The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-08-17

tall, muscular young fellow, with the
brilliant eyes and leonine expression
The Perans were never promise
breakers" he said. Then he added
among my papers is rough chart
drawn by Don Louis. If you do not
use it pass it on to your SON"
III.
One morning in 1877 a curious look
ing craft sailed in past the capes and
anchored in Hampton Roads about
two cables lengths from the Rip Raps.
It's commander was a fine looking boy
about eighteen, and the crew were
twelve stout Cape Codders. On board
were divers outfits, planks, barrels.
chains, ,windlasses, endless coils ofrope
and some queer engines.
The young captain at once set al
hands at work. Drags were got out
and the bottom of the sea swept for a
circular space of five acres. A very
old chart was consulted for bearings
but as it was made from memory by
an old man at the point of death il
was liable to be in error.
The graphing irons brought uI
nothing Of any value. But young
Louis Peran-for of course it was he
was not a whit discouraged.
He had sold the old manor house
and the Peran plantation after his
grandfather's death, and had gone
north into the employ Of a famous
diver For three years he had been
in the heavy work at Hellgate in New
York harbor. After that he made a
voyage to Spain.
The Young Captoin," as he was
called, put on a divers suit and went
to the bottom. Tom Newell, a fine
diver, accompanied him. The trip
was apparently fruitless. They had
trouble with a current near the bot
tom which ran very fast at flood tide
and made it difficult for them to keep
their feet They found the bed of the
Roads swept bare of mud in some
places, in others covered with loose
boulders Sand had been piled in
high banks by the set of the tides. In
some places the water was clear as
crystal, in others turbid and muddy,
There the young captain began to
study. He anchored buoys at the
corner of a square, and took observa
tions of these changes Of place from
the food and ebb tides and from the
currents. He spent hours under wa
ter examining the contour Of the bot
tom. With Newell he made a map
showing all the details for an area Of
about ten acres.
/ will let Tom Newell step in here
and tell the rest of the story.
".
We worked for about thirty days at
the chartering. The weather was mild
and the water in the Roads cOmpara-
lively still, and we had had little ex-
perience with large fish at the bottom.
One day a school of dogtish swarmed
around These fellows are nasty Gus
toners, for they are armed with two
short daggers of bone near the tai,
and a slash from one of them IS seri
Gus. They are canibals, too; if one OF
their number is hurt the other fel-
lows gobble him up.
Sharks, too, we had-but not man
eaters. One big fellow, however, was
so persistent that [ suspected he
might belong to the man -devoiuing
breed. Peran was down with me, but
| could not see him. The visitor
turned out to be blne shark and a
dangerous customer. He came up
pretty close, and | felt rather shaky
as he eyed me- 4 noise near Inc made
me turn my head. There was Peran
with big cheese knife in his hand
just making a slash at the sea wolf
that cut him open. They hauled US
up, and that ended the days work for
Tom Newell.
Peran did not seem to mindit at all
For young chap devoid of fear that
fellow took the cake. The crew stood
in awe of him, boy though he was.
He had a way of looking steadily with
his big eyes like the black African
lions. Yet he was as gentle as a girl.
Well, we raked and raked the bottom,
but got only old iron.
You'd think Peran would have given
in with disgust But he got more and
more hopeful, though it was going on
two months and he was paying out
big wages.
He never communicated his con
cluslOns to me, so was to some eX-
tent working IN the dark. tell you
/ was almost devoured with curiosity.
We even had to guess that it was q
search for treasure; the oldest sailor
in Norfolk and the people along shore
had never heard OF any ship being
lost thereabOuts.
Well, there we were! We got big
wages-all of Us, as [ told you. Ten
dollars day was my figure. The
grub was excellent, the schooner nice,
ly fitted up, and taken all together ii
wasn't bad.
All at once we went on new tack
There was q low reef at the outer side
of the square we had marked out
about 500 yards from the rip raps
Before the raps We're constructed the
swift current at the bottom must have
set differently. At least I thought so
and told Peran. He nodded in 6
pleased way. As / made it out, TIE
work on the new tack was to discover
how the tide ran in former years. Tha
was what Peran was working on,
was sure. For suddenly we were Sc
to building trap. We get cargo
of stone from Norfolk.
Why didn't the government inter
fere? Well, however he got 1t, PeraI
had a permit from the secretary O
war or some one up there in Washing
ton, and none of the authorities gave
Us any trouble.
4 nice dark-skinned man came t,
visit us once or twice, and ! heart
afterward that he was the Spanish
minister. He joked a good deal Will
Louis in his own lingo and laughed
I L l.!