it mixed with
the water. Why that sharks liver
! cut half OF it out couldn't have been
got into barrel. He measured sew
enteen feet:
Il didn't find any thing the first
day. though | was under for nine
hours, ana L remember how my bones
and head ached that night | had
been down sixty-six feet. and the
armor made me sore all over. The
next day had been down about two
hours when suddenly | saw something
white as marble ahead of me. A Pc
culiar shock comes TO a man from
touching a body under water and |
braced myself for the sensation and
approached the object could feel
the sweat run out OF my pores but
kept on. When got up to it found
it wasn't the body. but dead skate
over five feet long. with its white belly
turned upwards. had thought it was
the body and was somewhat disap-
pointed. On that day was down ten
hours but l did not find the body.
On the third day went down again.
They didn't tell me they were going
to draw a seine that day so | was