The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-12-15
PERILS OF DIVERS.
FEARFUL DANGERS TO BE NET
UNDER WATER.

i've seen many a time when I'd
rather be under water than on shore.
used to feel that way sometimes"
Mr.. Edward Ii. Littlefield, u native
Of Block Island, but now keeper of a
fish market on Fountain street, sixty
six years old, made this remark in q
story he was telling one afternoon.
He was diver for twenty-four years.
In all spent forty years under the wat
er or upon II, and has tackled wrecks
from Lake Superior to Niagara Falls,
and from Maine to Port Royal. He
estimates the number Of bodies he has
with his own hands pulled out Of sunk
en- vessels at 100, and that he has
walked out and around 40 to 80 vessels
lying in water varying in depth from
as to 16S feet. He nearly lost his life
ten years ago while getting the cargo
out Of the schooner Warren Gage, off
the east of Narragansett Pier and has
since that time preferred to stay above
water.
MY first experience" said he, "was
In Seaconnet River, in 1859, hunting
for Capt. Ben Tallman's son jerome.
1T was In the month of August, and
Jerome Tallman had been in the water
eleven days They'd dragged for him,
Il
fOr Capt. Charles Herbert, the wreck
er, then, but one day the regular diver
took sick, and as they had an agree
ment giving Capt. Herbert $500 II he
found the body in three days. and $500
II he did not, with the idea of working
at II all the time, was picked out to
go down. 1t was right off Gould's
Island, and I went down at 7:30 o'clock
m Il 10
30 l took sick about 9:30 o'clock, but I
got some old Cognac brandy to drink
and went back about II. The first
thing 1 saw when l got down the Sec
Ond time was n swarm of bluefish. I
went through them, and then came q
lot of dogfish. These dogfsh are tough
things, for they have two spurs on the
back near the tail, and they wind
around mans legs and spur him.
They smashed against me, and any
number of them spurred my legs a
good deal as roosters use their spurs,
SO that / at last got out my knife and
went to cutting my way through. You
know dogfish will feed on a dogfish
that is dead, so / ripped them open all
around me as they went along with
the tide, and the others ate the in
jured ones. i must have killed fifty
or sixty of them all two or three feet
long.
After 1 got through them 1 felt
something whirl me round l could
tell it wasn't the current, so l looked
around to see what it was. There was
big shark off to my left, looking at
me. I'd have given a city to be out of
his way; but, says 1, if l go up he'll
bite me In two; and so l decided to
stay there. l felt just as if my helmet
was rising up / suppose it was my
hair. Well, Mr. Shark looked at me
while. Then he goes round me twice
and half, and then 1 got my knife
out again. He turns on one side, and
/ could have put a barrel in his mouth
easy. l knew what was coming, SO 1
waited. He dashed for me, and as he
came l stepped one side, shut my eyes
and slashed with the knife. / caught
him in his life, for cut his heart right
in two. l opened my eyes and found
him lying on the bottom fifty or sixty
feet off, the blood rising from him in
bubbles. went up to him, and then
something happened to me; l don't
know what. / suppose l tainted, for
l came to with my body leaning against
the sharks, down there on the bot
tom. Well, hadn't given any signal
to my tender, so he had kept up the air
supply, but pretty quick 1 felt them
pull three times, to ask me if | 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-I cut half of it out
couldn't have been got into a barrel.
But, after all, l had my greatest
experiences in the two years before the
war. The time l went down 16S feet,
the deepest / ever got, was in 1860. A
vessel went down east-northeast of
Point Judith, and the Captains wife
and daughter were drowned i went
down after them. They talk to me
now of going down 800 or 600 feet, but |
don't believe it, After the first 100
feet the pumps won't supply man
with air, except inside his helmet. Be
fore that it will circulate around his
body. When it only reaches his he'll
met his clothes begin to cling to him,
ana ms pores How out all the water
IN his body. 1t Is terrible sensation.
NOW, l got down to this vessel, and
started to descend into the companion
way. AT the first step l began to feel
numb all over. 1t was the pressure of
$50 ""NSi dpoNc ul', anu as u Deen
told about 1t | went back on the deck
Of the sunken vessel and climbed into
The ratlines. l hadn't gone up more
than three steps before / felt better.
Then l went back again. You can
continue this right straight along and
go deeper each time. When / felt
numb again l went upon deck and
climbed onto the rail. | was all right
In minute, and then went into the
companionway again. All this time
the vessel was waving from side to
side with the swell under the water.
Now, it's queer, but there's some
thing about bodies under water. Did
you know that if you went into the
cabin of vessel where one was that
i would start towards you, almost as
II 1t were alive? 1t is that that makes
the shock so terrible. You can't avoid
them. They come as If they wanted
70 be taken away. Well, the Captains
wife and daughter We're in the state
room mt the foot of the stairs. and [
had to open the door. | took some
blocks and braced my whole weight
against tho door / weighed 300
pounds, and the suit weighed go more.
A l. n