Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1894-04-12
DANGEROUS CARESSES.
Divers Fight Desperately to Escape the
Embrace of the Devilfsh.

Embrace OF the DeVllnsn.
THE devlfish is the divers greatest dan
ger" said 7. p. H. Whitelaw, an experienc.
ed diver, in conversation with San Fran
cisco Chronicle reporter. Where diver
is working alone these devilfsh are really
dangerous, though where there are Others
down with him there isn't any great dan
ger, as the divers could cut the devilfish
to pieces before he could injure man or
tangle his apparatus. The fact that the
fish discolors the water makes it impossi-
BILE for the diver to see what to do when he
is attacked and makes him feel the danger
of the dark. One of them caught me once
while working off the Farallones, but it
was u little one only about six feet long,
and cut of it's tentacles as fast as he put
them on me.
They'll fight hard enough when attack
ed, but they do not seek man to injure
him. If the diver happens to come upon
one OF them when he is at work, it is apt to
fasten TO him and draw him into it's en-
brace. But they have no power to ipjure
man except by crushing and rending, as
their mouths are only the size shape and
strength of the beaks of cockatoos. Their
power to rend is not sufficient to tear a man
limb from limb, but of course they might
kill diver by tangling his tube and shut
ting off the air. They have little swimming
force, and all these stories about their tow
ing large vessels are boDh. Their power is
in muscular contraction, and before they
can exert it they must first fasten to a rock
or some heavy object. Even then their
strength is not tremendous
II made test of one which was on our
pontoons in Discovery bay in 1884. 1t fas-
tened to a rock which weighed while sub
merged just 20 pounds When out of the
water it weighed 260 pounds. The devil
fish could lift the rock to the surface and
partially out of water, but was not strong
enough to lift it entirely Free This fish
was II feet inches from tip to tip, and
estimated his rending power at about 200
pounds because he couldn't lift the 260
pound rock.
81 don't think the devilfish can see
through the black fluid it emits when dis
turbed any more than man can but it has
much more power of feeling, and man has
to cut very lively to lop away those tenta-
cles.
"Of course there are sharks about the
wrecks-plunty Of them. But never knew
one to attack Il diver with suit on think
the escaping air bubbling from his helmet
scares the fish away. Then, too, each diver
carries knife, and shark would be nu
match for him. The largest man eater
ever saw along this coast was IL feet long,
though the bone sharks run as high as 40 to
80 feet in length. They are harmless, how
ever, as far as man is concerned. The little
pilotfsh, which goes ahead of the man
eater, pointing the way, never approaches a
diver, SO the shark doesn't attack him,
though the attack will come quick enough
once the diving suit is removed.
Sea lions are also quite dangerous to the
diver, though they never attack him or in
| jure him Intentionally. But once sea lion
gets after fish he doesn't stop for any
hing, and in passing diver is apt to knock
i'm over and tumble him all in heap. The
diver, with all his weight, is mere moth.
ing in the sea lions path.
1.-THE whales are harmless. Sometimes
they come and play about the wreck, but
they show little curiosity regarding the
divers and never offer an assault.
do ever find any treasure? Very little.
| hear of great deal, but when it comes to
finding it, it isn't there. People generally
manage to save their gold and jewelry, and
then they say they lost everything with the
ship. The divers search the trunks and
chests, but rarely come across anything Of
large value"